St Luke's Chapel in the Hills

 

April 12th, 2009 Easter Sunday
Homily: Where Your Heart Is, So Is Your Soul

“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” [Colossians 3:2]

“Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

The Lord is Risen; He has risen indeed!

With this very simple statement all Christians proclaim a fact that the world does not understand. The basic Easter conviction is simply this: Christ lives. This belief is what really mattered to the early disciples. It was the basis for all their hopes and all their life. They were willing to and DID die in order to testify to the truth of their statement: “Christ lives!”

But the fact that Christ lives also should matter to us today. It should be all that matters; all other things seem pale in comparison. St. Paul, when he wrote to the Colossians, said:

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

There is a risen, and glorious Christ, who reigns in heaven, yet, who lives among His people to guide, to unite, and to strengthen them, and to send them forth. This is what sets Christians apart. We do not believe that Jesus was a great man who died, but rather that Jesus is the Christ, who was executed, but who rose again and is still alive.

We are the only religion that has a living God. Others have only mortals that have passed on, or disembodied spirits who have never lived a mortal life. But we have a God who became man and therefore understands us. And He is still alive and with us today.

So if we believe that Christ still lives and is with us, then where is He? In our wedding service, twice we mention that matrimony signifies the mystical union between Christ and His Church. And we also believe that the union between a man and a woman through marriage makes them one flesh. This is true between Christ and His Church. He and we are one. He is in us, and we are in Him. This is especially true during Holy Eucharist – Holy Communion. And the result is that we can experience our living God through our Church and through Holy Eucharist.

The Church of Christ is a fellowship called together in response to Him. It is a worldwide fellowship created by Christ, united through Christ, for the purpose of worshipping God, and serving Christ as our living Lord. Our churches exist because Christ lives within it and reveals Himself through it.

But there is more. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

In worshipping God, we are to “keep the feast” with sincerity and truth. St. John wrote, “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” Above all things, we are to believe what we worship. If we do not, then we are just a social club or a philanthropic organization. We MUST believe. We MUST be sincere.

Recently, I was asked whether the people at the time of Christ were expecting a Messiah or did they become persuaded that Jesus was the Messiah because of His miracles. My response was that it was both. The miracles bore witness to His divinity, but there was a widespread belief that the Messiah was coming. And that belief stemmed, in part, from the prophecy of Daniel when he wrote:

"Seventy weeks are determined concerning thy people and concerning thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.”

The seventy weeks is more accurately translated “seventy sevens,” which has been interpreted seventy times seven years. In other words, 490 years would pass before the Messiah would come. That would place His coming in the year 30 AD. This also is the year when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The Jewish people knew this prophecy and were expecting a Messiah.

I tell you this because I fear that many professing Christians do not understand how fully Christ fulfilled prophecy. In our lesson for the Seven Last Words, which we read on Good Friday, we point out how Christ fulfilled Isaiah, Chapter 53, and how Psalm 22 reveals in detail Christ’s suffering. It is truly amazing. And we must ALL study and understand our faith.

But this is not all. Worshipping the true God is of paramount importance, but it is NOT the end. Christ Himself tells us that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. He commands us to love. We are to love our neighbor, and we are to even love our enemies! Then how can we keep the feast with sincerity and truth if we hate?

Now, let us be clear, there is a difference between love and permissiveness. I am not saying that we condone what is wrong. Heaven forbid. Christians are to stand for justice, especially for the weak. But we are to love those who do wrong. We are to hate the sin, but love the sinner. And although this platitude seems easy enough to do, in fact it is quite hard. But hard or easy, we are commanded to love.

And the fact that we have a risen Lord is not the end of the Easter story. There is also the imperative “Go!” The angel in St. Mark’s Gospel says “He is risen . . . go tell his disciples . . . He goeth before you.” In St. Luke’s Gospel, after the resurrection, two disciples go on a journey to Emmaus, and when they return to the others, Christ is there and speaks to them about His mission – the “going out” of His church.

In St. John’s Gospel, also after the resurrection, Christ appears to the disciples and says “as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

St. Paul is told to rise up, not to stay on his knees forever, “Arise and go into Damascus.” And finally in St. Matthew’s Gospel, after He had risen, Christ tells His disciples “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations . . . and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” In other words, not only do we recognize that our God is a living God on Easter, but we recognize our duty to spread the word that He is risen!

There was a recent poll for the Bay Area that says that 85% of the population does NOT go to church. 85%! There is our mission. We do not have to go to a foreign land; our mission is here. We must “go” and do our duty. We must tell our neighbors the Good News that Christ is Risen indeed.

Easter is not just a festival honoring an earthbound Jesus whose life and words are treasured. It is more. It is the festival acknowledging our belief in a victorious, glorious, and risen Lord. It is our acknowledgement that our redeemer lives and is with us through our lives, through our church, and through the sacraments we take, particularly during the sacrament of Holy Eucharist.

But it is also a festival where we acknowledge our duties and responsibilities to our living God. It is when we renew our pledge to live after His commandments, walk in His way, and spread His message of Good News to an unbelieving world.

The Lord is Risen; He has risen indeed!
God bless you all and have a blessed Easter!

Amen.

April 5th, 2009 Palm Sunday
Sermon: Who Is This Man?

“And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, ‘Who is this?’ So the multitudes said, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.’” [Matthew 21:10-11]

When I was a young adult, my family and I decided to go to the Easter Vigil service one year. Well, the service started at 6 o’clock in the evening. And at 9, the service was still not over, but we were done. We left at that time, never seeing the conclusion.

Every year, the lessons for Palm Sunday remind me of this experience. I always think that, about halfway through The Passion, I am starting to lose people. But, the lessons for Palm Sunday are extremely important. And there is a very good reason for having two Gospel Lessons.

These Gospel lessons seem schizophrenic. In fact, the whole service is schizophrenic. We start out exuberant and end up somber. But these lessons are juxtaposed for a reason. They are read together just to show us how fickle we humans are. One moment, we are singing someone’s praises; the next we are asking for his blood.

But why the dramatic difference? Why the sudden change in temperament? The answer is in our Gospel Lesson for the Liturgy of the Palms:

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Many people did not know who Jesus was; they just knew that some thought He was very important. When they heard who was being honored, they still did not know who Jesus was. But, they did have a preconceived idea as to what the Messiah was going to be like.

The Jewish people at this time believed that God’s Messiah would be a general and a King; someone who could liberate Judea from the Romans. The multitude assumed that Christ would be their liberator. But this belief just proves that the multitude really did not know who Jesus was. They did not know that they were right, that He was the Messiah, but that they were wrong as to what it meant to be a Messiah. They did not know that He was going to liberate them from their sins.

So, instead of rejecting their concept of what the Messiah was to be like, they rejected Jesus instead. And because Jesus did not fit their preconceived notion of who the Messiah was, they easily could reject Him five days later.

Even Pontius Pilate did not know who this person from Nazareth was. For this passage, I actually prefer the 1611 Version of the King James Bible:

“And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, ‘Art thou the King of the Jews?’ And Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou sayest.’ And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.”

However, unlike the crowd, Pilate figured out rather quickly that Jesus was an innocent man. He was not duped by the false accusations. But Pilate did something worse than what the crowd did. The crowed did not understand, but rather blindly followed a lead. Don’t get me wrong; this is pretty bad. But what Pilate did was worse. He set it up so that he could justify in his mind sending an innocent man to death:

When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”

We can see how Pilate had hoped that the crowd would ask for Jesus instead of Barabbas, but this was still the coward’s way out. If Jesus was innocent, he should have been released no matter what.

The truth is that Jesus came into a world corrupted by sin to save us. And the corruption acted to help Jesus save us by His atoning sacrifice. Through sin and the corruption of this world, an innocent, sinless man died so that no one else need die.

But the dilemma the multitude faced and, for that matter, Pontius Pilate faced, is the same dilemma we face every day.

There is a need in humans to remake God in their image. When we realize what God wants of us, our first reaction is to think it impossible. We feel it is impossible because it seems to conflict with human nature. We are not only to forgive our enemies, we are to love them. We are to keep ourselves holy and separate. We are not to give in to every whim of our bodies or our minds. And this seems impossible.

And this is not unique to our times. If you are participating in our Bible study or, like me, using the “read through” Bible that our Bible study group is using, you will know that we have already read about Israel’s failures to follow God’s commandments. We will soon reach a period of apostasy for the nation of Israel where the religious leaders are telling the people that they have received a new commandment. The new commandment is that we can worship any God we choose. It doesn’t matter. We can do what we please. It doesn’t matter. We can follow our human instincts. It doesn’t matter. God will love us no matter what and will accept us no matter what – because nothing really matters. But it did and does matter. And Israel was destroyed.

The reason that God’s commandments appear unreasonable is that we are fallen creatures. God’s commandments are not really unreasonable. They really are not impossible. And they really do not conflict with human nature, per se, because our nature now is a corruption of our true nature. When we disobeyed, we brought sin into the world and corrupted our nature. God’s commandments are not really unreasonable. They are rather to help us to be more like we were supposed to be before we chose to disobey God.

And when we try to follow them, we discover how really very “natural” they are to us. Unfortunately, because we are fallen, the Law actually works to condemn us. Only through Christ are our sins forgiven, and only through Christ are we saved:

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In five short days, the world went from proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah to pronouncing His execution. We have to ask ourselves if the people in Jerusalem were more fickle than us, or if we share something with these ancient people.

The truth is that they are no worse or no better than us. And this is the frightening part. We are just as guilty as they are of not understanding Christ, of trying to remake Christ so that He is more palatable and more easily followed. We sing Hosannas to the Christ who loves us and forgives our sins, but crucify the Christ who asks us to change our ways, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and body, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We praise the love but condemn the requirement that we need to believe in Him and follow His example.

And the sooner we realize how very similar we are to our brothers and sisters who called for Jesus’ crucifixion almost two thousand years ago, the sooner we will come to know who this man, Jesus the Christ, really is.

Amen.


March 29th, 2009 Passion Sunday
Homily: The True Meaning of Grace.

“If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be.” [St. John 12:26]

Christianity is a very strange religion. At its root is a truth that seems illogical and counter-intuitive. It seems to have turned the so-called wisdom of this world on its head. But Christianity does not follow the rules of the world. It follows the wisdom of the Divine. And, in the Divine, we see that weakness is strength, service is freedom, and the last is first. No philosophy of the world, nothing in Nature could ever devise such a truth. Where only the strong survive, how could the weak be considered stronger? But, in Christianity, we see that the wisdom of God is the true wisdom.

And no where do we so clearly see the wisdom of this world turned upside down than in the crucifixion. In Christ, we have the Savior of Mankind, and yet, in order to save Man, Jesus had to die. What is more, Jesus had to die in the most gruesome way. He was beaten, scourged, humiliated, and then executed.

For those of you who do not know, crucifixion is a terrible way to die. It was devised to be humiliating and painful at the same time. In fact, the word “excruciating” comes from crucifixion and literally means "out of crucifying."

In order to make this type of death more humiliating, most prisoners were required to carry their own crosses. Though the cross-bar of a cross would weigh about 75 pounds, the whole cross would weigh about 300 pounds. It is very possible that Christ only had to carry the cross part, since the long part was often permanently affixed to the ground. However, it is also possible that He was required to carry the whole thing.

Finally, there are historical records that the executioner would often break the legs of someone being executed. This would hasten death through suffocation.

With such a gruesome and humiliating death, how can anyone believe that Christ is God-incarnate? Saint Paul told us that the Cross is a stumbling block to both the Greek, meaning the worldly, and the Jewish, who expected a warrior King. And yet, this counter-intuitive truth that is the basis of our Faith IS THE Truth. It is absolutely correct; and it cannot be denied.

The Atonement is one of the most difficult Christian concepts. We know that Christ died for our sins, and we know that we are inadequate for the job, but how this act atones and why it had to be done is not so clear. There are theologians whose hypotheses make God very legalistic, but that does not seem consistent with what we know about God. There is a better explanation of the Atonement, and it comes from our Epistle Lesson for today:

And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all those who obey Him, being called by God as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

St. Paul’s reference to Melchizedek is an important reference because all the priests in Israel had to be from the line of Levi. Christ, being in the line of David, would not be a Levite, and therefore could not be a priest. But in Genesis, there was a man, a priest, named Melchizedek. He was said to be greater than Abraham. This also is important because the Levite line is directly from Abraham. Therefore, a priest in the line of Melchizedek would be superior to the Levite line. And thus Christ is of a superior line.

But there is more. Christ is not just a priest; He is the High Priest in the more perfect tabernacle of Heaven. This He achieved when He rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.

This is why, on Good Friday, the renting of the veil in half from top to bottom is so significant. That veil was really a heavy curtain that separated the main Temple from an inner chamber called the Holy of Holies. No one was allowed into the Holy of Holies except the High Priest, and that was only once a year on the day of atonement, what we now call Yom Kippur. This curtain of separation symbolized our separation from God. And the fact that these animal sacrifices had to be made once a year, showed how imperfect our sacrifices were.

The splitting of the veil was dramatic. It was split in half, and it was split from top to bottom. This event signified the end of our separation from God. It also signified that a perfect sacrifice had been made, a sacrifice that would never have to be repeated. But there is more. As I had said before, in Christ’s ascension into heaven, we have the ultimate act of the perfect High Priest entering the most Holy of Holies where He can constantly intercede for us.

But St. Paul does not stop with the explanation that Christ is our High Priest. He also writes later in this Epistle that Christ is also our sacrificial lamb. Christ laid down His Life as the perfect sacrifice, which completes the law. Through faith, everyone is atoned. And everyone who believes has his sins forgiven through this atonement.

So, in His sacrifice, Christ acts as High Priest, giving up Himself as an offering, and as Sacrificial Lamb, atoning for the sins of the world. Finally, in His resurrection, Christ is the ultimate High Priest who will intercede for each and every one of us. All we need do is ask.

This is what we call Grace. It is the gift that no one has earned. It is a gift of love from God to each of us who choose to embrace this gift of grace.

We are told that Christ needed to die to atone for our sins, but, in our Gospel lesson, we see another reason for His death:

“Verily, verily I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

Jesus knew that, in order to make an impact, in order to produce fruit, He had to die. But there is more:

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.”

In both of these statements, Christ was not giving us a truth, per se, but rather a prophesy of what was to come. In this crucifixion, Christ drew and continues to draw all of Mankind to Himself. And, in the Cross, we have the ultimate symbol of God’s love.

There was a little Jewish boy who was incorrigible. His parents were at their wits end. They had enrolled him in public school, private school, and even a yeshiva, to no avail. This boy’s antics got him punished and even expelled. Finally, his parents decided to try the local Catholic school.

Days went by, and yet no call came from the school. For the parents, the anticipation of that usual but fateful phone call weighed on them. Finally, they could not stand the strain of not knowing and called the school. To their surprise, the nun who was the principal said that there had been no problems. In fact, their son was a model student. Finally she said that she could not understand why the other schools had problems.

Now the parents were really curious, but also feared that if they brought it up, they may damage what had been accomplished.

Finally, they couldn’t stand it. They called their boy. “Freddie,” the dad said, “we are really pleased that you have made such a dramatic change. But we are also a little curious. What happened?” Freddie turned to his parents and said, “Well, there was another Jewish boy at this school a long time ago. I don’t know what he did wrong, but it must have been awful, because they stuck him on two sticks and hung him in every classroom as a warning.”

Although this is a funny story, the Cross of Christ is NOT a sign of punishment; it is a sign of forgiveness; it is NOT a sign of despair; it is a sign of hope. And it is NOT a sign of death; it is a sign of life!

Where the world cannot see beyond the apparent, we know the true meaning of the Cross of Christ. And this is why, for all of us Christians, the Cross is our most important symbol.

So let us not worry what the world thinks of us. Let us not worry that those who don’t understand the Cross are actually threatened by it. But let us remember that our command is simple and comes directly from Christ:

“If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be.”

As we approach Holy Week, let’s keep in mind Christ’s nature in this, the greatest act in history. Let us remember that He is our High Priest AND our Sacrificial Lamb. Let us grow in appreciation of Christ’s great act of love. And when we realize the fact that all this was done for us out of love and without any payment required, we will grow in our appreciation and understanding of what Grace really means.


Amen.

March 1st, 2009 Lent
Sermon: Look – God’s Promise

And God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth.” [Genesis 9:12-13]

A couple of years back, my class was reading a story about a family that went on a camping trip. At one point, they came to a waterfall. There, among the rushing water was a rainbow. For some reason, the children were fascinated by the rainbow and started asking about it. As they sat on the floor, I told them the story of Noah and the rainbow. I didn’t realize what an impact it made, but about a month later, we had a rainstorm, the clouds parted, and a rainbow appeared. I don’t think it was a particularly bright one, but suddenly my students started running up to me and saying, “Look Mr. Penfield – God’s promise!” I guess I am a bit of a subversive, “corrupting” our youth.

It is fascinating how readily children recognize and trust God’s promise, but we adults question and second-guess God all the time. However, our lessons for today speak eloquently as to God’s great promises and mercy. And we, as adults, need to take notice of these promises.

With Noah, we see God’s promise both to mankind and to ALL the creatures of the earth. Here, He promises never to destroy it again by flooding the world:

AND GOD spoke unto Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “And I, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you.”

Of course, there are very few scientists who believe this account. And, not being a fundamentalist religion, it is possible to believe that, when the Bible speaks of flooding the world, it may be speaking about the “known world.”

But, before we jump to this conclusion, let us remember that every culture in the world has a flood story as part of their mythology. Inevitably in these tales, the whole world is destroyed except for a chosen few, who repopulate the world. Also consider this, for centuries, the world thought Homer’s Iliad was a myth, until the German businessman and amateur archeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, found the ruins of Troy. We must all remember what Shakespeare wrote in his great play, Hamlet:

"There is more to heaven and earth, Horatio, than is dreamt of in your philosophy."

In our Gospel lesson, we have a very brief and only passing reference to Christ’s fasting and temptation in the desert. The main thrust is Christ’s Baptism, the revelation that God is a Triune God, and the further revelation that Jesus is His only begotten Son.

But there is more: Jesus permits Himself to be baptized. He is without sin and yet He goes through the Baptism in the river Jordan. This is only one of two sacraments that Christ, Himself institutes. Yet, it is an extremely important Sacrament. And it is St. Peter who explains why:

While the ark was being prepared, wherein few, (that is, eight souls) were saved by water. The like figure to this, even baptism, doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In Baptism, we are regenerated. We are made part of Christ’s family, adopted brothers and sisters. Through our Baptism we enter into a covenant with God, as surely as circumcision was an earlier sign of the Jewish people’s covenant with God, and as surely as the rainbow is a sign of God’s covenant not to destroy the world by floods.

But, what is a covenant? Is it the Ten Commandments, or is it something else? And what is our covenant with God that we make at our Baptism?

This reminds me of the story of the Sunday School teacher who was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year old students. They had been working their way through the commandments and were now discussing the Fifth Commandment to honor our mothers and fathers. After discussing this commandment, the teacher asked the class, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” Without missing a beat, one little boy answered, “Yea, thou shalt not kill.”

When we are baptized, we are sanctified. Sanctification means two things. It means to be set apart to a sacred purpose - in other words to be consecrated. It also means to be set free from sin, to be purified. Both of these things happen in Baptism. We are consecrated and purified. This is why, in our Sacrament, we renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil. We are now God’s, and must live accordingly. It means that we now must live by God’s will and not the world’s, or the devil’s, or our own.

Jesus’ ministry did not begin until His Baptism. Once Baptized, He became sanctified, and God’s will, not His own, determined what He was to do. In fact, this is dramatically demonstrated when Jesus is praying and asks that the cup of His crucifixion be taken away, but then says to God, “Nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.”

I know this is a difficult concept. After all, Christ is God incarnate. So, why should He need sanctification? He IS already set apart; He IS already pure. The truth is that He did not NEED to be baptized. Jesus was Baptized, not because He needed it, but rather because WE need it. By being Baptized, Jesus gave us an example to follow, and a commandment that all who are Christian must be Baptized.

So with our Baptism, we no longer belong to ourselves. We belong to God. And, as children of God instead of children of men, we are to follow His commandments and His ways.

But what is God’s promise to us? For Noah, God’s promise was that the world would never be destroyed by flood. And a sign of that promise is the rainbow. So, what IS God’s promise to us?

It is amazing – it is nothing less than eternal life. And not just eternal life, but eternal life in a resurrected body that will never experience aging or death! It is a promise to live for all eternity in God’s love. What an amazing promise. And, like the rainbow, we too have a sign of this promise. It is Christ’s own resurrection and ascension into heaven.

Baptism sets us apart, making us holy and adopted children of God. Holy Communion strengthens us; strengthening our resolve to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil. But it is Christ’s own resurrection and ascension that is a sign that God has promised to all of us a wonderful gift for our faith, constancy, and commitment to Him.

And I hope that, on Easter Morning, after our long journey of prayer, fasting, abstinence, and alms-giving, that, like my students, we can point to the empty tomb and shout, “Look! God’s promise!”


Amen.

February 15th, 2009 Septuagesima
Sermon: Becoming a True Church of Grace

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” [Joshua 1:9]

In the past when I have looked at our Gospel lesson for today, I have thought of people’s individual lives. I have thought that the workers in the parable referred to individuals who come to Christ at different ages. And this interpretation is a good one. But, like most of Jesus’ parables, this one speaks on more than one level. And a second level to this parable has more to do with the age we LIVE IN rather than the age we ARE.

There are those who have lived in other ages who experienced great persecution. They were tortured, discriminated against, and basically forced to live their lives knowing that their faith may require their martyrdom. And many people in other parts of the world today still live this kind of life. These people would be like the workers called at the beginning of the day who have worked long and hard in the heat of the day.

Other ages have been ones of peace, where practicing our faith was relatively easy. In actuality these periods have been very rare. If the persecution did not come from a group that was not Christian, it came from other Christian groups, trying to stamp out a different interpretation of the faith. The French Huguenots are a group that comes quickly to mind. But there have been periods of relative peace. And we in our society currently are living in such an environment. We would be like the workers hired late in the day. We enjoy light labor, only an hour long, after the hottest part of the day has passed. But yet we are still promised the same reward as the martyrs.

But, what is also interesting about this parable is the grumbling that the workers have expressed. We do not think about it, but there have been cases in the past where those who escaped persecution were accused of being somehow less qualified to be a Christian than those who actually have gone through persecution. But this should not surprise us. There have always been those who feel superior to another group just because they have gone through what we now call, “The College of Hard Knocks.”

One such historical case involved one of the first schisms that the Church experienced. It was during the persecution of the Christians by the Roman Emperor, Diocletian. There were many Christians that were martyred during this persecution, and there were many who escaped death by denouncing their faith. When the persecution ended, some of these people repented of their weakness and returned to the Church.

One such person was the Bishop named Felix. He was considered a traitor to the faith by many in the Church in Northern Africa. Felix, in turn, consecrated another bishop to be the bishop of Carthage. But there was a group of clergy that had resisted the persecution, had never denied their faith, but had survived. They objected to this new bishop. They claimed that, because Felix had denied the faith, then his sacraments were invalid. The Church in Northern Africa decided to consecrate their own bishop, who, in turn was succeeded by Donatus, from whom the schism is named.

The Church had never had to deal with this issue. But, once this issue came up, they decided to look at whether the worthiness of the clergy affects their sacraments. The Church decided that the Donatists were wrong. The Church reasoned that, if the moral character of a priest or bishop determined whether a sacrament was valid, then many sacraments would be invalid.

Being sinful, fallen creatures, it is impossible to have perfect people as clergy. Also, if the Donatist position was upheld, all sacraments would constantly be called into question. Finally, the Church noted that the sacraments were of God and that the clergy were mere conduits of His power. Thus, it was determined that all the sacraments ARE valid regardless of the moral standing of the person conducting them.

And the Church’s decision on this issue in my opinion is right on target. As a priest, I can tell you that we are NOT perfect people. No one is. Sometimes our failings are real; other times others perceive a failing that does NOT exist.

There was a Lutheran pastor and his wife driving along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago who were pulled over for speeding. As officer O’Malley approached the pastor, he saw the pastor’s clerics, and mistook him for a Roman Catholic priest. “Oh, sorry about that Father. Uh, just try and slow it down a little. Ok?” As they drove away, the pastor’s wife said, “Shame on you Harold! That was unethical. You know who he thought you were!” “Oh, I know who he thought I was,” replied the pastor. “I’m just wondering who he thought YOU were.”

All of us are human. All of us fall short. And it should be a great comfort to know that the validity of any sacrament is NOT dependent on the virtuousness of your priest!

The point of the parable is that it does not matter when we come to Christ, what matter is that we DO COME to Him. And it does not matter if we have been persecuted for our faith, what matters is that we DO HAVE FAITH. The reward for our steadfast faith is the same:

But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’

The message to us is the same. It does not matter if we are the fortunate ones at the end of the day or the first; our reward will be the same.

But there is an additional message here for all of us. The message from Jesus Christ to all of us is that God is the God of GRACE. He is merciful and loving. He is good. That means that WE must emulate this grace. We must be the church OF grace.

To show this grace of God, we must be a loving people who accept everyone into our church AS THEY ARE. I know this is hard for us. And I am certainly NOT calling for us to compromise our faith. But people need to come here feeling safe, loved and accepted. And it MUST be sincere. It MUST be real.

Then the Holy Spirit will work upon them. They will hear the Word of God, not some watered down version. They will see the beauty and the majesty of the Sacraments. And they will be taught what it means to be a Christian. But, if they do not feel welcomed, they will tune out and turn off!

As I have said before, in education, there is a term called the “effective filter.” This filter prevents a message from getting through. When the filter is high, nothing we say is heard. When it is low, then and only then do we have an opportunity to teach.

We, as a church, MUST remove the effective filter. And the only way we can do this is to accept people as they enter our church AS THEY ARE.

This may be especially hard for many of us since we are going to try to reach Generation Y. If we succeed, we may see young people dressed very strangely. They may have tattoos. They may be pierced all over their bodies. We must look beyond their appearances to the child that lies beneath. They are our children, they are God’s children, and we need to welcome them back into the family. And I am hopeful that they will eventually become, not our children, but our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are a very good church. We are welcoming. I sincerely believe this. But, we must become better. And we can take comfort in what God tells us in our Old Testament lesson for today:

“Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

It is time we look beyond people’s appearances. It is time we let go of any preconceived notions or prejudices. It is time we look at their souls. And it is time that we become a true church of grace, where all are welcomed no matter what their particular sin may be. And with the help of God Almighty and our example of love, we may be able to reach and save some of these souls.



Amen.

January 25th, 2009 Conversion of St. Paul
Time For Change.

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” [Matthew 10:16]

Today, we are celebrating one of the most dramatic conversions in the history of the Church. And, with this one conversion came also one of the Church’s most dynamic evangelists, the Apostle Saint Paul. Because of what he was told by Christ, he brought about the acceptance of the gentiles in the Church, and the Church was dramatically changed:

‘I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

When I was away at our last Clericus, we had a speaker who was to present on church growth. The person was Bishop Fick of a group of churches once known as the Charismatic Episcopal Church. Now, I would venture to guess that, when I mention the word “charismatic,” a shutter runs down the spine of some of you, and others are excited to hear it. But, the truth is that we discussed very little as to the form of worship. Rather, what we mainly discussed was the sociological changes occurring in our society, and its ramifications for the Church. It was a very powerful discussion – both disheartening and exciting at the same time. At this time, I only want to talk about one aspect of this discussion.

Bishop Fick divided the population of the United States into four groups. The first group are those born before 1945. We call them the World War II Generation. This group is about 11% of the population, and, because of their age, shrinking daily. About 60% of these people are what we would call church-goers. They go to church on a regular basis.

The next group are those born between 1945 and 1964. They are what we call the Baby-Boomers. They make up 39% of the population, but only about 40% are church-goers.

The next group are those born between 1964 and 1978. But, please note that, the time between generational changes, is becoming shorter. They are what we call Generation X. They make up 22% of the population, but only 28% attend church. Finally, everyone else born after 1978 are grouped together and called Generation Y. It accounts for 28% of the population, but only 17% attend church.

Now, before I discuss what all these numbers mean, I want to spend a little more time on Generation Y. This group is unique for several reasons. First, we do not know yet, but there may be more than one sociological group in this catch-all category. Second, unlike previous generations, there is a big difference between Generations X and Y, and yet both groups may be brothers and sisters in the same household! The Y generation often reject what their older brothers and sisters think is important. So they are quite different. Finally, this group is hungry for traditions and some sort of connection to a community that is larger than them.

So, what does this all mean? Most of you probably have gotten the picture. If these trends continue, very quickly our nation will no longer be a “Christian” nation. In fact, I would say right off the bat that we can no longer assume that people know what Christianity is all about. Laws will no longer be based on Judeo-Christian traditions, and the assumption that church is good no longer exists. Our society is changing into one that, at best, will be neutral towards our faith, and, at worst, may become hostile.

Let me give you just one example of the change of which I am speaking. You have heard me speak of this before; and the reason I think that it hits me so hard is that, being a teacher, I readily see this. I also see how this situation is so common in families these days. They know what they would like to do, but they are put in the position of being between a rock and a hard place. And I feel for them.

When I was growing up, we NEVER had school sporting events on Sunday. Games were usually Friday or Saturday. Now, more and more schools are using the same fields. There are also more events with more and more women sports competing for the same fields. The result is that, even Catholic schools now have games and events on Sunday.

We may all shake our heads and say, “What can we do?” but, let me add one last wrinkle. If our churches only have services on Sunday, there will be young people who may want to attend church but cannot. What are they learning? What is the message that, not their family or their church, but their society is telling them? Isn’t our society basically telling them that church isn’t as important as other aspects of their lives? Isn’t the message that everything in life is first and church is second? Think about it.

In our Gospel lesson for today, Christ tells His disciples:

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.”

We may think that this situation is in the past, but that is no longer true. We have an ever growing population that has never been in church, have no idea what Christianity is all about, and have never heard the Gospel. This is not in some distant land. This is right here in our own country right now. And if we do NOT change, if we do not become like Saint Paul, bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles, then Christianity in our country WILL die out.

There is an old joke. How many Episcopalians does it take to change a light bulb? Two: one to call the electrician and one to fix the Martinis. For too long, our idea of evangelism was telling someone what church we go to over cocktails. It may have worked in the ‘40s and ‘50s, but it doesn’t work today. Now, we have to reach out as we never have before. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula. It all depends on the situation and the person as to what is the most effective way to reach them, but we MUST learn to reach. We MUST go outside our comfort level, and let people know what it means to be a Christian. And the key to me is one little word: “confidence!”

Confidence separates those who are successful from those who fail. Two people may have great ideas or great products, but if one person has no confidence in what they have, no one will buy it.

We MUST have confidence in what we believe. Either Jesus is the Christ or He is not; Either He is God incarnate or just a nice guy with a good message. We either have confidence in what we believe, or we do not. If we have no confidence, no one will believe us. But if we have confidence, even if we are “harmless as doves,” they WILL begin to believe.

Now hear is a secret that no one wants you to know or believe: Truth is, by its nature, exclusive. Let me repeat, Truth by its nature is exclusive. Either something is true or it is not. There are no competing truths. There is no middle ground. If a speeding bus is about to hit you, you do not have a choice whether to believe the bus exists or not. There is no alternative truth. The truth is like that bus. It is as absolute as a bus. It is a truth that you cannot deny.

If we believe in Christ, then there is no other choice. He made it absolutely clear. He is the ONLY way, the ONLY truth, and the ONLY life. No one, and I mean no one, reaches the Father except through Him. And we must have enough confidence to proclaim that truth.

We MUST change! Now, I know that “change” is a word that has a lot of bad connotations for us. When I say change, I do NOT mean change our faith, or our form of worship. But I DO mean that WE must change. We no longer have the luxury to wait until someone happens upon our doorstep. We MUST become like Saint Paul. We MUST become pro-active. We MUST reach out – not for our church, not for ourselves, but for all those who are living in darkness. They must be given the opportunity to hear God’s word. Nothing else is fair to them. And, as Christians, we are servants of God to spread the Word to everyone.

But there is a good part to this. The group that we have the greatest chance to reach is the Y Generation. We have what they are seeking. We have the traditions, and we have a good sense of community. We have a connection to the past for which this group is hungry.

In the science fiction book, Fahrenheit 451, it was illegal to own books. A group of people lived outside of society, beyond the reach of the government. They were called the Book People. They had memorized the great books and were waiting for society to call them back to recite these works, and re-establish literacy.

For years, we have been the theological equivalent. We know that our way of worship has merit. And as our churches rejected it all, and put in its place something quite anemic, we waited, preserving what we had in the hopes that we will be called back. The Y Generation is calling us. But are we willing to answer?

It is time for change. It is time that we claim our Christian heritage with confidence. And it is time for us to spread the good news of Christ with kindness, graciousness, and meekness so those who hear will feel God’s grace and believe.



Amen.

January 4, 2009 Epiphany
Sermon: Being Followers of Christ

“When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.” [Matthew 2:9]

In our prayer book, the Feast of the Epiphany has a second title. It is also referred to as the “Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.” This second title is extremely important to all of us. It is the fulfillment of prophesy in the Old Testament that many Jewish people missed. It is the prophetic statement that God would reached out beyond His chosen people to include in His salvation everyone, everywhere:

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

In our Gospel Lesson for today, we have the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophesy. We have God revealing Himself to the Gentiles. We have God showing them the way in a most dramatic fashion. We have the beginning of the revelation that Christ will be the Way. He will be the Light, and He will be the Life. And we have the Gentiles responding:

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

The term “Magi” references people who were astrologers, and not astronomers. The root word for “magician” is “magi” and may give us a better understanding of what these people believed. But, they were also familiar with Jewish prophetic scriptures. Thus, the light in the sky told them that a new king was born, and also knew that this new king was for the nation of Israel. What they didn’t realize was that this “King of the Jews” was not just for Jewish people but is for all people, everywhere, and for all times.

But Herod was not pleased with this revelation. We must understand that Herod was not really Jewish. Herod came from an Edomite family. He was placed in power by the Romans and was the product of the Hellenistic influence that came to Israel through Alexander the Great. The fact that Herod had to gather all his chief priests and scribes to figure out where the Christ would be born tells us that Herod did not have a strong sense of the prophesy that may affect his reign:

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, “In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, ‘And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.’”

Thus, having the Magi appear and tell him that a new king, meaning the rightful king, was born was enough to fill Herod with anger and terror. And what is more, all of Jerusalem was troubled by this news. As bad as it may have been having an Edomite as King and having a foreign power in control, there are those always who benefit from the status quo. There were those who supported Hitler, there were those who supported Stalin, and there were those who supported Herod. And the loss of Herod would mean the loss of power to many in the capital.

There are many theologians that discount the slaughter of the innocents, but this is not logical. Our own experiences in the twentieth century tell us that megalomaniacs are capable of great atrocities, especially if they feel threatened. And Herod clearly would have felt threatened by this news.

But because Herod was not really Jewish, we can understand his ignorance as to Scripture. What is fascinating is that, those who should have known, missed the signs. They did not know that the Messiah had been born. And what is worse, once the Magi revealed the reason for their dangerous trek, these people in power seemed to support Herod’s intention to destroy the Messiah. In part, this may be a reflection of the fact that they just didn’t recognize Christ’s kingship.

There once was a lion that listened in to a conversation among a group of hunters. He was fascinated because they were discussing which of the animals was truly King of the Jungle. Finally one of the hunters concluded the discussion by saying, “From everything that’s been said, it’s clear that the lion is still king of the jungle.” This pleased the lion very much.

The next day, the lion came upon a leopard. The lion let out a mighty roar and then said to the leopard, “Which animal is king of the jungle?” The leopard, shaking with fright, replied, “You are Mr. Lion.”

Then the lion came upon a tiger. He let out another mighty roar that shook the jungle, and then asked the tiger, “Which animal is king of the jungle?” Immediately the badly intimidated tiger replied, “You are Mr. Lion.”

Finally, the lion came upon an elephant. He let out another of his mighty roars and then asked, “Which animal is king of the jungle?” Whereupon the elephant wrapped her trunk around the lion’s throat, spun him around several times over her head, and threw him fifty feet where he hit a tree. The dazed lion slowly stood up, shook his head, looked over to the elephant and said, “Geese. All that fuss just because you don’t know the answer?!”

This tale of the lion is truer of this world than we often care to consider. People often declare someone to be king of this world while the real King goes unrecognized. This is, in part, because each generation is a product of their time. Things that we see clearly from hindsight, may be missed by those living during the time. In other words, those things that we consider normal, desensitizes us to those things for which we should be more aware. Our time is quite good at desensitizing us to the divine presence in this world, and to our King of Kings.

Our gospel lesson tells us that Christ is the Messiah, not just for the Jewish people, but for all people:
“How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”

He came to save us all. And what is more, even though the world may not recognize His sovereignty, Christ truly does reign, and His reign is never ending.

The Feast of the Epiphany shows us that in this world there are basically four types of people. There are those, like many of the Jewish people at the time of the Magi, who are oblivious to what is going on around them. They are so busy with the demands and the pleasures of this world that they miss the divine, even when it is as obvious as a star so bright it could be seen both in the night and the day.

There are those, like the scribes and priests who are extremely knowledgeable and well versed in scripture, but who let their preconceived notions affect their perception of the divine. In Judea, the priests and theologians believed the Messiah would be an earthly king and warrior. He would come and defeat the Romans. When Christ came as an infant and in such lowly birth, these very knowledgeable people missed it because they could not get past their prejudice.

But, there are those, like Herod, who are made aware and who, not only reject the truth, but also seek actively to destroy it. These are people who see the divine and actually hate it. They seek its destruction. These are the people who see all the world’s woes as a result of religion. They revel when priests’ fail; they take glee in fallen saints; and they are the ones who try to tarnish the reputation of anyone who is religious.

And, finally, there are those who are made aware, like the Magi, and embrace the truth no matter how far it will take them or how far-fetched it may appear at first blush. This group, I hope, includes all of us.

We are the ones who should be seeking the King; we should be seeking the Messiah; we should be seeking Christ. And when we find Him, as I hope we all have, then we have to decide whether we want to follow Him, no matter where He takes us. We are to leave all behind and follow.

Are those who do this perfect people? Hardly. The Magi were not perfect. They were involved in the occult; they were astrologers. They were also not Jewish and probably uncircumcised. But the thing that made them exceptional was their faith. And what will save us is our faith.

We have to decide who we want to be. Are we so concerned with this world that we haven’t noticed Christ? Or are we so buried in the minutia of Scripture that we haven’t notice the Spirit behind the Scripture? Have we become so sophisticated in our religious belief that we no longer have any faith? Or have we become so hateful and resentful that we seek to destroy faith? Or have we become a people who are seeking? In other words, are we following the Light of this world, namely Christ, or are we lost in the dark?

Only we can answer these questions for ourselves. But if we truly are seeking Christ, then we must allow Him to lead us, to fill us with the Holy Spirit, and to remember that the light we show forth in our faith really does not come from us, but rather through us and from Christ.
And above all, we should, like the Magi, these wise and wonderful men who braved many dangers to pay homage to a king, be followers, capable of seeing the divine whether it is a star in the heavens or a babe dressed in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.


Amen.

December 25th, 2008 Christmas
Sermon:A Ridiculous Truth

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” [John 1:14]

When I was in High School, my best friend, Tom, told me a story about his older brother. It seems that when Tom’s brother was about ten years old, he came home from school visibly troubled. Seeing this, his mom asked what was wrong. His brother responded that his friend had told him from where babies came. The mother, a little concerned and definitely curious, asked, “Well, what did he say?”

Tom’s brother proceeded to describe, fairly accurately how babies are conceived. And then he concluded by saying, “Isn’t that the most RIDICULOUS thing you’ve ever heard?!” The mom, somewhat chagrined, replied, “Well, no it’s not.” “It’s NOT!” exclaimed Tom’s brother, and then his mom explained the facts of life. She must have done a good job too, because Tom’s brother became a pediatrician.

But, just like Tom’s brother, many very intelligent people have a hard time believing one of the greatest miracles ever to occur – the Incarnation. In the Gospel of St. John, St. John attempted to explain this great miracle:

“IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

The Incarnation is the bedrock belief of the Christian faith. It IS the foundation for all our other beliefs. All other Christian beliefs, dogmas, principles for life, worship, and theology all radiate out from this one point. From our belief that Jesus is God-Made-Man, we view Holy Scripture and the world around us. Likewise, remove this belief and all our other theological beliefs collapse like a house of cards.

Yet, like naïve children, many of us find it hard to believe. We cannot wrap our minds around this very profound theological belief. And, because our minds cannot fully understand it, many of us reject it. That is why Saint John wrote:

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”

Who God is and whether Jesus is God-incarnate are not easy concepts in which to believe. And I submit that only a child can truly understand the mystery of the Incarnation. And here is the true irony. For worldly things like from where children come, children have a hard time believing what is true, but for the Holy Mysteries, it is the children who truly understand and the adults who have a hard time!

This reminds me of the story about the children of a Catholic elementary school that were lined up in the cafeteria for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted it on the apple tray. It read: “Take only ONE. God is watching.” Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table, was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note: “Take all you want. God is watching the apples.”

So, what is it about children that give them the ability to understand? I submit it is their ability to believe in something they cannot see. As we become adults and become increasingly jaded, we become more like doubting Thomas who had to place his fingers in the wounds left by the nails to believe and less like Nathanael who just needed to hear that Jesus had seen him under a fig tree to believe. We want proof; we demand proof. And we start losing the ability to comprehend the truly mysterious!

The ability to believe in the Incarnation comes from our faith – and nothing else. Without the lens of faith, we see nothing. The miracle of life itself becomes nothing more than chemical reactions that produce neurological charges. Being a former atheist, I can tell you that, for those who do not have faith, the world lacks all mystery. The world becomes drab, like a movie in black and white. But with faith, the miraculous can be seen, and suddenly life is in Technicolor! And that alone is a miracle produced by faith.

But faith does not stop there. With faith, not only do we start to see and understand the miraculous and the mysterious, we start to see God! All of a sudden, what we never perceived before becomes self-evident. We see God and feel His presence. No wonder Saint John describes Christ as the “Light!”

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.”

Tomorrow, as we approach our Christmas trees and the presents that lie beneath, wrapped in colorful paper, let us remember how magical that day once was when we were young. Let us try to recapture the awe and wonder we felt. And then, let us transfer that feeling to the one Gift given to us all by God, Himself – His only-begotten Son, Jesus the Christ. If we do this, I promise that the Light which is Christ will shine in our hearts. And like so many children, we will understand what Saint John wrote:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

And we too will have faith and believe.


Amen.


December 14th, 2008 Advent III
Sermon: Having a Child’s Faith and an Adult’s Intelligence.

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.” [John 1:6-7]

Jesus once told His disciples, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” Since that time, it has been debated and sermonized what exactly Christ meant when He said this. And sometimes we see where this childlike faith has been a little off.

At Sunday school, they were teaching how God created everything, including human beings. A little boy was especially interested when he heard that Eve was created out of one of Adam’s ribs. Later in the week, his mother noticed the boy lying down as though he was ill. She asked, “Billy, what’s the matter?” The boy answered, “I have a pain in my side. I think I’m going to have a wife.”

But, at this time of the year when we see the wide eyed acceptance of the mystery of Christmas by children, it becomes patently clear what it means to receive the kingdom of God as a little child.

Because of this, one of the first things I did as a rector that broke with our past is to propose that we institute First Holy Communion. One of the reasons I did this is because, when our children waited until confirmation to receive communion, by then they seemed to have lost the ability to appreciate the mystery surrounding Holy Eucharist. In fact, those children who went through First Holy Communion seem to understand and accept that mystery more readily than any teenager I have ever met.

Our lessons for today deal with a different kind of mystery. It deals with prophesy and true prophets:

“Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said: “I am:
‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Make straight the way of the Lord,”’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

For the Pharisees and for many, this answer by Saint John was troubling. Did Saint John really answer the Pharisees? For us who have the advantage of hindsight, we can see that Saint John was answering this question without guile. But for the Pharisees, I am not so sure it was as readily apparent. To them, it may have seemed like Saint John was playing a game or being evasive. But it turned out they were wrong. Saint John WAS the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

For us, it is even harder to discern between the true prophet and the false one. There is an independent Charismatic faith healer who is quite popular. I have seen him advertised for several mega churches in San Jose. This man claims that he has raised many people from the grave, yet, when pressed, he cannot produce one name. With such people claiming to be prophets and with their acceptance by some churches, is it no wonder we are skeptical of any man or woman’s claim to be a prophet of the Lord?

But God does send messengers into the world. He gives them a message that the world needs to hear. They are called prophets. Unfortunately, there are so many charlatans out there that they often get lost in the crowd. However, it is important for us Christians to be able to distinguish the true prophet from the charlatan. And we CAN do this.

In the Old Testament, the prophets shared several things. The first is that, they were willing to tell the world what it did not want to hear. If someone flatters and tells us exactly what we want to hear, most likely this person is not a true prophet. But this too is not enough.

The other thing that the Old Testament prophets shared is that they would prophesy events to occur in the near future as well as in the distant future. The reason they did this was to validate that they were true prophets. If their prophecy for the near future came true, the listener could be reassured that the future prophecy would also be true. And this, in turn harkens back to Deuteronomy, Chapter 18, verses 21 and 22:

And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

This is also true with anyone who comes after Christ claiming to be a prophet. In the Epistle lesson appointed for today, Saint Paul writes:

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

“Test all things!” This is crucial. God gave us intelligence as a gift. It is a tool He expects us to use it. Therefore, we are not to blindly accept a person’s claim. We are to test it. In fact, we are to test all things.

I was speaking to a lady I know at school. She and I were talking about how, as we have become more grounded in the Word of God, we tend to have a sense when someone is telling the truth and when someone is lying. And, I believe this is true. But even someone well grounded in the Word can be duped. This is when we Christians are the most vulnerable; not when we are naïve, but when we think our “instincts” have become so finely tuned that we no longer need our intellect. Rather, God wants us to use both. Use our instincts by all means, but use our intellect as final arbiter. We MUST test ALL things, including ourselves. And this is the hardest part of all.

But there is something more that Saint Paul tells us, something that the Pharisees were unable to do. We are NOT to quench the Spirit. We are NOT to despise prophecies, especially those we do not want to hear. But we ARE to test ALL claims, including claims of being guided by the Holy Spirit.

There are some people today who try to support their agendas by claiming to be guided by the Holy Spirit. We do not know for sure if they are telling us the truth, but we must test what they say. My fear is that many of them have no faith, and therefore invoke the Holy Spirit without fear, in a very cavalier and Machiavellian disregard for what they are really doing. But again we must test.

However, let us NOT go to the other extreme, either. False prophets have been on the earth for a very long time. And their goal is to destroy our faith. We must not permit this. While guarding against the charlatans, we are to also accept that prophecy is possible and does happen. We must also accept that the Holy Spirit IS guiding us, and we must encourage this. We are to fan the flame of the Holy Spirit with the faith of a child, and at the same time, we are to test all claims, not like someone who is jaded, but rather as someone who believes such things are possible. This, in part, is what Christ meant when he said we are to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves.

If we are able to do this, if we are able to have a child’s faith with an adult’s ability to reason, we can start to believe that what Isaiah tells us today will eventually come true. We too can believe him when he foretells:

“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.

We know that much of what Isaiah prophesied has come true, including the birth of Christ. We can therefore accept this prophecy with a child’s faith, and have confidence that, when Christ comes again, the lion WILL lie down with the lamb, and peace, a true peace will rule the Earth.

So, let us not be jaded. Let us believe that peace on earth, good will to Man IS possible. We CAN believe with a child’s confidence, as long as we guide it with an adult’s intelligence.



Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 11:16 AM

 
September 28th, 2008
Sermon: Our Ladder to Heaven

And he saith unto him, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ‘Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.’” [St. John 1:51]

There has been a lot of controversy lately as to what it means to be a Christian. Some churches have actually created a litmus test. For some, you are not a Christian if you vote Republican; others accuse you of not being a Christian if you vote Democrat. Some state that you are not Christian if you are Pro-Choice; others, if you are pro-death penalty. And the list goes on and on.

But, according to the Bible, these are NOT the litmus test. According to the Gospel, there is but one test. That test is whether we believe in Christ. Now, true, to see if someone is genuinely a believer, one has to look at the “fruit” he produces. A true Christian, a true believer will produce “good fruit.” But this is for us to see if we are fearful that we are being misled. The true test is whether we believe in Christ.

As Christians, as soon as we accept Christ as our personal savior, our choices narrow to only one. As soon as we believe in Christ, we necessarily can ONLY believe that He is the sole way to salvation. And the reason for this is that He, Himself has told us so:

Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”

Yet, this great truth creates a great stumbling block for many, especially in our country. Our national belief is that all faiths should be tolerated; in fact, it is stronger than this now. We believe that all beliefs should be respected. And this IS a very Christian belief, as well. Love for our neighbors necessitates honoring their faiths. However, what happens too often is that respect and honor turns into something else.

There are many who say they are Christian but believe that Christ is A way and not THE way. And this belief seems to stem from some sense of ‘fairness’ or entitlement.

As I understand it, there is basically only one argument coming from two different vantage points. The first is a hypothetical: what if someone were really, really, really good, but not a Christian, will he go to hell? The usual example is Mahatma Gandhi. The second is that our friends are not Christian, but we ‘know’ they are good. How come they don’t get to go to heaven? The first vantage point is from a sense of justice. The other from entitlement, that we are all entitled to heaven unless we do something really bad, and even then maybe still we should be entitled. But both of these arguments miss an important point: free choice.

Yesterday, I spoke with a lady who is a very devout Christian and very grounded in the Bible. And, no, she is not a parishioner. Anyway, being an election year, our conversation drifted into politics and then abortion. She then said something that was totally unexpected.

We were talking about free will and she said, “Isn’t it funny that China mandates abortion, and there are those in our country who want to mandate that no one be allowed to have an abortion. One requires the abortion without choice; the other requires the birth of the child without choice. Both seem to me to be trying to take away free choice,” she said. Now, I bring this up not to say I agree with her statement, but rather I bring it up because the notion of “free choice” has somehow gotten lost in our post-modern world.

Our world has tried to scientifically dismiss free choice. They talk about humans as being genetically predisposed to certain things as if they believe in pre-destination. Although it is true that things we thought to be a matter of choice, such as being left-handed, or being an alcoholic, has been shown to have biological bases. But these scientists tout a gene for faith, or a gene that causes us to lie, to cheat, or to steal. They also make these claims with very little, if any evidence, just to further their own personal agendas. There is a systematic need for some people to eliminate the notion of free choice, reducing us to neurological impulses and hormones.

But free choice is a reality. I know individuals who were raised in our society who supposedly understand Christianity, yet choose to be Hindu, or Buddhist, or Wiccan, or even Druid. We choose whether we will worship God or not. And we choose to believe in Christ or not.

Now, one corollary to the belief that Christ is only one of many ways is the question of what would become of a hypothetical person that never knew about Christ, and who never heard the Gospel proclaimed. First, in our world, this is becoming increasingly rare. But second, the Church fathers and the Church in general has always proclaimed that God is just. And here is where ALL the arguments fall apart. We do not have to worry about ANY given hypothesis because we know God IS just. In Psalm 103, we read:

6 The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment * for all them that are oppressed with wrong.

And:

8 The LORD is full of compassion and mercy, * longsuffering, and of great goodness.

And also:

17 But the merciful goodness of the LORD endureth for ever and ever upon them that fear him; * and his righteousness upon children's children;

God knows all. He knows what is in our hearts and in our souls. He will do the right thing. To not trust God on this matter is truly the act of prideful man. To think we can do a better job judging than God is to fall into the same sin as Satan and Adam and Eve.

This reminds me of the story of two boys who were walking home from Sunday school. Both were pretty shook up after hearing a strong lesson on the devil. One boy said to the other, “What do you think about all this Satan stuff?” The second boy shook his head and replied, “Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out. It’s probably just your Dad.”

When I was at Georgetown, I took a course in Bio-Ethics with all my pre-med friends. The nun who taught the course was very interesting. One of the things she taught us is that moral decisions should not be made on the “hard” choices. Thus, the case of the severely deformed fetus should not be the basis for deciding the issue of abortion, especially since ninety percent of the cases involve only normal fetuses.

Likewise, to decide that Christ is a way instead of the way based on the hardest hypothetical is not sound. It should be based on the average situation. And the average situation in our society is that people have heard of Christ and rejected that choice. They have made a free choice not to believe. But ultimately, we can rest assured that God WILL be just, and fair, and we need not worry.

Our lessons for today make it clear that Christ is the only way to heaven and to God. In our Old Testament lesson, Jacob has a dream. In the dream, Angels are ascending to God and descending to Earth on a ladder:

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Christ, when speaking to Nathaniel, alludes to this passage when He says:

And he saith unto him, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ‘Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.’”

What Christ is attempting to make clear is that He is truly the ONLY way to reach God. He IS the Ladder; He is THE way. He is THE truth. And He is THE life. No other method, no other prophet, no other faith can bridge heaven and earth.

Now, as I have said several times before, whether a non-Christian will be let into heaven is not for us to know. Consequently, we are never to judge as if we DO know. But for us who believe in Jesus and believe that He is, not only the Christ, but God incarnate, we MUST believe that Christ IS the only way. If we do not, then we truly do not believe in Christ; for He tells us emphatically with little variance or wiggle room that He is the ONLY way. If we do not believe His word, then how can we believe in HIM?

For each of us, we must make a choice – a FREE choice. We must choose either to believe Christ or to reject His word. If we reject His word, we reject God. If we believe His word, then we believe in Him. And if we believe in Him, we must do what Christ asks us to do. We must love God with all our heart, soul, and mind; and we must love our neighbor as ourselves. And finally, we must spread the Gospel. We must share with others our belief that Christ is the way, the truth and the life. And we must do so respectfully understanding that others may not comprehend, yet. We must do it with love, with respect, and with understanding. For isn’t that what Christ did? And if we do these things, we too will help to share our Ladder to heaven.

Amen.

September 21st. 2008
Sermon: Follow Me.

“AND as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, “Follow me.” And he arose, and followed him.” [St. Matthew 9:9]

Today, we are celebrating the feast of St. Matthew, and it struck me how Jesus chose some of the most “unusual” disciples to be Apostles. Jesus did not select His disciples from those who were famous amongst the Jewish people for being allegedly the most “holy.” In fact, many of the Apostles were of humble origins. They were unknown, and most likely would not have been considered the most “worthy.” But some were actually outcasts. In fact, Saint Matthew was one of the worst outcasts. He was a publican, which is another name for a tax collector.

No one likes taxes. Arthur Godfrey once said, “I am proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is – I could be just as proud for half the money.” But, as bad as paying taxes may seem, there are many who hate those charged with its collection.

Steve Forbes tried to obtain the Republican nomination on the issue of the adoption of a flat income tax. His promise was that, if we adopted a flat tax, then we could dismantle the Internal Revenue Service. Archeologists uncovered a 3,000-year-old tablet in Iraq. The inscription on it said, “You can have a Lord, you can have a King, but the man to fear is the tax collector.”

Now, hatred of the tax collector in ancient times was not unreasonable. The tax collector was a paid extortionist who traveled with soldiers. He had the power to rough up and even kill those who did not pay. Additionally, he was given authority to take a cut over the tax he was to collect. The result was that the tax collector often took a lot, leaving people almost destitute. And Saint Matthew was a tax collector.

I read a statement once which seems to apply to Saint Matthew very well. It said, “Every Saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” This seems truly apropos and should give each of us some comfort.

But we all know that Jesus consorted with the “untouchables” of His society. He dined with well known sinners. And this fact is celebrated often and regularly in our modern churches. However, what is often left out is Christ’s explanation that He gives the Pharisees:

But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice;’ for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The modern church will say, and rightly so, that everyone is welcomed at church because Jesus welcomed everyone. After all, a church without sinners is an empty church. However, what the modern church fails to include is that Jesus was calling the sinner to repentance. Sinners gravitated to Christ because He embodies God’s grace and forgiveness. The sinners could feel God’s love and the call to come back to God. But there is a need to repent. Christ makes it clear that sinners must repent of their sins and turn to God. And sinners still need to repent.

There is no doubt that we are all sinners. There is no doubt that we have to repent of our sins and try to amend our lives. Will we never sin again? Hardly. It would be a fantasy to believe that we will never sin again. But that does not mean we are not to repent and try to change. And this need to repent; the need to try to change to bring us in alignment with God is what is missing in many of our modern churches.

Please note how Christ called Saint Matthew to repentance. It was simple, and it was direct:

AND as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, “Follow me.”

What was Saint Matthew’s reaction? He followed. To me, this is one of the most powerful statements. It is as powerful as the statement that Jesus wept. And what makes this statement so powerful is that, Jesus says the SAME thing to EACH of us. He has called all of us with one simple command: “Follow me.”

But what does it mean to follow Christ? Is it really as simple as it sounds?

First, Christ uses the command “Follow me” with each of his Apostles, starting with St. Peter and St. Andrew. The same phrase is used several more times in the Gospels, and we can learn from what they indicate.

When a disciple asked if he could bury his father first, Christ’s response seems cruel. Christ said let the dead bury themselves. He needs to follow Christ immediately. Later, Christ tells His disciples:

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

Finally, when asked by a young man what he must do to obtain eternal life, Christ quotes the law and says for him to keep the commandments. When the young man says that he is keeping all the laws, but wants to know what he is lacking, the response is telling:

Jesus said unto him, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.”

Of course the young man is downcast because he has a lot of money. Then Christ says something we have all heard before, but probably do not fully understand. Christ says that it is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven.

This saying has often been misunderstood. There is a gate into Jerusalem that was called the “Eye of a Needle.” It is very narrow and low. In order for a camel to enter through this gate, it must be fully unpacked. Then, once on the other side, it must be re-packed. Basically it seems clear that Christ was alluding to the baggage a wealthy person carries. If they are not willing to let go, they cannot enter.

So, what does Christ want us to do when He calls us to follow Him? Must we carry a cross? Must we sell all that we have? The answer is not so simple.

The first thing we must do is take a good, long look at ourselves. This is hard to do. None of us truly wants to be honest with ourselves. But we must. We must know ourselves well enough that we can acknowledge, first, that we are sinners, and second, that we need Christ. If we do not acknowledge our failings, we can never see why we need Christ. But, if we do, then we must realize that we cannot gain heaven on our own.

Any alcoholic can tell you that the first thing they must admit is that they have a problem. The second is that they cannot lick this problem on their own. This is also true for each of us. We must acknowledge this and accept Christ if we hope to follow Him.

Next, we need to let go! So many of us hold on to things so tightly that we become owned by the very thing we seek to possess. As one who became a lawyer because I wanted the money and prestige, I can tell you, it is a trap. Following a calling is one thing, but prizing something as a possession is another. In time the thing we want to possess becomes our god. And then, we become possessed by them. The pursuit of things can easily drive us further away from God. But it doesn’t have to be.

And here again, we must know ourselves. For some, wealth becomes a stumbling block. For others, it is power. And for others still, it is vanity. And for even others, it is physical pleasures. We must know what is our own particular weakness. We must recognize what can drive a wedge between us and God. And we must resist or even eliminate this temptation.

Finally, we must realize that following Christ has a cost. As Christians, we need to recognize that some will discount our opinions just because we are Christians. Others may avoid us. Still, in other parts of the world, we may be persecuted or even killed for our beliefs. It may be less costly for us in this country. It may be just missing a ball game in order to go to church. But there is a cost. And this cost is our Cross. If we are not willing to bear the cross we are given, then are we really prepared to follow Christ? I think not.

All of us are called by Christ to follow Him. This means several things. It means admitting our sins and recognizing that we need Christ. It also means letting go of anything and everything that would prevent us from following. For each of us, this is a different thing – a different temptation. But, in the end, the result is the same. If we cannot let go, it will eventually possess us, and drive a wedge between us and Christ. Finally, we must be willing to pay the price for our faith no matter how minor or how severe.

Yet, what we gain from following Christ is immeasurable. Being loved by God, feeling that incredible love, and living in that love is amazing. Knowing that all our sins are forgiven is immensely liberating. And knowing that in Heaven an incomprehensible reward is waiting is worth whatever pain we may suffer in this life. This is what is meant by that simple phrase “Follow me.” And it is to what we have all committed.
Amen.

September 14th. 2008
Sermon: Being Authentic Christians.

“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” [St. Matthew 18:20]

There is a book called Mistreated written by Ron Lee Davis. In that book, Mr. Davis recounts the bizarre story of a millionaire who owned a lot in an exclusive residential area of a large city. The lot was only a couple of yards wide by a hundred feet long. There was nothing he could practically do with such an oddly proportioned piece of property but sell it to one of his two neighbors.

He first approached his neighbor on his east side to see if the neighbor was interested, but the neighbor offered a ridiculously low price. So, he then approached the neighbor on the west. But that neighbor only offered a few dollars more than the first. The millionaire exploded. “That’s not even one-tenth of what the lot is worth!” But the neighbor answered smugly, “Look. I’ve got you over a barrel. You can’t sell that lot to anyone else and you can’t build on it. So there is my offer. Take it or leave it.”

The millionaire was so incensed that he hired an architect and a contractor to build one of the strangest houses ever built. Only five feet wide, but running the full length of the property, it is a burrow of tiny rooms, each barely able to accommodate a stick of furniture. When it was finished, the millionaire moved into this impractical, uncomfortable house. And he stayed there until he died. The house is known as the “Spite House,” and stands as a monument to one man’s hatred and vengeance.

I tell this story because it is typically human. It is what we mean when we say someone has cut off their nose to spite their face. And yet it is the antithesis of our lesson for today.

In our Gospel lesson, Saint Peter asks Jesus how often he should forgive someone. The question is typically human and legalistic. He wants to know if it should be seven times. That is a legitimate question and number given the Mosaic Law. But Christ’s response is and would be surprising to His audience:

Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

To any of us, this response seems to mean that we are to forgive 490 times, but this is wrong. Back in the ancient Roman Empire where the zero had not yet been invented by the Arabs and that they were using notation like Roman numerals, 7 times 70 was considered an irrational number. Like pi, it was believed in Judea at the time of Christ that if you multiplied these numbers, the answer would go on forever.

So, what Christ is saying here is that we are to ALWAYS forgive. There is no set number. In fact, the amount is infinite. That would have shocked anyone at that time, and I dare say shocks people today – IF they really pay attention to the message.

My fear is that many of us have heard this so many times and have heard or read so many sermons on this that it no longer has any impact. But let us stop and think.

Deacon Vogel’s sermon last week spoke eloquently on this issue. He said that one of the hardest and most demanding words in the Bible is “as.” We are to be forgiven our trespasses “as” we forgive others their trespass against us. That IS our lesson for today, as well!

The parable of the debtor being forgiven a huge debt just to turn around and throw someone else in jail because they owe him a little is precisely about what we are talking.

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.

As many of you know, I am half Sicilian, and as you may imagine, I know of many good grudges. I had one great Aunt who had a fight with her best friend and swore never to speak to her again. Her friend was her next door neighbor. And my aunt kept that grudge for over forty years until the neighbor died, never speaking to her again even as the woman was on her death bed.

That reminds me of the story of John and George who both were in their seventies. They had been friends since their high school days, but both were opinionated and stubborn. Because of this, they often got into fights and wouldn’t speak to each other for months. Such a fight occurred recently, and currently, John and George weren’t speaking to each other. But then George became critically ill. He asked for John to come to the hospital to make amends before George died. He took John’s hand in his and whispered, “John, I forgive you. Will you forgive me?” John was deeply moved and was about to respond when George bellowed, “But remember, if I don’t die, if I get well again, this doesn’t count!”

As Christians, we believe that Jesus is, not only the Messiah, but God incarnate. This is extremely important. This means that what Christ tells us about God is absolutely, positively the way He thinks, and feels, and judges! This message from Christ is therefore not just nice or pleasant. It is IMPERITIVE!

In Monty Python’s “Life of Brian,” Jesus is giving His Sermon on the Mount. There are a group of people so far away that they don’t hear Christ correctly. Thus they think Jesus is saying, “Blessed are the cheese makers,” instead of “peace makers.” And blessed are the “Greek,” instead of the “meek.” But, in the latter case, someone finally hears and says in a somewhat Cockney accent, “Oh isn’t that nice.”

I do not want you to listen to this message and think, “Oh isn’t that nice.” Or, “Sure we should strive for this, but it’s really not going to happen. It’s unrealistic.” I want you to accept this as the word of God that this IS TRULY how it is. IF we do NOT forgive, we will NOT be forgiven! If this doesn’t put the fear of God in you, I am not sure if anything will. But we must forgive. This IS our commandment!

Last week, I went to the Antiochian Orthodox Church which has been rebuilt since an arsonist burned it down. One of the few things remaining was their processional Bible. All the pages were burnt and unreadable except for one excerpt to which, in the middle of all the burnt rubble, the book was opened. It read:

“but I say unto you, ‘That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.’”

I heard their rector give a sermon about how they must forgive the person who burnt down their church. It was powerful, and moving. But it was also essential for them to hear this message. It was necessary for their souls’ health. This IS the essence of being a Christian. This IS the essence of living the Gospel.

This week, we had a minor vandalism occur at the church. It wasn’t as dramatic as our sanctuary being burnt down. But, even this minor vandalism we need to forgive.

Today, we also remember the victims of 9/11. This was a horrific act by evil men against the innocent. But we must forgive this too.

This does not mean, however, that we do not seek justice if it is available to us. As Christians, it is also our duty to protect the innocent and promote justice. Yet, we still must learn a way to forgive our enemies in our hearts.

Is this easy? Hardly. Even as I say this I know how incredibly hard this is and how often I fail at it. But we need to learn to forgive our trespassers, for, in doing so, we are forgiven our trespasses. We must not seek revenge or live in our own house of spite.

Only when we have learned how to honestly, in our hearts, forgive our enemies will we understand what it means to be truly and authentically Christian.



Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 11:07 AM

 
Sermon: August 10th, 2008
Stepping Out in Faith.

“And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’” [Matthew 14:31]

Two weeks ago, I spoke with you about the concept of wisdom. This week, I would like to speak with you about ‘faith.’

In our lessons for today, we must deal with faith on two different levels. Both Jonah and Christ literally talk about faith. They speak as to the issue of faith. But there is another level to faith in our lessons. Jonah was swallowed by a giant fish. Christ and Saint Peter walked on water. Both of these events are fantastic and, for many modern people, may challenge our faith. After all, we ‘know’ that Jonah couldn’t have possibly been swallowed by a fish, and we ‘know’ that even IF Christ could walk on water, Saint Peter couldn’t. Both events to the modern mind are impossible, but are they?

‘Faith’ is defined in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as a “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.” Is this truly what we have? Or is our faith something a little different than this definition? Hold on to these two questions and I promise I will address them. But, for now, I would like to look at these stories more closely.

The Book of Jonah is one of my favorite Old Testament books for several reasons. First, God calls Jonah to a difficult mission. He must tell the people of Nineveh to repent or they will be destroyed. Jonah is convinced that if he does this, he will be killed. This is a dilemma that all good pastor’s face. Sometimes the lesson we are to teach is not the one that most people want to hear. And there is a fear of castigation.

This reminds me of the story of the visiting preacher who delivered a carefully prepared sermon. As people filed out of the church, they all told him how wonderful it was. Finally, one man came up to him and said, “That was a terrible sermon.” This threw the preacher a bit, but he was able to keep his composure even though he saw the man get back in line. When the parishioner came up again to the preacher, he said, “The stories you told in your sermon were dull and boring. I’ve been hearing them since I was a little boy.” Just then another parishioner came up to the visiting pastor and said, “Pay no mind to that man. He’s not very bright. He just repeats what he hears everyone else saying.”

Jonah was so scared of being abused or even martyred that he disobeyed God. He tried to run away by sailing on a ship away from Nineveh. But God stopped him. Between the storm and the giant fish, Jonah was stopped. While in the fish, he was able to repent:

When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.

He went to Nineveh and preached repentance. What happens next is truly telling. The people of Nineveh repented! They listen to Jonah and changed. But that is not the end. Was Jonah happy when the people repented of their sins? No! He was angry at God that God doesn’t destroy them; he was angry that God is willing to show mercy to those who listen.

This strikes me as being incredibly accurate in capturing human nature. How many of us have seen someone who is religious but who would rather see justice than mercy in certain situations? After all, this is what Christ warns us about in so many parables.

Remember the parable of the workers who all get paid the same amount no matter how late in the day they started? What was the reaction of some of the workers? Wasn’t it that it was “unfair?” Jonah wanted mercy for himself, but justice for others. He wanted the people in Nineveh punished even though God showed HIM, Jonah, mercy. This is the double-standard into which ALL of us fall. And this is a powerful lesson for all of us to remember.

Likewise, I love Saint Peter. He is the quintessential opposite of what we would expect of a disciple of Christ. That is why I believe the Gospels to be true. No one except Christ is perfect. In fact, if anything, the Apostles are severely flawed. Saint Peter is asleep in two critical times; once at the Transfiguration, and once in the Garden of Gethsemane just before Christ was arrested. Then we have Saint Peter stating that he would “never” betray Christ, just to be told that he would betray Him, and he does – THREE TIMES! Finally, in our lesson for today, we have Saint Peter walking on water until he gets to the middle of the lake and realizes he shouldn’t be able to do it. The wind is blustery, and the waves are choppy. Saint Peter gets scared, loses faith, and starts to sink. I really love him!

There is no doubt in my mind that both of these stories are accurate. We are such proud creatures that we tend to think what we know now is complete. There is nothing more that will be discovered. WE and we alone have the complete sum of all knowledge. It is the vanity of modern man to think this way. But it is wrong!

As many of you may know, Marconi invented the wireless. He invented what we now call the radio. When he started sending wireless messages, it was only over short distances. As Marconi increased the power and efficiency of his equipment, he found that he could send wireless waves over longer and longer distances. Finally, he became bold enough to think about transmitting a signal across the Atlantic Ocean.

But the experts laughed at this idea. They assured him that because wireless waves, like light, traveled in straight lines, and because the world is round, the wireless waves would not follow the curvature of the earth, but would rather go out into space. Logically, based on what they knew at the time, the experts were right. But Marconi tried, persisted and succeeded in sending a signal across the Atlantic. Neither Marconi nor the experts knew about the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer in the upper atmosphere, which bounced back the wireless waves that would otherwise have streamed off into space. By not listening to the experts Marconi was able to prove them wrong.

We do not know whether there is a fish large enough to swallow a man. We do not know if God created it for this purpose and this purpose alone. We also do not know for a fact if Christ or Saint Peter walked on water, but consider this, why would these tales be included if not true? It is not like they would convince people that the stories are accurate. Rather, they are more likely to convince people that the Bible is fiction. However, I submit that there was a need for the writers of Scripture to report things accurately. Although the modern concept of history did not exist at this time, nevertheless, because these stories were seen as Holy, the writers probably felt a need to report them truthfully.

So let us return to my questions. Is our faith a firm belief in something for which there is no proof? Or is our faith something a little different than this? Clearly it is different. We DO have proof! We have eye witness accounts. We have miracles and visions. We have fulfilled prophesies and prophesies waiting to be fulfilled. And we have the martyrdom of these eye witnesses who would rather die than recant what they say they saw. These are powerful pieces of evidence that support our faith.

But let’s look at one last thing. In our Gospel lesson, we have the Apostles in a boat, scared that they see a ghost when they see Christ walking on the water. Christ realizes this, and calls out for them to relax, because it is He. Then Saint Peter responds:

And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

Now, many people have written on the failed faith of Saint Peter, how he believed and then became frightened. As long as he believed, his faith buoyed him up and prevented him from sinking. Once Saint Peter realized that the waves were treacherous, he became frightened, lost his faith, and started to sink. This is all well and good, but I want you not to think of Saint Peter. Rather, think about the eleven other Apostles who had so little faith that they never even stepped out of the boat! They didn’t want to take a chance. They KNEW that the waves were dangerous. They KNEW they were going to drown. ONLY Peter had enough faith to step out of that boat and start walking on water toward Jesus.

Here is our lesson; here is where we must look into our hearts. Would we be like Saint Peter? Or would we be in the boat with Saint John and Saint Thomas and Judas? Are we fearless when it comes to our faith like Saint Peter or are we one of the frightened pups in the boat?

Faith is NOT an easy thing. Being a Christian can be down right dangerous. But, in order to be good Christians, we MUST be willing and able to put our fears aside. We must be able to proclaim our faith, no matter what the “reality” of the situation may be, and no matter what the consequences.

Being able to defend our faith demands that we know of which we speak. We must know the Bible and what it means. But we also must be willing to take the plunge. We have to be willing to fly without a safety net; we must be willing to proclaim the Gospel every chance we get; and we must be willing to say, “Yes, I AM a Christian; I DO believe everything in the Nicene Creed; and I DO believe that Christ is the only way.”

In other words, like Saint Peter, we must be willing to step out of the boat in faith. And if we are willing to do so, we will be able to join Jonah in proclaiming:

“I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.”


Amen.


Sermon: July 27th, 2008
What Is Wisdom?

“Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil.” [1 Kings 3:9]

The concept of wisdom, I suspect, is a concept that many modern people really do not understand. I am afraid that many people equate wisdom with knowledge, or with instinct or intuition, or with cleverness or cunning. But wisdom is not really any of these things.

And, for us Christians, knowing what wisdom is, is essential in understanding what the Bible says. If we do not know what wisdom truly is, we cannot understand what the Bible means when it speaks of “wisdom.” Therefore, we need to understand this important concept, and our lessons for today address this issue very well.

However, before we look at our lessons for today, let us start where the Bible tells us is the start of wisdom. In Psalm 111, verse 10, we have this very powerful statement:

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Modern man does not like to hear words “fear of the Lord.” They will say, “Why should I fear the Lord. Fear is an emotion that makes God out to be a bully. Fearing God is an old superstition and is indicative of primitive man. God should not be feared.” However, almost all Bible translations have “fear of the Lord” in this passage. One has translated this passage as “Reverence for the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” This seems to me to be a bow to modernity or a reluctance to say that fear in fact may be healthy.

There are people in the world who are born without the ability to feel pain. We may think this is a great benefit, but in fact, it is a great handicap. They cannot feel the pain of a burn or a broken bone, and as a result the life expectancy of these people is VERY short. I would liken a lack of a healthy fear of the Lord to someone born unable to feel pain. Without a healthy understanding of and respect for God’s authority and power, we are likely to err greatly.

Much of what we grow to learn about God is not readily apparent. But a healthy, do I dare say, “fear” may prevent us from harming ourselves before we gain the necessary wisdom to understand. After all, God’s anger and displeasure has resulted in actions that should be viewed with awe AND fear. Fear in this case is an appreciation of God’s power and authority, and it is the beginning of wisdom, but not its end.

In our Old Testament lesson, we have Solomon praying to God. He is worried. He is King; he needs to be a good ruler. And he asks God for a discerning heart. God’s response is VERY revealing:

Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you.”

God valued Solomon’s request for several reasons. The first is that it was not a selfish request. He did not ask for long life, perpetual youth, or incredible wealth. He asked for a discerning heart in order to be a good and just ruler. God appreciated this understanding on Solomon’s part. This is another aspect of wisdom. It is an understanding that we have duties; we have responsibilities that go with our station in life.

A mother who acts like she is a single teenager or a father who ignores his responsibility to his family would never be seen as wise. But a parent who recognizes his or her role and self-sacrifices for the betterment of their children would be considered wise. Therefore, wisdom is also the ability to look beyond oneself and one’s own self interest. A wise person chooses what is best, not what is best for him or herself.

Second, Solomon humbled himself. He acknowledged his limitations and knew he needed God’s help. He was willing to ask. This is also wisdom. Knowing ones limitation is wisdom, but knowing that we need to depend on God is even a greater wisdom. As Americans, we are taught that self-reliance is a virtue; being a rugged individual is a goal. But this is not necessarily wise. Knowing that we need God and being able to humble ourselves is wise. It rejects pride and acknowledges our need for help from God.

But let us also look at our New Testament lesson for today. We have five parables stringed together telling us what the “kingdom of heaven’ is like. Two of the parables deal with the strength and the growth of the faith. These are the mustard seed and the leavening of bread. It starts out small, but grows mighty and changes everything all around it. One parable deals with the final judgment, separating the good from the bad. But the other two parables deal with the VALUE of faith – the value of the kingdom of God. These two deal with wisdom:

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Here is where wisdom gets confused with knowledge and cunning. Wisdom gives us the ability to perceive the intrinsic value of something. In fact, we may try to teach others or even to warn, but if the person being taught or warned does not have the wisdom to understand, he will reject what is being offered. Wisdom is NOT the ability to see what others do not, but it IS the ability to understand what is being seen.

In The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare explored this aspect of wisdom. Portia’s father set up a test for her suitors which exposed their worthiness. The would-be suitor had to choose between three caskets, each of which had an inscription. The first was gold with the inscription: “Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.” The second was silver, with the inscription, “Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.” The final casket was lead with the inscription “Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.”

Now, for any of us who have seen enough plays, we may rightly guess that the lead casket is the correct one just because “we know how these things work.” But, let’s face it, this devise in Shakespeare speaks volumes as to wisdom.

Many in the world chase after gold. They want either material wealth or notoriety. They want fame or fortune, or both! But this is illusory. Fortunes can evaporate, and fame is fickle. Others chase after silver. How many of us have heard someone lament that something is “unfair?” They will say that they should not have had a particular tragedy befall them. Accidents and illnesses for these people are unfair and should never happen. And they bemoan anything that inconveniences them and their pursuit of happiness.

However, to be wise, to be a true Christian, we must be like the lead casket. We must be willing to give and hazard all. We must be willing to sell everything to buy one pearl of great price – our faith.

Wisdom is not knowledge. Many people who know a lot are not wise. Although a wise person knows how to use what they know, wisdom is NOT the same as knowledge. Wisdom is also not instinct or intuition. Gut reactions are often guesses or superstitions. Intuition is often just self-preservation reduced to emotion. Wisdom, however, often means going against self-preservation. It means doing what is best for others and not just our self. Therefore, like knowledge, a wise person knows when to listen to his intuition and when not to listen. Finally, wisdom is not cleverness or cunning. Although we all may remember the story of Solomon and the women battling over a baby, the wisdom was not in the cleverness of his actions, though it was clearly clever. No, the wisdom lay in Solomon’s understanding.

Wisdom is something much more than knowledge, or intuition, or cleverness. Wisdom is a discerning heart. It is a deep understanding of God, of people, and of things. And wisdom starts with understanding that a healthy fear, a healthy reverence of God is essential. Without this start, without a proper reverence and appreciation of God, none of us can truly be wise.

So let us all take our queue from Solomon. Let us all pray to God, every chance we get, that He will send us the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom. And let us ask for this wisdom, not for some selfish reason like fame or fortune, but rather so that others can see God in our wisdom and be brought out of darkness and into the light of God’s great Love.


Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 11:32 AM

 
Sermon: June 29th, 2008
What Kind of Love Do We Have?

“So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?’” [John 21:15]

Have you ever listened in on a young teenage girl’s conversation regarding love? I am not sure I would recommend it. But one thing you will hear when she is talking to a friend about a boy she likes is this, “Does he like me, or does he LIKE ME like me?” Boys go through the same thing; they just tend to be less articulate. This expression came to my mind when reading our Gospel lesson for today, not because Christ asks Peter the same question three times, but rather for a much deeper reason.

The human language is a remarkable thing. Through it, we can convey to another human being exactly what we think. Some people are more gifted than others in conveying their ideas, but still we all share this profound gift which removes our isolation from one another. That is why, in the book 1984, one of the main objectives of the totalitarian regime was to destroy the precision of language. They created “double-speak” in which one word would contain two, mutually exclusive meanings at the same time. They also started eliminating precise words in favor of more general words. However, we don’t need to read fiction to see “double-speak” in action. All we need do is listen to politicians or some religious leaders.

Additionally, the English language has more words than any other language, giving us a greater ability to be precise. And yet, we still have great difficulty communicating how we feel to someone else. Some times the words are not precise enough; some times the words have different and unknown connotations for the other person; and some times, even with the wealth of words in the English language, there ISN’T a word that is adequate for conveying our feelings.

In our Gospel lesson, we have a conversation which loses some of its meaning in its translation.

There was an old parishioner who was dismayed that a modern translation of the Bible was going to be used instead of the King James Version. He pronounced, “If King James English is good enough for Christ, it’s good enough for me!”

But as we all know, the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and then translated into Greek. Jesus probably spoke in Aramaic, the language spoken in Judea at that time, though He could have spoken Greek. However, the Gospels and Epistles WERE written in Greek. And the Greek gives a slightly different flavor to this exchange between Christ and Saint Peter in our lesson for today.

Two Greek words for “love” are played against each other in the original Greek passage from Saint John’s Gospel. Agapaō, generally means “love.” But when used in juxtaposition with the synonym phileō, it specifically means love as an emotion of deep appreciation based upon careful consideration. It means to recognize the worth of someone and esteem him highly. The synonym phileō, also loses the general meaning of “love” when used in conjunction with agapaō and connotes the more specific meaning of “love” as a pure, intense “feeling of love.” It is a personal, warm, intimate relationship like that between family members. It is a love that is more spontaneous than philosophical, and more emotional than intellectual.

Before we look at this word play, we must remember that this passage takes place after Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is the risen Lord who is speaking to Saint Peter. And it is the risen Lord that knows that Saint Peter has denied Christ three times. So, the three questions from Christ make sense when keeping in mind Peter’s three denials.

The first time Christ asks Saint Peter if he loves Him, Christ uses the word, agapaō, and Saint Peter answers with the word phileō. In other words, Christ asks Peter if he understands who Christ is, and does he esteem Christ. Saint Peter, being the emotional one of the Apostles says that he loves Christ emotionally like one loves a brother. Christ asks again and again Saint Peter answers the word agapaō with the word phileō. Finally, Christ asks Saint Peter if Peter loves Him in the phileō sense of the word, and of course Saint Peter says that he does using the same word phileō.

To me, this exchange is very telling. Like the young teenage girl who uses the word “like” twice to denote a deeper feeling than just liking someone, Jesus tries to get Saint Peter to confess what type of love he has for Christ. And the answer is not good.

To truly love something or someone, we have to KNOW and LOVE his nature. It is easy to fall “in love” with someone when we know nothing about them. Then they do something or say something, and the love ends as suddenly as it begins. We say appropriately that they “Burst our bubble.” This is the more phileō type of love.

But agape love has been called the holy type of love. It requires an intellectual understanding that grows into love and into adoration. Saint Peter loves Christ, but he really still doesn’t understand. In fact, none of the Apostles understood until Pentecost. It is with the descent of the Holy Spirit that Saint Peter’s phileō love is transformed into his agapaō love for Christ. And with that, we have the transformation of Saint Peter from an emotional but weak follower into the dynamic founder of the Church, who eventually died for Christ a martyr’s death stretched out upon a cross:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God.

The question that is before all of us now is, what kind of love do WE possess? Are we infatuated with Christ, or do we love Him for what He truly is? Do we have a phileō love for Christ or do we have an agapaō love? This is not an easy question to answer for any of us. It is not easy if we do not know who Christ really is. And we may not, unless we do two things.

The first thing that we must all do is attend church. It is in our communion of prayers and in Holy Eucharist that we get to love Christ on a personal level. It is in the lessons for the day and, hopefully, in the sermons that we learn about Christ and get to love Him on an intellectual level. Through both, we develop our agape feelings of love.

The second thing that we must all do is to get to know Christ through our personal, private prayers and study of the Bible. Through this, we gain greater understanding of Jesus and why He is the Christ.

The final charge is to me, to Deacon Vogel, and to all the clergy. What did Christ command of Saint Peter? Feed my lambs; feed my sheep. We are charged with feeding our flocks. We are to teach both the young (the lambs) and the old (the sheep). If we do not, then we fail as shepherds, and a terrible price will be paid by us. So, here is my lesson for today; here is my feeding for you: God truly loves us and forgives us all our failings if we truly love and believe in Him.

Look at Peter. He denies Christ three times, aggravates Christ to the point that Jesus calls Peter “Satan,” and is so emotional that he jumps into the fray constantly. Peter doesn’t even get it when Christ asks him if he has an agape type of love for Christ. Yet, Jesus loves him, forgives him, and welcomes him back constantly, over and over again. And Peter becomes the founder of the Church.

Look at Paul. He’s a Pharisee. He actively and violently persecutes Christians. Yet, Jesus loves him. Christ, through blindness, gives Paul the ability to see. And Paul becomes the great Apostle to the Gentiles, welcoming everyone back into God’s family.

God IS love; Christ IS love. Therefore, we as Christians are to be love, as well. Everyone is welcomed at our church. No matter what the sin; no matter what the flaw. If Christ can see worth in a man who denied Him and can see worth in a man who persecuted Him, then how can we not see worth in everyone who walks through our doors?

Remember, Christ asks each of us what kind of love we have for Him. Is it an emotional love that will vanish at the first challenge, or is it a love that will not be denied, even if it means our death? That is something that we must ask of ourselves. But I would also ask each of us what kind of love do we have for our neighbors. Is it Christ-like; is it a love that looks only at the outside of each of us or does it look beyond the sins and failings to the soul that is beneath – a soul always worth loving and saving! This is our goal; this is our mission as Christians.


Amen.


Sermon: June 15th, 2008
Being Called by God.

“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” [Matthew 9:37-38]

Every second Monday of the month, I get together with one Episcopal priest and one Anglican Deacon. It is supposed to be more than just the three of us, but it has never been more than we three. Anyway, at our last meeting, the Episcopal priest, Father Ed, brought up an issue regarding Ephesians 4:11-13.

He said that the King James Version has an unfortunate typo – an extra comma where there shouldn’t be one. As a result, many people feel that it is the role of the priest to do the works of ministry. But, without the comma, it would seem that the priest’s role is to equip the people for THEIR role as minister, so that they can do the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ.

Whether this typographical error exists or not, to my way of thinking, is unimportant. There are a host of references in Scripture which make it clear that we are all called to be ministers for Christ. And some of these passages are in our lesson for today.

One of the few times that the word for priest is used in the New Testament is used by Saint Peter in his First Epistle. In this Epistle, we have this great declaration:

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

This passage of St. Peter’s is a direct reference to our Old Testament passage for today:

‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

God’s original plan for the nation of Israel was for it to be a nation of priests to minister to the world. They would be unique, serving God and being mediators between God and mankind for everyone. But this was not to be. The nation hardened their hearts to this notion, and so a tribe within the nation, the tribe of Levi, became the priestly tribe. Not only this, but the clan that traced its line to Aaron was to be the high priests. But this was not God’s original plan.

What is more, instead of ministering to the world, the Levites only ministered to the nation of Israel. The great vision that God had for Israel and the world basically imploded. Everything turned inward, and although they were still God’s chosen people, they did not look outward but rather turned increasingly inward to themselves.

With the birth of Christianity, however, God’s plan once again was brought into the world. Again God’s saving grace would be extended to all mankind, not just Jewish people. And what is more, God once again called a group of people to be a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.” These people were not of one lineage, or one nation. These people were from every race and every nation. These chosen people are the Christians. And they are made one through Christ.

I have often said that there are really four, not three offices within the Church. There are the offices of Deacon, Priest, and Bishop. But there is the fourth office: the office of the Laity. All of us belong to this last office. This is the office of priesthood of which Saint Peter wrote. And it is the office most of us do not understand.

Just like any person called to an order, such as priest, monk or nun, every lay person is called to a ministry. We are called to serve God as His priest in the world, to mediate between heaven and earth, showing the people on earth an image of God. This is an awesome responsibility, but it should also be a great joy. Serving God is a joy unmatched by anything of this world. Yet, many of us still do not understand.

Like the Israelites, we too have a tendency to turn inward to ourselves. Because we live in a supposedly Christian country, we tend to put our faith on the shelf after going to church on Sunday. It fulfills us. But we do not share it with others. And there are basically two reasons for this. The first is a reaction to what we perceive to be excesses; the second is not knowing how we are to serve.

I remember seeing someone in Los Gatos yelling at the tops of his lungs that all would perish in hell if they did not repent and come back to the Lord. We have all been accosted at our home or on the streets by someone like the Jehovah Witnesses. I remember being approached at home by two young ladies who wanted me to come to their Baptist Church. Now, they were very pleasant, and I believe very strongly that all Christians are part of the invisible Church which truly is the body of Christ, but these two didn’t quite seem to get it. You would think that after telling them I was an Anglican priest and had a parish, they would let me be, but no. They still needed to “save” me. And this is sometimes our unfortunate image of Evangelism. But this is not a true image.

The truth is that there is something much deeper that we, as Christians, are called to do:

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

There are many people in our society who are weary. There are many Christians who are scattered, alone and lost. And we are to reach out to these people. We are to reach out to the un-churched and the disenfranchised. But yelling will not reach these people, nor will badgering them at their doorstep. We need to take our lesson from God, Himself.

In the first Book of Kings, we have the account of God appearing to Elijah

“And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave.”

God was not in the mighty wind, the earthquake, or the fire. He was in the still, small voice. When God became Man, He did not enter the world as a mighty deity, as royalty, or as a general. He came as a weak infant, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. He was a carpenter’s stepson. But when He spoke, those with ears to hear, heard Him.

Everything we do, and everything we say is to present an image of Christ. As His priests, we are all called to be images of Christ. It therefore is critical that we live good Christian lives that will help others to see, not us, but Christ.

Remember, we ARE to evangelize. We ARE to spread the Gospel of Christ, and that means that we are not to be silent. But let us remember this passage from Kings. Let us NOT be mighty winds, or earthquakes, or fires. Let us be used by God to be His still, small voice. And if we do, then God will reach the hearts of all those lost, weary souls hungry for a Shepherd.

But this is only the first step. The second is that we are all called to ministries. The problem often is that we do not know which one! And, being human, we are prone to inertia. We do not know, so we do nothing. But this is not correct. Before studying for the priesthood, I became a lay reader. That helped me see where I needed to go. Before I became a school teacher, all the tests I took, such as Myers-Briggs, indicated teaching, especially at the elementary level, was not where I should be, but eventually I had to just bite the bullet and try it. And this is what we all must do.

Until we know where God wants us to serve, we are to try different ministries. None of us are fit for all ministries. Some are great with children; others are good with the sick or the old. But each of us are given a God-given ministry or calling that we are to do. And it is up to each of us to find that ministry and explore it fully.

Every one of us in this church is a priest of God’s. We all have one ministry in common: we are all called to spread the Gospel, not by being bombastic or belligerent, but by allowing God to use us to be His still, small voice. But each of us have a unique ministry as well. And it is our duty to find out what that calling is, and then to pursue it. And when we do, then we will truly be part of the priesthood of God. We WILL be laborers going forth as harvesters for Christ.

Amen.



Sermon: June 8th, 2008
God’s Call for Mercy.

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” [Matthew 9:13]

In the passage that I am quoting from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, Christ asks the Pharisees to go and learn what is meant by a passage from the Book of the Prophet Hosea. However, I would venture to guess that we should all search out what God meant when He said, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

For me, this passage from Hosea is somewhat enigmatic. But, when viewed through the Gospel, it starts to make a lot of sense.

The Old Testament is full of references and requests for sacrifices and burnt offerings. We have Cain and Abel sacrificing; we have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sacrificing; and we have Moses codifying the law surrounding sacrifices and requiring their sacrifices in very specific ways and at very specific times. In fact, in some passages, as an offering of thanksgiving, thousands of bulls and he-goats are sacrificed at one time. So, if the Bible is replete both with the necessity of sacrifice and the recordation of some of the sacrifices, why would God desire something more? Why wouldn’t sacrifices be the pinnacle of what God wants man to do when worshipping Him?

And yet, God desired something much deeper. In our lesson from Hosea, we have the passage that I just quoted. But, in our selection from the Psalter and in fact in many of the psalms, we have a similar statement:

Thinkest thou that I will eat bulls' flesh, * and drink the blood of goats?

Offer unto God thanksgiving, * and pay thy vows unto the Most Highest.

And call upon me in the time of trouble; * so will I hear thee, and thou shalt praise me.

If God prefers thanksgiving and prayers for help, then why did He require the sacrifices to be committed? There is only one answer.

When God demanded sacrifices, He did so as a foreshadow of the ultimate sacrifice. He did it so the world would understand as best we can what was happening when Christ sacrificed Himself on the Cross. It is equally interesting that soon after Christ’s death, the sacrifices ended, never to be resuscitated again by the Jewish faith.

So if God values acts of mercy over acts of sacrifice, and knowledge of God over burnt offerings, then what does this mean for us Christians? How are we to act? And what are we to do?

It is clear that we are called to two things: mercy and knowledge of God. And clearly in our Gospel lesson for today, the Pharisees were lacking in both even though they thought they were very knowledgeable.

In our Gospel lesson, the Pharisees are appalled that this great Man, this Prophet of God would associate with sinners. For these Pharisees, the proper response to sinners was to stone them or to shun them, and they had a legitimate reason to do so.

The Law is very strict, and the Old Testament has passages which would support the idea that we should shun sinners. Even Saint Paul cautions against associating with the sinner in his first Epistle to the Corinthians:

“I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one know not to eat.” [Chap. 5]

And it is true that as humans we are easily influenced by the sinful. Lot was affected by his time in Sodom, and we are affected by those whose sins are attractive to us. But Christ is different from the rest of us. And what Christ was pointing out to the Pharisees was the hypocrisy endemic with them:

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

Christ calls all of us to reach out to the sinner, to show him mercy as God shows us mercy, to show the sinner the love of God by our actions. We are to keep ourselves separate from the world but still in the world. This is not an easy task. In fact, it is impossible for us and our fallen nature. I can guarantee that we will all sin. But what we do with that situation is almost as important as the sin itself.

Years at the gym has given me insight into human nature. There are basically three peek periods when people rush to join the gym. They are right after New Year, right after the weather starts turning nice and summer is fast approaching, and in the fall, just before the start of school. The first two times are self-evident as to why people decide to start going to the gym, but the last one I suspect is a reflection of our society. Being for years conditioned that the start of the school year is in the fall, many of us view it as a second New Years. And many find, with the return of their children to school and a routine, an opportunity to get back to the gym.

However, very few stick with the new program. The fall off rate is very quick, especially at 5 a.m. which is when I get to the gym. And what separates the few that stick with the program and those that give up is when they have their first slip. Those who never return are those who give up and give in at this first slip. Those who stick with it, take it in stride, deal with the interruptions and the set-backs, but continue to start up again. In other words, they “get back up onto the horse” after they fall.

This is a perfect analogy to us and sin. God knows we will sin; He knows that we may have great intentions, but we are weak and fail fairly regularly. Rather, what God wants to see is two things. First, He wants to see that we do NOT give up. We must get back up, onto the horse and try again. But the second is as important as the first. God expects us to be empathetic with those who are still in sin. We are to realize that we are as sinful and should not be casting stones. We are to say to them, “Hey, I am no better than you. In fact, I may even be worse.”

This is the mercy that God seeks in us. This is what is more precious than sacrifice. It is an act of grace. It is an act of charity. It is an act of love. It is an act of mercy. And every one of us Christians is called to do this.

I was once told that a church without sinners is an empty church. And I believe this is absolutely correct. Every Christian church should be a place where sinners are welcomed and loved. The old Catholic saying credited to Thomas Aquinas rings true. We are to hate the sin, but love the sinner. We expect everyone to try their best to amend their lives, but we are also to show mercy and forgiveness.

This is a tall order for us. To be merciful is not as easy as being judgmental. Being loving is not as easy as being suspicious. But if we are truly God’s people, if we truly want to demonstrate to the world that we are Christians, then we MUST show mercy to all sinners, and welcome them back home with God in our church.

Amen.



Sermon: June 1st, 2008
Following the Spirit of the Law.

“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” [Romans 3:28]

In Ancient Israel, after the reign of Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel was split in two. The Northern Kingdom of Israel which consisted of ten tribes, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, which consisted of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, as well as the priestly tribe of Levi. The Northern Kingdom fell into apostasy first and was destroyed. These tribes are still referred to as the Ten Lost Tribes. The Southern Kingdom later fell into apostasy and was taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Eventually, these three tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi were allowed to return and rebuild Jerusalem.

The Jewish people while still in Babylon credited the destruction of the two kingdoms to their disobedience to God’s Law:

“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.”

When the Jewish people returned from exile, they vowed to never again bring God's wrath upon themselves for disobeying His Law. The problem was that, not only did they try to follow all 613 laws contained in the first Five Books of the Bible, they started adding new laws.

The Torah is the first Five books of Moses. There are 365 negative laws and 248 positive laws. The Talmud, which was developed in Babylon, is ostensibly the interpretation of these laws in every conceivable situation. Although the Talmud was an oral tradition until after the birth of Christ, as new situations arose, new interpretations were added. Today, the Talmud is a multivolume encyclopedia of rules and regulations.

As the Jewish people returned to Judea and rebuilt their civilization, they adopted an absolute adherence to the letter of the Law. Legalism became rampant. And one of the oddest developments was the use of phylacteries. Phylacteries are little boxes containing passages from the Torah that are tied to the forehead. These developed directly from the Old Testament passage for today:

“Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”

On its face, this passage is clear. God was not calling for phylacteries. Rather, He wanted His people to constantly remember and follow His Laws. Yet, even with this commitment to the Law, Judah was invaded and occupied again, first by the Greeks and then by the Romans. And under the Roman Empire, the Second Temple was destroyed. The Law did not save Israel.

What is clear is that the law cannot save. There is something much deeper and much more important. It is something that the original Kingdoms failed to do, and it is something that the descendants of the Babylonian conquest failed to see. And it is Saint Paul, a well-educated Pharisee who started out as an avid persecutor of the early Christians, that saw and revealed to us what these early Jewish people did not see. St. Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Romans:

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

I submit that there is basically one reason why the Kingdom of Israel divided and was destroyed and why the legalism fostered by the returning tribes didn’t save. The reason is that both groups were worshipping other gods. With the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the people were worshipping idols. With the returning captives, eventually they started to worship the letter of the Law and not the God behind it. In other words, they obliterated the spirit of the Law, and God was lost in the minutia of the details.

Worshipping other gods is something that is clearly against God’s commandment. Yet, we see humankind constantly falling into this trap. We have people pulled to other religions because of the promise of self-fulfillment or self-control. I remember talking to a friend whose family came from Korea. She told me that she really didn’t believe in God, but that if she were to ever join a religion, she would probably become Buddhist. And the reason for this choice? She felt it was a guiltless religion.

People do not want to know their failings. They do not want to know that they are sinful. They want to believe that, by and large, they are pretty good. The other thing is that people want to be in charge. They want to be in control of their destinies. They want to achieve their own salvation. That is why many people are attracted to eastern mysticism, Gnosticism, and witchcraft. It gives them a sense that they are in control and that they can save themselves.

We too can fall into this same trap. We sometimes feel that we are saving ourselves by some of our actions. We may believe that if we do enough charity, fast enough or pray enough, we will be saved. But these actions do not save. Only our faith in Christ can save us. Rather, these other things are acts of love; acts to show our love of God to God. But they cannot save.

And we too can worship false idols. An idol can be anything that we place above God. It may be power; it may be success; it may be the Laws and regulations of the Church. It may even be a loved one. Remember that Abraham had to prove his love for God by being willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Are we prepared to do the same? I doubt if God will ever ask us to do so, but are we willing to put God above everything and everyone else?

Becoming legalistic is a particular sin to which most orthodox Christians are more susceptible. It is easy to take something that is to help us and turn it into something with which we worship or use to condemn others.

Look at phylacteries. Christ never condemned the use of these devises. And let’s face it, if you want to be constantly reminded that you are to follow God’s commandments, wouldn’t tying a box to your forehead be a great reminder? But the problem with this is two-fold. The first is that some people may think that just by tying a box to their head they are laying up God’s words in their heart and soul, that they are binding them to their hands, and that they are ever in front of their eyes. Christ’s condemnation of the Pharisees was that they were hypocritical with this issue:

“But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues"

The Pharisees used these devises to prove that they were better than anyone else. They did not follow the Law, but they made all the appearances that they were very holy and very devoted to the Law. And they would criticize anyone who did not follow the letter of the Law. The Pharisees had all the appearance but none of the substance of faith. They knew the Law but did not understand the spirit behind the Law:

Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

No wonder the Pharisees wanted to condemn Christ for violating the law when he healed someone on the Sabbath day. We must constantly be on the guard that we do not substitute the letter of the law for the spirit.

The second problem is that, after a while, a devise like a phylactery either becomes a superstition or it loses it’s effectiveness to remind. When it becomes a superstition, then we worship the thing and forget what it represents. It becomes a talisman, a good-luck charm.

If it doesn’t become a charm, it soon loses its effectiveness. On my truck I have a bumper sticker regarding the Anglican Province of America. I am a terrible driver, and I placed the sticker on my truck with great trepidation. I did not want, by my driving, to give people cause to hate the APA. BUT, I thought, maybe knowing the sticker was on my truck would keep me from doing foolish things. And, initially it did. But the effectiveness wore out quickly. It is time to remove the bumper sticker!

For us Christians, it is important to remember that the Law just condemns; it does not save. What saves is our belief in Christ. Therefore, we are not subject to the Law. Let me repeat, we are not subject to the Old Testament Law. Rather, we use the Law to help us to understand what God wants. And the only way we can understand God’s desire for us is to go BEYOND the Law to the Spirit behind the Law.

Every first Sunday we recite the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. It gives us a framework. But more important than the Decalogue is the Summary of the Law that comes after it. Here we begin to see the spirit of the Law. To honor our parents is not enough. We are to love all our neighbors as ourselves. And to have no other idols is not enough, we are to love God with ALL our heart, soul, mind, AND body.

Christ gives us in our Gospel lesson for today a hard lesson:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

It is not enough to say we believe in Jesus, we must truly believe. It is not enough to say the Nicene Creed, we must believe what it contains. And it is not enough to say we follow God’s Laws, we must understand the Spirit of those Laws, realize that we can never truly follow them and throw ourselves on the mercy of the Lord. We MUST have faith, and we MUST show mercy to all of those whom we believe may be astray – not because we are better than they, but because we know we are equally sinful.

I pray that everyone will agree that we are all sinners, and that we are all brothers. Let us welcome everyone who comes to worship God at our church. Let us respect the various opinions that may be at our church, and let us pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us all to the Truth. And above all, let us ask that God send us the Holy Spirit so that we may love God with all our being and that we may love one another as Christ loves us.


Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 10:09 AM

 
Sermon: May 18th, 2008
Being Created in God’s Image

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” [Genesis 1:26a]

Today is Trinity Sunday, a time when we recite the Creed of St. Athanasius, and a time we remember one of our fundamental beliefs as Christians: our belief that God, though one, is also three persons. This is what we call the Blessed Trinity; and this belief distinguishes us as orthodox Christians from those who are not.

Now, Jesus made it perfectly clear that God is a Triune God, when Christ gave His disciples the great commission:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

But, it is also interesting how many of the Old Testament lessons reveal this very unusual nature of God. And no where is this concept hinted at as in our Genesis lesson for today. It is revealed in a very subtle way in the fact that mankind is created in God’s image. And as we discuss this issue, we will also be verifying why our belief in the Blessed Trinity makes sense.

Although Man is a fallen creature and everything he does and thinks is corrupted by this nature, the divine in man shines through in many instances and in many ways. And we can gleam from some of this an imperfect image of God. And yet as imperfect as our image of God is in each of US, let us not forget Jesus. In Him, we see most clearly the divine for He is both God and Man.

Let us start with God’s creation of mankind:

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Later on in Genesis, we have the specific account of Adam and Eve, and the very important revelation that mankind fell into sin by our free choice. We also have the account of Eve being created from Adam’s rib.

At Sunday School, they were teaching how God created everything, including human beings. Little Timmy seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of one of Adam’s ribs. Later in the week, his mother noticed him lying down as though he were ill. She said, “Timmy, what is the matter?” Little Timmy responded, “I have a pain in my side. I think I’m going to have a wife.”

The first thing we can note in our passage for today is that God is referred to in the plural. We read, “Let Us” and “in Our image.” In this passage, God starts to reveal His nature. He is One, and yet He is three Persons. He is singular, and yet He is plural. We may not fully grasp the concept, but that does not mean it is not true. It just means that we are not ready to fully understand it yet.

But the second thing we should note is this very important but brief line:

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

When I do marriage counseling or when I give a brief sermon at weddings, I mention this phrase. It is crucial in understanding how two people become one during marriage, and it also explains how we humans are created in the image of God. In this passage is revealed that, when God created mankind, He created it in His image; but then it says that He created THEM male and female. What is revealed here is that God’s image is split between the man and the woman. Although both are created in God’s image, neither is a complete image. The men have one aspect of God and the women have another. This image is not made whole until a man and a woman are wed.

Now, I know what most of you must be thinking. You are probably thinking of that married couple who are more sparring partners than helpmates, those whose relationships are more toxic than healthy, and those who seem to create there own hell on earth. But remember, when we read this passage of Genesis, it is before the fall. The ideal marriage would create a true image of God if we were not fallen creatures. But because of the fall, even the most ideal marriage falls short of this perfect image.

However, I submit, in a loving marriage where God is an intimate part of the relationship, we see most closely the nature of our God as a Triune God.

If both men and women have aspects of the divine, complimentary aspects, but different aspects, then when they are married, they become one. The halves are united by love. Love thus becomes an important component. It IS what makes two people one. Without it, you still have two separate entities. And this too reveals something very crucial as to the nature of God that also supports our belief in the Holy Trinity.

We say that God is love, but love cannot exist unless there is someone TO love. Let me repeat, there must be another to love in order to have love. Without that other, then love cannot exist. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that God, though One, is made up of Three Persons. Each Person eternally loves each other Person. Only in this way could God be love.

Likewise, a marriage cannot contain love without two people. Thus one person cannot marry himself because, no matter how narcissistic he may be, it is not true love unless it is with another person.

And there is one more aspect of marriage that makes it truly a complete image of God. In a marriage, as oppose to a civil union which incorrectly has been given the same name of “marriage” by our society, in marriage, God is invited into the relationship. Both the husband and wife want God to be in their marriage and specifically ask Him to be there. When this is done, two things happen. First, the husband and wife truly become one flesh.

As you all know, I am half Italian. The Italians took this notion that, when a couple was married they became one, very literally. I remember that my great aunt and uncle did not have separate plates and glasses when they ate. They had one plate that was like a small platter and one glass that was more of a goblet. They would eat from the same plate and drink from the same glass because they WERE one flesh. Thus, anyone who marries, though they may no longer eat from the same plate, nonetheless BECOMES one.

The second thing that happens when a couple invites God into their marriage is that they become a trinity of sorts. There are three in this one flesh: there is the husband; there is the wife; and there is God.

In the nature of our being is planted the revelation of God’s nature. That nature was made more clear and concrete through His Son, Jesus, but those same seeds of revelation still exist within us. We ARE created in God’s image, but only partially. When we join with someone, that image of God becomes more complete. But when we marry, when we invite God into our union, then that image is as complete as we can ever hope to achieve in this very imperfect, fallen world.

Amen.



Sermon: May 4th, 2008
Being Shameless Christians

“Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” [John 17:11]

We Christians who live in this country are very blessed. Unlike our brothers and sisters in the Sudan or in Nigeria or in China, we do not feel the persecutions that they feel. We worship and observe our faith comfortably without real fear of retribution. But, as a Christian, we also know that this may change, and I would submit IS changing. And we must always be prepared to accept our persecutions with grace, and without compromise.

In our Baptismal service, when the priest blesses the person and receives him or her in the congregation, he prays:

WE receive this Child (Person) into the congregation of Christ's flock; and do sign him with the sign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end. Amen.

This blessing does not exist in this form in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Instead, it is broken into two parts. And the part of the prayer that asks that he not be “ashamed” to confess Christ crucified or to “manfully” fight against sin, the world, and the devil has been removed. Now the pertinent part of the prayers read:

WE receive you into the household of God. Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with us in his eternal priesthood.

In part, these changes were made because of a belief that the term “manfully” is sexist. In part, these changes were made because there was a thought that the other terms were too war-like. But, whether you like the changes or not, in truth, these changes have had an unforeseen consequence. These changes serve to neuter our faith.

I submit that in our society “shame” has become a powerful tool used against those who believe in Christ. Some of this has been self-inflicted. Those who have proclaimed themselves Christian have done some outrageous things, being intolerant of other Christians, and being intolerant of others in our society.

I have told this story before, but there was a man high up on the Golden Gate Bridge, contemplating suicide. A man walking by noticed and tried to talk him down. He asked the jumper, “Are you a Christian?” The man said, “Yes.” “Me too! What kind of Christian? Are you Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant?” The jumper answered, “Protestant.” “Me too! What kind of Protestant? Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal?” The man who was thinking of jumping answered “Pentecostal.” The other man got more excited, “Me too!” Are you an initial evidence or a third wave Pentecostal?” “Initial evidence.” “Me too! What kind of evidence? Are you an AOG, CRC, COC, CCC?” “AOG” was the man’s response. “Me too! Are you Premillenial, Post Millenial, or Amillenial?” The guy on the bridge said, “Amillenial,” and with that, the passer-by, becoming very angry, screamed, “Die heretic!” and pushed him off the bridge.

Many Christians forget what St. Augustine is credited with saying, “In essentials, conformity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.” But, as bad as this type of Christian may be, and as justified as this shame may be, this type of person, fortunately is actually very rare.

However, there are many in our society that have turned this type of Christian into a stereotype. Many of those who are the first to cry out against other stereotypes will perpetuate this one. Writers use this stereotype to further their plots in books, in plays, and in movies as Elizabethans used Jewish stereotypes to further their plots back then. And, as a result, we have two problems. We have some new Christians that think this is appropriate behavior. And we have other Christians that have become ashamed to profess their belief for fear that they will be seen as this bigoted stereotype.

If shame is the worse that our society can do to us because of our faith, then we are truly blessed. But let us NOT underestimate the power of shame. It can destroy our faith as surely as the lion’s den or the gallows can destroy our bodies. And it is twice as insidious, and three times as effective.

Because of shame, there are those in Seminaries teaching their students that such beliefs as the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, and the Ascension are superstitions. They also teach that, to believe that Christ is the only way, is the height of arrogance and perpetuates the stereotypical image of the Christian. These professors do not want to be seen as ignorant or unsophisticated. They are ASHAMED of their faith. And as a result, they are destroying it through their teaching.

Likewise, when a new Christian adopts this stereotype because they know no better, they help to make the stereotype a reality. These people do this out of ignorance. But they must heed what Saint Peter tells us in his Epistle for today:

If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.

Look at one of the chief crimes about which St. Peter speaks: Murderer, thief, evildoer, or busybody! If all Christians keep this in mind, the stereotype will die. If we think twice before we do evil or butt into other people’s lives, many of the hypocrisies that we see among Christians would be greatly reduced.

Then St. Peter makes this very important statement:

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.

Finally, there are all of us. We feel shame at times and in ways that is hard to explain. Some feel shame if we tell our child that they cannot participate in a game because it is on Sunday. Some feel shame at work when they appear with a smudge of ash on their forehead. Some feel shame if they take off a day of work to attend Good Friday services. And yet, we should not.

When I was a boy, Roman Catholics felt some persecutions. Before I was born, when a Roman Catholic went to college, they had to declare their faith. As a result, some were excluded from the school, a fraternity, or a sorority just because they were RC. I remember being told that we worshipped statues or that we worshipped Mary instead of Jesus. And I remember being the butt of jokes because we did not eat meat on Friday, or because we said the Rosary, or because we did not wash our faces properly on Ash Wednesday. Those of you who are my age or older will even remember that Kennedy almost was NOT elected because of fears that many had about having a Roman Catholic in the White House.

But Roman Catholics were not the only ones persecuted. Jewish people, Protestants, and Muslims have all felt these attacks. And notice all these persecutions have one thing in common. They are all aimed to create shame in those who believe. And they are most effective on the young.

Our lessons for today are to teach us a great lesson. We are NEVER to be ashamed of being a Christian. And we should not be ashamed of the particular branch of faith that we belong. This does not mean we ridicule those of other Christian faiths. In fact, it is the exact opposite. If they subscribe to the orthodox tenets of the faith, specifically those things contained in the three great Creeds, then we are to have great charity toward them. We are to have great love for them. But, if this is the particular and peculiar way we worship, then it is a fact worth stating.

But primarily let us remember that we are to teach our children these great lessons. They are the ones most affected. They are the ones who feel the peer pressure. They are the ones usually in the front lines. And this is hard for any adult to handle, especially parents. We are more than happy to sustain the ridicule, but we do not want to see our children hurt or ridiculed. We want to protect them. And here is our weak link, our chink in our armor of faith.

Let us not give in to this pressure of shame. Instead, we need to arm our children. We must let them know that the pressure placed on them to conform is wrong and evil. And we should let them know that Christ Himself gives us great assurance that we are truly loved:

“Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.”

And please know that these great traumas in childhood actually help to make these children stronger, not only in their personal integrity and character, but also in their faith.

Let me repeat, let us commit right now not to give in the pressure of shame. We must remember that as Christians, we are to love, not only our fellow Christians, but also those who do NOT believe. We are to show respect. And we are even to love our persecutors, our detractors, and our enemies. But, let us also stand tall and proud in our faith. Let us not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and let us manfully fight under Christ’s banner, against sin, the world, and the devil.
Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 7:54 AM

 
Sermon: April 20th, 2008
Being Authentic Christians

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” [St. John 14:1]

Our lesson for today continues with the theme we started last week, namely how do we show to the world our confidence in our Faith. In our lesson for today, we deal with how we show that we are truly Christian, and not some false image.

When my sister was in high school, air conditioned cars were a real status symbol. So she and her friends decided on this particular hot summer day in D.C. to role up their windows and pretend they had air conditioning. Needless to say, the red faces and the perspiration rolling down probably gave them away. When cellular phones first came out, it also was a status symbol. There was an article in the paper at this time advertising a fake cellular antenna. It cost nineteen dollars, but looked just like the real thing and could be stuck on a car’s rear window. Do you know that two hundred thousand people bought these fake antennas?

In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus does not mince words. His words are powerful and straightforward. There is no way to skirt what is contained in this Gospel lesson short of denying that it was ever said:

Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

And later in the same passage, Christ says:

“Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

What is equally interesting is our Lesson from the Acts of the Apostles. Here we see something very important. Saint Paul was an effective evangelist, not because he appealed to emotions or feelings, but rather because he could prove the legitimacy of his claims regarding Christ:

And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.

Some people in Thessalonica and many in Berea came to believe, not because of some emotionalism or some “feel good” message, but rather through reasoned discussion surrounding Holy Scripture. Through Scripture, Saint Paul was able to convince those in the synagogue that Jesus was the Christ and that He had to die and rise again.

There is no doubt – Christ is God Incarnate. He is part of God in what we call the Holy Trinity. And equally there is no doubt that Christ is the way, the truth and the life. If we truly believe this, it becomes imperative that we become true Christians, and not some reasonable facsimile thereof. But then we must ask ourselves, what does it mean to be authentic Christians?

To be authentic Christians, we must, first, keep God’s commandments – not the letter of the law, but rather the spirit of the law. And that spirit is summarized by Christ when He told us:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Then to these commandments, Christ added a “new” commandment. This commandment comes from Christ and therefore comes directly from God. We may even call it the Eleventh Commandment:

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

In other words, all the laws and all the commandments can be summarized by one word: LOVE. We are to love God, and we are to love one another. It seems simple, but is it?

As I have grown older, I have grown leery of the person who constantly talks of love. I have found that in most cases, these people talk a good talk but poorly practice what they preach. I have also grown cynical of the churches that do the same, which is a real shame. Love is an essential component of our Christianity. It is an important part in all that we do. And yet, the talk seems to have gone too far. So much talk with little action makes us weary of the whole thing, and even jaded. I fear that our children have heard so much talk about love that they no longer believe it.

But notice what Christ said. He did not say talk of nothing but love until all are nauseated by it. He said, “As I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

The commandment is not to talk about love but to actually love one another. We are to show our love by our actions, not our words.

The problem with most of us is that we are so concerned with justice that we forget love. Here is the constant tension between the letter of the law and the spirit. Many of us do not want to love unless we are loved. We want to love back in precisely the same amount and to the same degree as we are loved. If we are not loved, we do not want to love. If we are loved, then we still do not want to be the “chump” who loves more than the other person.

But Christ wants us to move beyond justice. He wants us not only to love those who love us, but also to love those who do not. In fact, He wants us to love even those who abuse us; He wants us to love our enemies.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I find this very hard to do. How do we love those who care less about us, let alone those who hate us, and yet not be hypocrites? I do not know exactly how, but I also know there are those who have done precisely this. There are those who have loved and forgiven the most heinous of acts. Many of those who survived Auschwitz and the other concentration camps learned to forgive because, if they didn’t, they would never move beyond their hatred.

Many Christian missionaries and saints have also learned to love their enemies. In our lesson from the Acts of the Apostles, we have Saint Paul and the others being abused by those who wanted to stop them. But as Saint Paul knew, the best way to show their faith is to do what Christ would do. Loving their enemies IS a very powerful way to demonstrate Christ in their actions.

And here is the rub; here is the reason why Christ commands us to love instead of just requesting it:

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

Love is our primary witness to the world that we are Christians. People may or may not know how often we go to church or to which charities we have given or whether our faith is important to us. And people will not assume that we are good Christians just because we go to church, or know the Bible, or wear a cross around our necks. What they will look for is how we love.

If we cannot love our families and our neighbors, if we cannot love people of every shape and size and color and background, our Christian faith will be seen as a fraud. We will be seen as hypocrites, and we will serve as a misrepresentation of Christ.

So how are we to foster this incredible love? Well, the truth is that our ability to love is derived precisely from our relationship with Christ. We can love because He first loves us:

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

This is critical for our understanding. Love cannot exist outside of others. There must be two in order to love properly. Love is something that is passed from one person to another. Fathers and Mothers pass their love to their children. And the children pass their love to their spouses and their children. And we as Christian feel the love of God through Christ. We therefore have a duty to pass God’s love on to others in this world.

But in order to become authentic Christians, we must also have confidence IN this love. We must have confidence that God DOES love us. We must be able to be so confident in this fact that our hearts ARE at peace. And we must have confidence that what we do is right, that we are not foolish in loving our enemies, but that we are doing what God wants us to do.

Christianity is not an instantaneous thing. We are not non-Christians one moment and Christians the next. Our faith is a journey of constant growth, one where sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail, but always we learn. It is also one of great love. If we truly love God and are confident in His love for us, we too will be able to love. And in time, we will be able to show that we are authentic Christians by how well we love one another.

Amen.


Sermon: April 13th, 2008
Being Confident Vessels.

Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. [Acts 6:7]

Often, from our Gospel Lesson for today, I will speak about the necessity for us to believe in Christ. But today, I do not want to speak regarding our faith. I assume that everyone who is here IS here precisely because they DO believe. The belief may be in various capacities and at different stages of development, but it is here. Rather, what I wish to address is our confidence in our faith.

There are two things that virtually all historians agree upon with regards to the Apostles. The first is that all the Apostles absolutely believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead. The historians may dispute if this belief was based on fact or delusion, but it is clear that the Apostles did believe in the Resurrection.

The second thing that virtually all historians believe is that something dramatic occurred on Pentecost that changed the Apostles and the other disciples. Very few historians give credence to the belief that it was the Holy Spirit, but all believe something happened. For us who do believe, however, it is clear that when the Holy Ghost descended, all who were there were filled with His presence and filled with confidence.

Remember that, when the Apostles first found out that Christ had risen, they lacked confidence. They knew the truth of what had happened on that first Easter morning, but they were also very much afraid. What would others think? Would others think they had stolen the body? Would others think they were just plain crazy? Would the others have them arrested or even executed? We know from our Gospel accounts that all these things were going through their minds, and as a result, they were hiding.

But the Holy Ghost gave these men the confidence that they needed to proclaim the Gospel, to claim that Jesus was the Christ, God’s only begotten Son, that He died for our sins, and that the ONLY way to obtain eternal life was through belief in Him. Let me repeat: ONLY through our faith in Christ can we have eternal life!

Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

The message from our lessons for today for each of us is that we also must have confidence in our beliefs.

I had a professor in Law School who gave our commencement speech. It was the best I have ever heard. He told the story of two men, one with little confidence and one with great confidence. The first was his father, an inventor who came up with a formula he called “No Eczema.” His father had such little confidence in his invention that he sold it for $50. That invention became Noxzema and made millions.

The other was a young man writing his paper for his MBA. He wrote about a scheme where he would have a fleet of planes for over-night delivery. The professor gave him a C+ with the comment written on it that the scheme was unworkable. This young man did not believe his professor. He had confidence in his idea, and he went on to create Federal Express.

The only difference between these two men was the confidence that they had in themselves and in their ideas. Without that confidence, one man ended in failure; with confidence another ended up proving others wrong. And like the man who founded Federal Express, we too need to develop real confidence, not in ourselves but in our faith:

Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

There are some who will say that, if we say Christ is the only way, we are being judgmental or arrogant. First, as I have said before, we are NEVER to judge others. We have no idea who God will accept into heaven and who He will reject. Only God knows our hearts. But this does NOT mean we abandon our belief in the unique role of Christ in history.

He Himself has told us on several occasions and in several ways that He is the Way, the Truth, the Life and that no one reaches the Father but through Him. We either believe that or not. If we do, then it is our duty to spread that truth. If we do not, then we are on the slippery slope of picking and choosing what we believe and what we reject solely because it is less uncomfortable.

We are to express our belief. We are to express our faith not only in how we act, but also in how we speak. And we are to let others know how we believe, not with arrogance or in a demeaning manner, but with humble confidence. We are not to speak timidly or shamefully, but with absolute confidence that our beliefs are true, not just for us, but for everyone everywhere and always.

One of the few Christian faiths that have been quite successful in their ecumenical discussions has been the Eastern Orthodox Churches. When asked, one of their prelates who had participated in the discussions stated that he never started with an apology. He never shied away from his beliefs. But rather, he stated them respectfully, but without compromise. He said that, for true dialogue, this truthful statement of faith was essential. And because of this, the Orthodox faith has gained respect from non-Christian faiths.

There are still others who will point to the Biblical passages regarding Pentecost and say that it was unique – which is true. They will say that these Apostles and disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and given extraordinary powers – which is also true. But then they will conclude that it is therefore different for us, and this is NOT true.

The truth is that we receive the Holy Ghost at least once and often twice in our lifetimes. The first is during Baptism. The second is during Confirmation. Then, we are constantly strengthened by the Holy Ghost each and every time we receive Holy Communion. To claim that we are not bestowed with the same gifts is self-evident. But gifts are bestowed upon us, none the less. And one of the gifts is confidence.

In our society where everything is pronounced as being relative, it is hard to stand for something. If one person’s truth is not the same as another’s, if one person’s view of the world is as valid as any one else’s, it is hard to proclaim the Gospel. It is hard to say that there is an objective truth as absolute as the truth anyone would find stepping in front of a speeding bus or car. But this truth is not ascertainable empirically. It is through revelation. But if we truly believe it to be true, we must state it. And we must state it with confidence – confidence in the knowledge that it IS true.

It is in our confidence that others will start seeing the truth. It is in our confidence that others will come to Christ. We must have confidence in our faith and practice it accordingly, loving our enemies, helping the stranger among us, worshipping God, and proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah to a lost world. And in the end, it will be God who will convert those who come to Christ, not us. But without a confident vessel, the message will be lost. Let us not lose the message. Let us BE confident vessels of God’s Grace.

Amen.

Sermon: March 30th, 2008
Having a Faith That Is Not Blind.

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” [John 20:29]

As many of you know, I came to Christ when I was about 21 years old. I had been an avowed atheist, and made fun of those who did believe. When I came to believe in the Lord, the conversion was very dramatic. It was the classic “born again” scenario. But some of my friends never went through that experience. They seemed to never question their faith, never challenged their belief. It almost looked as though they were just following habits without choosing their faith – without truly choosing Christ. Soon, one of my concerns involved the people I had known who were not technically “born again.”

I began to wonder whether people who do not go through a “born again” experience like me were really saved or were they just fooling themselves by going through the motions of faith. In time, I realized I had made a huge mistake.

I began to understand that not all people go through great crises of faith, but that does not mean that their faith has never been challenged. I began to understand that not all people have to make a dramatic profession of faith, but that does not mean they don’t make any profession. And finally I began to understand that not all people have to make a radical change in their life, but that does not mean their faith hasn’t changed their lives.

When I look at our Gospel Lesson of Doubting Thomas, it is clear that the message is one regarding the necessity for faith. But it is also clear that the other ten Apostles are not hallmarks OF faith:

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

“THEN the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” This is a powerful statement. It is clear that Christ had to show his hands and side in order to convince the disciples who He was. They needed this evidence to believe He is Christ. But isn’t this exactly what Thomas required? The disciples seem to be no better than Thomas, yet Thomas gets chastised. The reason may be because Thomas’ doubt was more of a challenge than a need for evidence:

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

This reminds me of the story of Isaac Asimov, the science fiction writer. Dr. Asimov was an atheist, even though he tried not to advertise this fact. Asimov was a man of great wit and intelligence, but once on national television, he was caught off guard. David Frost asked him point blank about his views on God. Reluctant to admit his atheism to a large television audience, he stalled by asking, “Whose [God]?” Frost would not be put off. He said, “I mean the Judeo-Christian God of Western tradition. You know that very well, Dr. Asimov.” Asimov stalled again. “I haven’t given it much thought.” But Frost still would not relent. He responded, “I don’t believe that. I’m sure a person of your wide knowledge and attainments would have sought to find God.” Whereupon Asimov replied, “God is smarter than I am. Let Him try to find me.” In the ensuing laughter, the subject was dropped, but this is not the end of the story.

Asimov believed that God, if He existed, would not mind an honest atheist, but would probably object to an atheist who was a wise guy. The interview with Frost had been taped. Asimov began to wonder what would happen when his wise crack was aired. He found out. For twenty-one years Asimov had suffered occasionally from the pain associated with having kidney stones. The day his interview appeared on television, Asimov had his worst attack. He wrote later, “There’s no use trying to describe the bitter, unrelenting pain one experiences in such an attack. All I could do was clutch my abdomen, stagger about, and gasp, ‘All right, God. You’ve found me. Now let me go.’”

This seemed to be the same type of situation with Thomas. It wasn’t that it was an honest doubt, but rather that Thomas was being a wise guy. However, to Thomas’ great credit, when his doubts were discredited, he believed absolutely:

Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Getting back to my friends who never went through as dramatic a conversion as I, although there may be some people who just go through the motions, I really believe that there comes a time for each of us to make a choice. We choose to believe. It may be as dramatic as my conversion, or it may be as forthright as Christian’s choice last week to be Baptized, or it may be as simple as one day realizing that what we said we believed, we really DO believe. Each of these is a real choice to follow Christ, and, I would submit, as valid as any “born-again’s” choice.

So what does this mean to us? What does the lesson of doubting Thomas teach? Does it teach us that faith never means questioning? Absolutely not. God gave us intellect to use it. He even warned us about wolves in sheep clothing precisely because He wants us to use our intellect. But “intellectual” is not synonymous with “sophisticated.” Those who write off God do so, not because of their use of intellect – even though that is what they want you to believe – but rather based on the sophisticated belief that “no one using their brain could possibly believe in a God.”

I said it once and I will say it again – it takes a lot of faith to be an atheist. To be an atheist, one has to have absolute faith in probability, that if you have enough monkeys in front of enough typewriters, one WILL produce “Gone With the Wind.” One has to believe that, with enough planets, one WILL produce living organisms. And with enough planets with living organisms, one WILL produce intelligent life. And one can NEVER ask, “What came before the Big Bang?”

But belief in God is NOT a blind faith. Let me repeat this: belief in God is NOT a blind faith. It is based on the life, the miracles, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. It is based on the first-hand testimony of people who would rather die than disavow what they saw. It is based on their objective evidence. In the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter tells us:

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it…This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.”

Those who do not believe have nothing that refutes this testimony. Rather, they use something quite sophisticated but not very logical or intellectual. They argue that it cannot happen because it is impossible. This is a bad, circular argument. The argument is this, since it cannot happen, it did not happen, because it has to be ‘possible’ for it to occur. In other words, they start out by defining the act as impossible –“no virgin can give birth” – and then they say, therefore it cannot happen. But if it did occur, then it IS possible, and the argument falls apart.

Our faith is not a blind faith, but it is faith. We believe, not because we challenged God to prove Himself to us, but because, He has made His presence known to us. We believe, not because that is what we have been taught, but because objectively, intellectually, and in our heart of hearts, we know it is true. And then we have chosen to believe in Christ because we have faith in Him as the Son of God and as our personal Savior.

We are now in Eastertide, the period we remember between Christ’s resurrection and His ascension. It is a period when we recall the testimony of many Apostles and Saints who would rather die than recant what they witnessed. And it is a time when we proclaim our belief. It is also a time when we should be fortifying our faith in God and in Christ by rereading the testimony of the Saints and the statements of Jesus. And, finally, we should fortify our faith by realizing not all of us have taken the same path, but all of us have ended up in the same place – with a belief that Jesus is the Christ and that He is our Savior.



Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 11:48 AM

 
Sermon: March 16th 2008
Who Is This Man?

“And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, ‘Who is this?’ So the multitudes said, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.’” [Matthew 21:10-11]

When I was a young adult, my family and I decided to go to the Easter Vigil service one year. Well, the service started at 6 o’clock in the evening. And at 9, the service was still not over, but we were done. We left at that time, never seeing the conclusion.

Every year, the lessons for Palm Sunday remind me of this experience. I always think that, about halfway through The Passion, I am starting to lose people. But, the lessons for Palm Sunday are extremely important. And there is a very good reason for having two Gospel Lessons.

These Gospel lessons seem schizophrenic. In fact, the whole service is schizophrenic. We start out exuberant and end up somber. But these lessons are juxtaposed for a reason. They are read together just to show us how fickle we humans are. One moment, we are singing someone’s praises; the next we are asking for his blood.

But why the dramatic difference? Why the sudden change in temperament? The answer is in our Gospel Lesson for the Liturgy of the Palms:

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Many people did not know who Jesus was; they just knew that some thought He was very important. When they heard who was being honored, they still did not know who Jesus was. But, they did have a preconceived idea as to what the Messiah was going to be like.

The Jewish people at this time believed that God’s Messiah would be a general and a King; someone who could liberate Judea from the Romans. The multitude assumed that Christ would be their liberator. But this belief just proves that the multitude really did not know who Jesus was. They did not know that they were right, that He was the Messiah, but that they were wrong as to what it meant to be a Messiah. They did not know that He was going to liberate them from their sins.

So, instead of rejecting their concept of what the Messiah was to be like, they rejected Jesus instead. And because Jesus did not fit their preconceived notion of who the Messiah was, they easily could reject Him five days later.

Even Pontius Pilate did not know who this person from Nazareth was. For this passage, I actually prefer the 1611 Version of the King James Bible:

“And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, ‘Art thou the King of the Jews?’ And Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou sayest.’ And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.”

However, unlike the crowd, Pilate figured out rather quickly that Jesus was an innocent man. He was not duped by the false accusations. But Pilate did something worse than what the crowd did. The crowed did not understand, but rather blindly followed a lead. Don’t get me wrong; this is pretty bad. But what Pilate did was worse. He set it up so that he could justify in his mind sending an innocent man to death:

When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”

We can see how Pilate had hoped that the crowd would ask for Jesus instead of Barabbas, but this was still the coward’s way out. If Jesus was innocent, he should have been released no matter what.

The truth is that Jesus came into a world corrupted by sin to save us. And the corruption acted to help Jesus save us by His atoning sacrifice. Through sin and the corruption of this world, an innocent, sinless man died so that no one else need die.

But the dilemma the multitude faced and, for that matter, Pontius Pilate faced, is the same dilemma we face every day.

There is a need in humans to remake God in their image. When we realize what God wants of us, our first reaction is to think it impossible. We feel it is impossible because it seems to conflict with human nature. We are not only to forgive our enemies, we are to love them. We are to keep ourselves holy and separate. We are not to give in to every whim of our bodies or our minds. And this seems impossible.

And this is not unique to our times. If you are participating in our Bible study or, like me, using the “read through” Bible that our Bible study group is using, you will know that we have already read about Israel’s failures to follow God’s commandments. We will soon reach a period of apostasy for the nation of Israel where the religious leaders are telling the people that they have received a new commandment. The new commandment is that we can worship any God we choose. It doesn’t matter. We can do what we please. It doesn’t matter. We can follow our human instincts. It doesn’t matter. God will love us no matter what and will accept us no matter what – because nothing really matters. But it did and does matter. And Israel was destroyed.

The reason that God’s commandments appear unreasonable is that we are fallen creatures. God’s commandments are not really unreasonable. They really are not impossible. And they really do not conflict with human nature, per se, because our nature now is a corruption of our true nature. When we disobeyed, we brought sin into the world and corrupted our nature. God’s commandments are not really unreasonable. They are rather to help us to be more like we were supposed to be before we chose to disobey God.

And when we try to follow them, we discover how really very “natural” they are to us. Unfortunately, because we are fallen, the Law actually works to condemn us. Only through Christ are our sins forgiven, and only through Christ are we saved:

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In five short days, the world went from proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah to pronouncing His execution. We have to ask ourselves if the people in Jerusalem were more fickle than us, or if we share something with these ancient people.

The truth is that they are no worse or no better than us. And this is the frightening part. We are just as guilty as they are of not understanding Christ, of trying to remake Christ so that He is more palatable and more easily followed. We sing Hosannas to the Christ who loves us and forgives our sins, but crucify the Christ who asks us to change our ways, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and body, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We praise the love but condemn the requirement that we need to believe in Him and follow His example.

And the sooner we realize how very similar we are to our brothers and sisters who called for Jesus’ crucifixion almost two thousand years ago, the sooner we will come to know who this man, Jesus the Christ, really is.

Amen.



Sermon: March 2nd 2008
Walking as Children of Light

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” [St. John 9:5]

The season of Lent to me has always appeared as a very “dark” season. It is not dark because the days are shorter. Though short, the days are not as short as the days surrounding Christmas. But it is a somber time. It is a time when we are fasting, praying, and remembering our sins. It is also a time when we anticipate the darkest day in history – Good Friday.

For us at our church, it may appear “darker” in part because it starts with our Ash Wednesday service which is at night and ends with our Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, both of which are at night. All our brass on the Altar is removed making the Altar more dark and less bright. And the only clippings allowed on the Altar are greens.

Therefore, our lessons for today seem somewhat incongruous. In our lessons we have analogies to light. We have revelation and cured blindness. And we have Christ’s great statement that He is the light of the world. So why the incongruity? Why during this dark time do we read about Christ’s Light?

The answer is that it is an important assurance. It is a blessed assurance that the time of darkness will eventually be done. And it is an assurance that for every Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, there is an Easter morning!

In our Old Testament lesson, we have God’s choice of David as King. It is important for several reasons, but the most important for us today is God’s revelation that His judgment is unlike man’s:

So it was, when they came, that he looked at [Jesse’s son] Eliab and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

In other words, we are blind precisely because we see. We see the outward appearance of people and judge them accordingly. We judge someone to be good by what they say and how they appear. But these outward appearances blind us to what is truly important – a man’s heart and a man’s soul. And because we judge everything by appearances instead of the truth within, we remain blind until Christ provides the light.

This lesson is followed by one of King David’s greatest and most powerful psalm, the 23rd Psalm. Here, in one of the most famous lines, we have an act of light in darkness:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, * For Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.

Again, if we are blind to God, we will not see that Christ is with us even in our darkest times. Many people lose their faith in such times because they think they have been deserted by God. They do not see Him. They are blind and are stumbling in the dark. But He IS there. He is there ready to provide us with all the support we need. Yet we are blind to His presence.

This is precisely why our Gospel Lesson for today is so important. Do we think it is coincidental that Christ heals a person who has been blind since birth? Isn’t this all of us? Aren’t we all just as blind until we find Christ?

For someone like me who came to Christ as a young adult, this healing of the blind is extremely relevant. The thing that strikes people like me is the personal revelation of how blind we have been. We never saw God and yet He always has been there, right in front of us, as big as can be. Yet we never noticed. No wonder at the end we have this exchange between the former blind person and Christ:

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

But, like Samuel who thought God would surely choose Eliab as King of Israel, the Pharisees judged by appearances. In ancient Israel, they believed physical afflictions were caused by sin. If the sin was not that of the person afflicted, it was the sin of an ancestor. When they were faced with the miracle of the man being healed, they could not bear it. So, they tried to find other explanations. The first was that the man that supposedly was healed was never really blind:

They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.

When they were faced with the reality of the miracle, they tried to get around it by hoping to discover that Jesus really didn’t perform the miracle, that it must have been someone else. When the formerly blind man refuted this assertion, the Pharisees wanted to hear again how the miracle was done, not to prove it but rather to find something that they may use against Christ. In the final exchange, the Pharisees proved that they would rather cast out the truth than change their beliefs:

The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.

This is the ultimate blindness. Faced with a choice of either accepting the Truth and rejecting our preconceived notions or rejecting the Truth and preserving our image of the universe, we would rather reject the Truth. And this is not something only the Pharisees do. This is something that we all do.

But Christ is the Light that shines in our world. His light reveals all our flaws and all our problems. That is why so many rejected Him almost 2,000 years ago. No one wants to see their flaws. No one wants a bright light on our failings. When it comes to our imperfections, we would rather have mood lighting than a spot light.

But there is another factor about being in the Light of Christ. Light may show us all our flaws, but light also shows us the way. With light, we are no longer in the dark. We can see the path; and we can see where we need to go. We are no longer lost. And, like a child who is afraid of the dark, with light, we are no longer afraid. We know; we see; and our fear leaves us.

We are very fortunate. All of us have seen the light. We know Christ; we have accepted Him. But there are others in the world who have not. And here is the true lesson for all of us today. Christ tells us:

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

But Christ is no longer in the world. He will return, but until He does, how do others see this great light. Our answer comes from our Epistle for today:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.

WE are to walk in the light. We are to show the world the light of Christ by what we say and what we do. It is not enough to say that we are Christians; we are TO BE Christ-like. We are to be examples of Christ. And that means exposing those things which are evil as such.

It is clear in this passage that St. Paul wants all of us to be great examples. We are to show what it means to be a Christian by living good, Christian lives. Words are not enough. We must model. And if we do this, if we walk as “children of the light” we will be able to be conduits of God’s great Light in this world.


Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 10:10 AM

 
Sermon Feb 17th, 2008
Publishing Joyful News

“For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
[St. John 3:17]

There are times in our lives when we ask the right question but get the wrong answer. Sometimes it is wrong because we expect a different answer, but the question itself IS being answered correctly. This probably happened to most of us when we were teenagers, expecting one answer from our parents, but getting one that we did not want to hear.

Sometimes the answer is wrong because the answer does not address the question. This happens mostly in politics, but it can happen in our normal, daily conversations.

But there are times when the answer to our question is irrelevant because we start out wrong. We start out by asking the wrong question. That has happened quite often lately in theological discussions. The one question that struck me while reading our lessons for today has to deal with salvation. The current question is, “how can God condemn someone who is a good person just because they do not believe in Christ?”

For anyone who is a Christian, this is a hard question. First, no one wants to be condemned by God. Knowing how sinful we all are, we automatically have compassion on this hypothetical person. Second, if you say that the person IS condemned you sound either heartless or like some stereo-typical evangelical, fundamentalist that seems only to exist on the fringe of the religious community.

But I submit that this is the wrong question.

The real question is whether someone can be saved just by being good.

Now, before we enter what can be a discussion fraught with dangers and pitfalls, let us keep in mind God’s warning to all of us, which is NOT in our lesson for today. Christ told us:

“Judge not, that ye be not judged.”

Christ also told us:

Ye judge after the flesh: I judge no man. And yet, if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.”

If Christ was unwilling to judge those who judged Him when He was on earth, then how can we pass judgment on whether someone will or will not be saved. Only God knows our hearts. And only God will decide if we are saved.

Second, let’s not lump together those who believe in Christ but are of another faith and those who do not believe in Christ. Just because someone is not the same Christian faith as we are does not mean they are not saved.

Please don’t be too shocked, but I actually do, on occasion, watch South Park. In one of my favorite episodes, Kenny dies once again and this time, he goes to Hell. As I remember it, he approaches the front desk with a very harried devil who is dealing with many disgruntled people. As Kenny is waiting, he hears one person say, “This makes no sense. I have been a good Catholic all my life, and you’re telling me that I am NOT supposed to be in Heaven.” The devil looks up and says, “Yes that’s right.” Another person says, “But what about me. I’ve been a good Presbyterian.” “No, you’re supposed to be here too.” Finally the devil has had it and turns to the group and says, “Listen, you have it wrong. The answer is ‘Mormon.’” Then everyone exclaims, “Oh, Mormon!” Sometimes I think people really think this way. If we don’t belong to the “right” faith, we won’t get into Heaven.

My father and his brother were baptized twice. The first time, my grandparents baptized them in the Roman Catholic faith. Then they had neighbors baby-sit the twins. The neighbors were protestant. They were fearful that the children would end up in hell if they were not baptized in the “true” faith. They took the children to their own church and had them baptized again. Although as Christians we believe that no one is saved except through their faith in Christ, the fact that one person belongs to one Christian faith and another to another Christian faith does not indicate whether one will be saved and the other not. Again, only God can judge a man’s heart and faith.

But we do know one thing: only our faith will save us. Good works, in and of themselves, do not save. In St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans [which we will read at our second service today], St. Paul relates to us the fact that Abraham, our spiritual father, was not saved by the law or his actions. He was saved by faith alone:

What shall we say then that Abraham our father, hath found pertaining to the flesh? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath reason to glory, but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Now to him that worketh, his reward is reckoned not according to grace, but according to debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth in Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

St. Paul writes in this passage that when we talk of being saved by our good works or by being a “good person,” we are saying that Heaven is earned, that God owes us, and that God better give us what we have earned. But Abraham could not earn his reward in heaven. He was the first. He did what God wanted him to do, but he did it out of faith. And because of this faith, Abraham was saved.

He was not saved by his good works, for we have many things recorded showing Abraham’s failings and failures. Abraham was not saved because he followed the Law, for the Law was not written until Moses’ time. And Abraham was not saved because he was circumcised, for he was counted righteous prior to when he circumcised himself.

St. Paul’s conclusion is very logical: the only way he could have been saved is by faith – and God’s grace!

Now the definition of “grace” for us Christian is an unearned blessing from God. First, we must have faith, then God bestows on us grace to do His will and follow His ways. Whereas faith saves, grace strengthens.

But this brings us back to our original question whether a person can be saved just by being good. This hypothetical is incomplete. First, without God telling us what is good and what is not, we would degenerate into barbarism. If we look at those societies that abandoned God in order to “help” mankind, we see how quickly it degenerates into depravity. One only has to look at the Nazis, the Communists, and the Khmer Rouge to see that this is true. Even those individuals who are atheists but who are very moral do so because of how they were raised. As the atheist is more and more removed from the moral teachings of faith, the more they realize that they are not bound by any morality. And it becomes easy for them to degenerate.

But, second, just because a person believes in a god and seems to be doing the “right” thing, does not mean he can earn his way into Heaven. What we are told is that we are incapable of doing this because of our sinful nature. All our best efforts have some taint of sin intermixed. And therefore, Heaven cannot be earned.

This seems very negative and very unfair, but please look at what Christ tells us in our Gospel lesson for today:

“For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Again, we are not looking at the situation correctly. We may say how unjust God is for condemning us. Yet, if we are truly honest with ourselves and if we truly look at what we do, we must admit how inadequate we are for the job of saving ourselves.

The point is not that God condemns us; He does not. It is WE who condemn ourselves. Through our actions and through our sins we demonstrate time and time again why we need a Savior. But, instead of seeing why we condemn ourselves, what we should see is the fact that God wants to save ALL of us! He does not want one person to fail. Therefore, He came as a Man so that, through faith in Him and faith alone, we could be saved.

This is great news. This is joyful news. And this is the reason we try to spread the word of God to everyone – so that they too may share in His saving grace. We share the Gospels so they too may have eternal life. It is so everyone may experience the love of God and come back into His family.

Again, it is not up to us to decide who will be in heaven and who will not. It is not up to us to say who is good and who is not. But, being a Christian, we must agree that good works is never enough to save. We need Christ. We need to believe in Him and we need Him to lead us. And if we do that, we WILL be saved.


Amen.



Sermon Feb 3rd, 2008
Believing the Impossible

“And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.” [St. Luke 2:33]

Today is the feast day of Saint Blaise, a Bishop who was martyred around the year 316 A.D. If you read the insert in our bulletin, you will read some fantastic things about Saint Blaise.

As I read those same things, my first inclination was to dismiss them as legend or even myth. But then a thought occurred to me. Why would I do that? Is it because we have never experienced such events in our lives? That seems rather narrow-minded of me. It belies a lack of imagination or intellectual gifts that would allow me to see God’s infinite abilities.

Then I had the thought: why haven’t we had such miracles today? The answer suddenly struck me. Could it be that we do not experience the miraculous precisely because we no longer believe in them? In other words, is it our own lack of faith that prevents the same dramatic miracles from occurring that has occurred in the past?

Don’t get me wrong. We have some wonderful people of faith. We have people who are very devoted to God. And we have people who perceive the Holy Spirit when and where no one else can see it.

I remember being told of an event in a Polish National Church that, during the Mass in a part called the epiclesis when the Holy Spirit is asked to descend on the Host and Wine to make them the Body and Blood, angels appeared over the oblations. Many people in the church saw these angels. In fact, the only one who did not see them was the priest.

In our Gospel lesson, we also have these very perceptive people in the great temple in Jerusalem. They see what no one else sees because they were filled with the Holy Spirit. One was a man, Simeon, and the other was a woman, Anna. They both could see what others, including the priests, could NOT see. They saw, not a baby, but the Messiah:

When the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for Him after the custom of the law, then [Simeon] took Him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.”

These people were open to the Holy Spirit. They were prepared to be lead where no one else would go. And they were prepared to believe, even though others would tell them it was impossible.

What is interesting is that our faith is replete with the miraculous. Jesus Himself, being God incarnate is a fantastic belief that is a stumbling block to many. Yet, it is an intimate part of our faith. If we do not believe this, we are not truly Christian. St. Paul, writing to the Hebrews, summed it up this way:

For verily He took not on Himself the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.

But this brings me back to my original question, why do we not have saints today who walk on water or who command the attention of animals? Is it because these are all made-up stories? Or is it because we do not have the required faith?

Jesus once told His disciples:

“IF ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, ‘Remove hence to yonder place,’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

I would venture to guess that we have all heard this quotation so often that it has lost its effectiveness to inspire. But let us consider an experiment that was highly publicized involving a primary-grade school teacher.

This teacher made an announcement in class. She said, “Recent scientific reports have verified that children with blue eyes have greater natural learning abilities than children with brown eyes.” She then had her students make up little signs designating themselves as “blue eyes” or “brown eyes,” which they hung around their necks. After about a week or so, the achievement level of the brown-eyed section fell dramatically while the performance of the blue-eyed section improved significantly.

The teacher then made a startling announcement. She had made a mistake! It was really the blue-eyed people who were the weaker students and the brown-eyed ones who were the better students. Almost immediately, the brown-eyed students’ achievements increased while the blue-eyed students’ performance dropped.

Similar experiments were done with teachers where the teacher was told that one group was weaker and one stronger. Even though both groups were, in fact, equal in ability, the way the teachers treated the two groups were dramatically different, and consequently the performances were different.

In our society, we are constantly told that certain things are impossible, and we believe it. When I was in High School, I tried to make the argument that the phone company (we only had one at the time) should be de-regulated. My friend argued against me, telling me that because of the infrastructure needed for land lines, it was impractical.

I then proposed that maybe, if the phones were de-regulated, they would come up with a way not to use land lines, like walkie-talkies. My friend laughed. He said, “That’s impossible. There are only so many band-withs, and the radio companies have most of them.” Right then a thought crossed my mind. “Why can’t they find a way to split the band-withs into smaller increments.” My friend laughed again saying it was impossible, but I never really bought his argument.

Now, needless to say, if I pursued my idea, I may have invented the cell phone. But the real point is not that I could see something but rather my friend could not. He was told it was impossible. He could not see that science and technology has historically improved over time. He was told it was impossible, so he could NOT see the possible.

And let us not assume that those ancient church fathers were different. Remember in the Gospel when Saint Peter walked on the water to meet Jesus. Halfway out to the boat, the wind picked up and he became frightened. In other words, he suddenly realized that what he was doing was impossible and immediately started to sink. Peter lost faith, and Christ had to save him.

We suffer from the same limitations. We are told God cannot become man. We are told a virgin cannot have a baby. We are told no one can heal the sick or raise the dead. We are told that no one can walk on water or change water into wine. And we are told that no one can rise from the dead. In essence, we are told that our faith is a fiction. And if we listen to these nay Sayers, we will believe. No miracles happen because we have no faith in them.

But if we have faith in God and in miracles, if we believe, everything becomes possible. Miracles can and DO happen. Saints do live remarkable lives, and Christ is real. God is real. And then we, like Simeon and Anna begin to see. We see God, and we see His hand in everything that happens. And suddenly, the heavens are revealed to us.

This is our goal as Christians and this is our goal during Lent. We are to forget what the world tells us is possible and impossible. We are to see, not with our eyes, but with our faith. And we are to grow our faith like a mustard seed, from something incredibly small into something massive. And we are to start this Lent.

Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 9:12 AM

 
Sermon Jan 20th, 2008
Strengthening Our Faith

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” [Joshua 1:9]

I have some friends who hate to work out. One friend once told me that, whenever he got the urge to exercise, he’d lay down until it went away. Another of my friends instead of saying, “No pain, no gain,” used to say, “No pain – good!” But we all know that taking care of our bodies is very important. To have a healthy body, we know we have to exercise it, feed it nourishing things, rest it when needed, and just not take it for granted. One of these friends now exercises, even though he hates it. He does it because he knows he needs to do it – that and his doctor told him he had to do it.

Faith is like our bodies. If it does not get exercised, if it is not fed nourishing things, if it is just taken for granted, it begins to atrophy. There are many people out there that do nothing to exercise their faith. They do not feel a need to pray or to read their Bibles, or to even read books with a theological bend. They do not fast or give alms. Some even do not attend church on a regular basis. And, like the person who does not exercise, this type of person becomes flabby in their faith.

There are those who do not feed their faith good things. They digest the latest “spiritual” theories without even analyzing if it really will be good for them. Some choose churches based on whether it makes them “feel good” and never makes them question what they are doing and why. These people are subsisting on the equivalent of spiritual junk food. It feels good, but it does nothing to nourish our souls.

The truth is and the hard lesson is that, if we just take our faith for granted, our faith will start to atrophy. We will be less likely to see God’s presence in the world; we will be less likely to see His Hand in those things in our lives. And, like a lost sheep, we will stray ever farther from the fold, vulnerable to any wolf out there.

Today is Septuagesima Sunday. It is the start of the pre-Lenten season, a season that many churches have done away with because “Lent is such a downer.” But, this disfavored season is important in preparing us for Lent, especially because Lent has a tendency to sneak up on most of us. And Lent is one of the most important times for us to develop our spiritual discipline. It is a time where we emphasize prayer, fasting, abstinence, and alms-giving, not merely because it is “good for us,” but precisely because we know it will strengthen our faith. And our lessons for today address several of the most important aspects to our Lenten observation.

St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians likens our spiritual life on earth as a race:

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

He goes on in this letter to tell us that, with this faith, comes discipline, not just of the soul, but also the body and the mind:

Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Lent is a time we bring our bodies into subjection to our wills. It is a time when we give up those things that are tasty just to say that we rule our bodies and not the other way around. It is a time when we may feel hungry, but this is in order for us to know that there is more to life than bread alone. And it is a time when we try to bring our desires in line with our faith.

Now, I will caution all of us on one thing. When I was a young man, I spoke with this customer who was an elderly Jewish woman. She told me how proud she was that, on Yom Kippur, their day of atonement, she would fast all day. Then she told me how disappointed she now was because, being elderly and on heart medication, she could no longer fast. My caution is to say that we all must recognize our limitations. There are times when we need to rest.

As much as we would like to do something like fast all day, we may not physically be able to do so. We must ask ourselves, honestly, is our fast an act of faith or pride. Is it to discipline ourselves or prove that we are better than others? In those cases, we do what we can, and we pray that our pride does not get in our way of our religious devotion.

And this brings us to our Gospel Lesson for today. Here we have one of the biggest traps of the faithful. It is the trap that the Pharisees fell into, and it is the trap to which none of us are immune. It is the belief that somehow we are better than someone else either because we do something better or more often or longer.

And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’

When we fast, it should be just between us and God. Whether someone else is eating everything he did prior to Lent is really no concern of ours. After all, where sweets, meat, or alcohol may be OUR weakness, his may not involve any of these things. His abstinence may involve something other than what we can readily see. But, what if he is giving up nothing? That is also none of our concern. When we agreed to fast, like the worker who agreed to work all day for a denarius, the agreement was between God and us. And God will treat us fairly:

But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’

Let us avoid thoughts that somehow we are better than others when we enter our season of Lent. It is of paramount importance that we do something for Lent, but we should not judge others who may not share our beliefs or who have not come to the same spiritual understanding. Besides, only God knows the hearts of men. He therefore should be left to judge and not we.

The final issue when thinking about our Lent comes from our Old Testament Lesson:

Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

For us Christians, this passage has a totally different meaning than someone who is Jewish. St. Paul tells us that the Law does not save. Rather, it condemns. Only faith in Christ can save.

We know from the Bible that the Israelites looked both right AND left. They failed. And we should also know that we fail as well. On the one hand, we need to be courageous and trust God. But, on the other hand, we should not let our Lenten observation go to our heads. No matter how well we do, we still need God; we still need Christ. Our acts will NOT save us, though they will help us in our spiritual growth. We will still sin. And we will still need Christ. For without that faith, we are surely condemned.

But we should also take great courage in knowing that faith in Christ is all we need. After all, as humans, we are bound to fail. We will slip and eat junk food. We will slip and miss going to the gym. And we will slip spiritually as well. But, if we have faith, if we continue to try to strengthen our faith by prayer, fasting, abstinence, alms-giving, and our daily devotion to God, then we can take comfort that the promise God made to Joshua also applies to us:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”


Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 8:03 AM

 
Jan 6th 2008
Sermon: Being Followers of Christ

“When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.” [Matthew 2:9]

In our prayer book, the Feast of the Epiphany has a second title. It is also referred to as the “Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.” This second title is extremely important to all of us. It is the fulfillment of prophesy in the Old Testament that many Jewish people missed. It is the prophetic statement that God would reached out beyond His chosen people to include in His salvation everyone, everywhere:

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

In our Gospel Lesson for today, we have the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophesy. We have God revealing Himself to the Gentiles. We have God showing them the way in a most dramatic fashion. We have the beginning of the revelation that Christ will be the Way. He will be the Light, and He will be the Life. And we have the Gentiles responding:

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

The term “Magi” references people who were astrologers, and not astronomers. The root word for “magician” is “magi” and may give us a better understanding of what these people believed. But, they were also familiar with Jewish prophetic scriptures. Thus, the light in the sky told them that a new king was born, and also knew that this new king was for the nation of Israel. What they didn’t realize was that this “King of the Jews” was not just for Jewish people but is for all people, everywhere, and for all times.

But Herod was not pleased with this revelation. We must understand that Herod was not really Jewish. Herod came from an Edomite family. He was placed in power by the Romans and was the product of the Hellenistic influence that came to Israel through Alexander the Great. The fact that Herod had to gather all his chief priests and scribes to figure out where the Christ would be born tells us that Herod did not have a strong sense of the prophesy that may affect his reign:

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, “In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, ‘And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.’”

Thus, having the Magi appear and tell him that a new king, meaning the rightful king, was born was enough to fill Herod with anger and terror. And what is more, all of Jerusalem was troubled by this news. As bad as it may have been having an Edomite as King and having a foreign power in control, there are those always who benefit from the status quo. There were those who supported Hitler, there were those who supported Stalin, and there were those who supported Herod. And the loss of Herod would mean the loss of power to many in the capital.

There are many theologians that discount the slaughter of the innocents, but this is not logical. Our own experiences in the twentieth century tell us that megalomaniacs are capable of great atrocities, especially if they feel threatened. And Herod clearly would have felt threatened by this news.

But because Herod was not really Jewish, we can understand his ignorance as to Scripture. What is fascinating is that, those who should have known, missed the signs. They did not know that the Messiah had been born. And what is worse, once the Magi revealed the reason for their dangerous trek, these people in power seemed to support Herod’s intention to destroy the Messiah. In part, this may be a reflection of the fact that they just didn’t recognize Christ’s kingship.

There once was a lion that listened in to a conversation among a group of hunters. He was fascinated because they were discussing which of the animals was truly King of the Jungle. Finally one of the hunters concluded the discussion by saying, “From everything that’s been said, it’s clear that the lion is still king of the jungle.” This pleased the lion very much.

The next day, the lion came upon a leopard. The lion let out a mighty roar and then said to the leopard, “Which animal is king of the jungle?” The leopard, shaking with fright, replied, “You are Mr. Lion.”

Then the lion came upon a tiger. He let out another mighty roar that shook the jungle, and then asked the tiger, “Which animal is king of the jungle?” Immediately the badly intimidated tiger replied, “You are Mr. Lion.”

Finally, the lion came upon an elephant. He let out another of his mighty roars and then asked, “Which animal is king of the jungle?” Whereupon the elephant wrapped her trunk around the lion’s throat, spun him around several times over her head, and threw him fifty feet where he hit a tree. The dazed lion slowly stood up, shook his head, looked over to the elephant and said, “Geese. All that fuss just because you don’t know the answer?!”

This tale of the lion is truer of this world than we often care to consider. People often declare someone to be king of this world while the real King goes unrecognized. This is, in part, because each generation is a product of their time. Things that we see clearly from hindsight, may be missed by those living during the time. In other words, those things that we consider normal, desensitizes us to those things for which we should be more aware. Our time is quite good at desensitizing us to the divine presence in this world, and to our King of Kings.

Our gospel lesson tells us that Christ is the Messiah, not just for the Jewish people, but for all people:
“How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”

He came to save us all. And what is more, even though the world may not recognize His sovereignty, Christ truly does reign, and His reign is never ending.

The Feast of the Epiphany shows us that in this world there are basically four types of people. There are those, like many of the Jewish people at the time of the Magi, who are oblivious to what is going on around them. They are so busy with the demands and the pleasures of this world that they miss the divine, even when it is as obvious as a star so bright it could be seen both in the night and the day.

There are those, like the scribes and priests who are extremely knowledgeable and well versed in scripture, but who let their preconceived notions affect their perception of the divine. In Judea, the priests and theologians believed the Messiah would be an earthly king and warrior. He would come and defeat the Romans. When Christ came as an infant and in such lowly birth, these very knowledgeable people missed it because they could not get past their prejudice.

But, there are those, like Herod, who are made aware and who, not only reject the truth, but also seek actively to destroy it. These are people who see the divine and actually hate it. They seek its destruction. These are the people who see all the world’s woes as a result of religion. They revel when priests’ fail; they take glee in fallen saints; and they are the ones who try to tarnish the reputation of anyone who is religious.

And, finally, there are those who are made aware, like the Magi, and embrace the truth no matter how far it will take them or how far-fetched it may appear at first blush. This group, I hope, includes all of us.

We are the ones who should be seeking the King; we should be seeking the Messiah; we should be seeking Christ. And when we find Him, as I hope we all have, then we have to decide whether we want to follow Him, no matter where He takes us. We are to leave all behind and follow.

Are those who do this perfect people? Hardly. The Magi were not perfect. They were involved in the occult; they were astrologers. They were also not Jewish and probably uncircumcised. But the thing that made them exceptional was their faith. And what will save us is our faith.

We have to decide who we want to be. Are we so concerned with this world that we haven’t noticed Christ? Or are we so buried in the minutia of Scripture that we haven’t notice the Spirit behind the Scripture? Have we become so sophisticated in our religious belief that we no longer have any faith? Or have we become so hateful and resentful that we seek to destroy faith? Or have we become a people who are seeking? In other words, are we following the Light of this world, namely Christ, or are we lost in the dark?

Only we can answer these questions for ourselves. But if we truly are seeking Christ, then we must allow Him to lead us, to fill us with the Holy Spirit, and to remember that the light we show forth in our faith really does not come from us, but rather through us and from Christ.
And above all, we should, like the Magi, these wise and wonderful men who braved many dangers to pay homage to a king, be followers, capable of seeing the divine whether it is a star in the heavens or a babe dressed in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.


Amen.

Dec 24th 2007
Sermon: The True Spirit of Christmas

“And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.” [St. Luke 2:15]

“And the angel said unto [the shepherds], ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.’” [St. Luke 2:10-11]

Christmas is one of my favorite seasons. It is beautiful; it is heart-warming; it is a time when we grow close to friends and family. It is also a time when we may get something wrong.

A woman was talking to her nephew just after Christmas. In a very apologetic way she said, “I’m sorry you don’t like my Christmas gift, but I did ask if you preferred a small check or a large check.” With his head hung in disappointment, the nephew replied, “I know, but I really didn’t think you were talking about ties.”

As wonderful as this season is, there are times when it seems that Christmas is isolated from the rest of our religious beliefs. It seems unrelated. And that is a shame. That is when WE get it wrong. So, the question I must ask is what does Christmas truly mean?

In order to understand Christmas, we must understand our God and our faith, both of which are very unique. In the pagan cultures and religions, their gods are not truly omnipotent or omniscient. They are limited both in power and in knowledge. They live within nature. They may control some of nature’s phenomena, such as lightning, but many in the pantheon never really created it. Additionally, they act more like super-humans rather than gods. They are limited in knowledge; they are tempted; they get fooled; and they seem to be creatures of time, living within its framework as opposed to outside it.

Tied to these pagan images of the gods is the purpose of man. In these stories, mankind was created either to do a job that the gods didn’t want to do or to further the gods personal glory.

In this world of pagan religions there was born the Jewish faith. It was radically different. It believed only in one God, and it believed that God is outside of nature and time. Creation of the world came only from this God, and everything created was good. Then came the creation of man.

In Genesis chapter 1, verse 27, we are told, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”

Do you realize how unique and earth-shattering this revelation is? Whereas the pagan gods were all about power and dominion, having power, holding on to power, and using power, the Hebrew God is about love and creation.

I do not know if we can say this about God, but He is so humble that He had no qualms creating us in His image. He created us in the image of the divine and gave us power and authority. He gave us free will. He gave us dominion over the earth. And, the basis for the radical difference between paganism and our faith is that our faith is a true faith, revealed by God.

This understanding of God also helps us to understand our Gospel passage on the Nativity. God’s concept of power and authority is radically different than our human concept. I heard one person say that “empowerment” is an ugly word connoting a silly concept. For any Christian, this statement rings true. Our God has always favored those whom we would consider weak. He favored David, a son almost forgotten by his father, Jesse, who was so small, he could not wear armor when he met Goliath in battle. God also favored the shepherds who were tending their flocks. They and not the kings, priests, scribes, or other men of authority and influence in Judea, were the first to know that the Messiah had come:

“And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.” [St. Luke 2:15]

“And the angel said unto [the shepherds], ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.’” [St. Luke 2:10-11]

And when God decided to be made man, He did so, not by being a fully formed adult, but by being conceived of the Virgin Mary, born a helpless infant, and born in the most humble of circumstances – in a stable, with a manger as a crib.

The birth of Christ, which we are celebrating today, was not done in isolation. It has a past. It has a present. And it has a future.

Christ was born because, in the past, man fell. If men and women hadn’t fallen into sin, there would have been no need for a Saviour. Without a fall, there is no need for a Messiah. Therefore, the fall is crucial in understanding Christmas.

Additionally, Christ’s birth was predicted in the past. He is the fulfillment of prophecy:

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

And also,

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

And finally,

Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.”

But there is also a future. Christ’s birth is only significant in relation to His atoning death, His resurrection, and His ascension. In other words, without Easter, Christmas has no meaning. We therefore must recall Easter when we celebrate Christmas. And this year provides us with a unique opportunity to relate these two very important Holy Days. For this year, Easter comes VERY early.

When we celebrate Christmas, let’s not forget that Christmas has a past. It has a reason why it must exist. We must also remember it has a future, one both dark and glorious. And let us remember, it has a present; a joy that fills us with love and understanding. If we remember all these things while opening our gifts, or sharing a meal with friends and family, we will have, not only a Merry Christmas, but also a Holy Christmas.

Merry Christmas, and God bless!

Amen.

Dec 23rd 2007
Sermon: The Qualities of Being a Christian

“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.” [St. Matthew 1:19]

About two years ago, there was a spate of books about St. Joseph, which caused Time magazine to write an article about the “new’ interest. This article was fascinating both in that it gave an historical perspective, showing how our image of St. Joseph has changed over the centuries, and a present day perspective.

Originally, St. Joseph was pictured as an old man, feeble and weak. This is interesting, in part because, being a carpenter, it does not make sense that he was weak. And, traveling from Galilee to Bethlehem back in these days would not be possible if he were feeble. But, being old is not so far-fetched. Since the average life span of a man in the Roman Empire was 42, anyone in his forties would be considered old. But now, St. Joseph is pictured as viral and younger, though certainly not as young as the Blessed Virgin.

In the movie, The Nativity Story, St. Joseph exhibits all these modern qualities plus one. He is portrayed as young and viral, but he is also portrayed as a very kind and loving man. Every time his name is mentioned in the movie, it is followed with the accolade that he is a “good man.” And the quality of being both kind and loving comes through in St. Matthew’s Gospel:

“When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.”

In our modern age, this short reference does not connote much to us. It does not reveal much as to the nature of St. Joseph as it would have to someone who lived 100 or even 50 years ago. When 16 year old starlets become pregnant with little outcry except for a smirk and a shrug, it’s hard for us to remember the social stigma associated with unwed motherhood.

But, when St. Joseph lived, the stigma associated with this situation was huge. At this time, being betrothed to a man was considered the same as being wed to him. Thus, if a woman who is betrothed is found out to be pregnant by another man, it was considered the same as adultery. The penalty in such a case was to stone the woman to death.

But St. Joseph did not want to have this done to St. Mary. He was going to put her aside quietly. Without his accusation, there would be no basis to stone St. Mary, and her life would be spared, though certainly not easy.

Here we clearly see both St. Joseph’s great love and kindness. Many men, suspecting an unfaithful fiancé, would be so full of hurt, pain, and anger that they may seek revenge. I do not doubt that St. Joseph felt hurt and was in pain, but he loved St. Mary so much, he could not bear to have her hurt. He also probably was sympathetic, knowing that we all make mistakes. By deciding to put St. Mary aside quietly, he was showing kindness. Though an unwed mother was a great social stigma, there was a chance for a life as opposed to certain death if he made the accusation of adultery public.

But there is another quality to St. Joseph that must be recognized. He must have been very religious:

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”… Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife.

If he were not religious, St. Joseph could have very easily dismissed this dream as being just a fantasy. But he didn’t; he took the message very seriously. And, because he took the angel’s message seriously, St. Joseph wedded St. Mary.

One thing that I liked about the movie, The Nativity Story is that they did a good job conveying the ramifications of St. Joseph’s act to take St. Mary as his wife. Have you ever thought of what must have happened after they married? I never did. Think about it. They lived in a small village. In the movie, the stigma associated with St. Mary, by his action, was born by St. Joseph as well. They were both considered sinful because the villagers assumed that these two did not wait the requisite year before consummating their marriage. To take on the unwarranted stigma of a sin they did not commit is extremely Christ-like and shows how truly religious this man was.

But what does this passage mean to us? On several levels, our belief in this passage tests our faith. We have a man, while thinking about what he should do, who is visited by an angel in a dream. We have the angel’s announcement that St. Mary is still a virgin, that she conceived a child through the Holy Spirit, and that this child is the fulfillment of prophesy. Finally, we have a man who decides to do what God wants him to do no matter how difficult, rather than what is comfortable or easy. Some of these things even the most jaded among us may not doubt, but there are key components that we must believe in order to be truly Christian.

The first component of this passage that we must believe is that God did and still does intervene in history. He takes an active interest in us and wants to save us. That means we must believe our God is an active and not a passive God.

The second thing we must believe in is angels. Throughout both the Old and the New Testament we have tales involving angels. If we do not believe in angels, how can we believe the Annunciation or St. Joseph’s dreamlike messages.

The third and most crucial belief must be in the Virgin birth. Even if personally we may not believe that St. Mary was “ever virgin,” she is the Blessed Virgin because she conceived Christ when she still was a virgin.

And the virgin birth is crucial to our belief that Christ is Emmanuel, “God with us.” In other words if we do not believe the Virgin birth, we cannot believe that Christ is God-incarnate. We may believe he is a holy man. We may even believe he is a prophet of God. But to believe He IS God, that He is God with us, the virgin birth is crucial:

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

But there is more to this Gospel passage which is important to our lives. St. Joseph was a good man. He was “a just man.” But justice can be cruel. Justice may demand that the Virgin Mary be stoned. St. Joseph was more than this. He was also merciful, kind, and loving. These are qualities of God; these are qualities of Christ. And these are qualities that we must emulate.

In the movie, Enchanted April, one of the main characters spoke about her relationship with her husband. She said that she was so concerned with justice that she would ration out her love. She would not love one ounce more than her husband loved her. And the result was an increasingly cold and distant marriage.

As Christians, we are to be concerned with justice, but more importantly, we are to be concerned with mercy, kindness and love. Justice does not demand that we love our enemies, but Christianity does. Justice does not require that we give both our coat AND our jacket, but mercy does. Christianity is the religion of love and mercy, not merely justice, per se.

Remember, St. Joseph was truly a man. He had all our shortcomings. And yet, he could exhibit those wonderful God-given, Christ-like qualities of mercy, kindness, and love. And we as Christians are to emulate St. Joseph. We are to show love to everyone. We are to be kind, even to those who are not kind to us. And we are to show mercy even to those who show us none. These are the qualities of Christ; these are the qualities of St. Joseph; and these should be our qualities, as well.



Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 12:52 PM

 
Sermon December 9th, 2007
The Promises of Love

“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” [Isaiah 11:10]

This time of year is very unique. Even though we are stressed and overwhelmed, there seems to be a concerted effort to live life, at least for the month of December, in the Spirit of Christmas. People try to be nicer; they try to be more polite. They greet each other with ‘Merry Christmas,’ and they sincerely wish people to be happy.

When I was a young man, I worked retail. I was exhausted and my nerves were raw by the time Christmas Eve rolled around. Yet, working Christmas Eve was always a pleasure. Even at this late hour, most people were happy, jovial, and very polite. Believe it or not, it was a pleasure to work that day, even though it was extremely busy.

But, when Christmas is over, the euphoria wears off, and we revert to our usual selves. In a Peanuts cartoons, Lucy comes up to Charlie Brown and says, “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. Since it’s this time of the season, I think we ought to bury past differences and try to be kind.” Charlie Brown asks, “Why does it just have to be this time of the season? Why can’t it be all year long?” Lucy looks at him and exclaims, “What are you, some kind of fanatic?”

I think many of us, though we enjoy the feeling that we get at Christmas time, probably agree with Lucy to some degree. We see it as somewhat exhausting keeping up the Christmas spirit for longer than a month.

Yet, as Christians, we are called to keep Christmas in our hearts all year long. This is not some utopian philosophy. This is not a schmaltzy phrase from the movies or the saccharin sentiment of a Hallmark Card. It is the defining quality of Christianity. It is what we are called to be by Christ Himself. It is our call to emulate God’s love for mankind and Christ’s love for both us and His Father. It is a call to love.

In our lessons for today, we see the prophecy of a perfect age, and we see a call to come back to God. Both are statements of love. The first is a promise for a future, and the second is a promise of tough love. But both are acts of love, even if the second is not readily recognizable as such.

In our lesson from the Prophet Isaiah, we have a prophetic vision of the future; it is a time where peace reigns. Although prophetic, some elements have actually been fulfilled in Christ’s first coming:

“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.”

Clearly, this part of the prophesy references Jesus. Being in the line of David, whose father was Jesse, He IS the branch that grew out of the root. Christ was also found in the temple where the elders were impressed with His great learning, fulfilling the part that predicted His quickness and wisdom. But the last part that speaks of Christ’s first coming is this part:

“And a little child shall lead them.”

But the rest obviously has NOT occurred. This part speaks of a time in the future when Christ comes again to rule. It is a time of incredible peace, unknown in any era of mankind’s history:

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together.”

But, more important than the image of peace is the reason for this peace.

Humans are kind of weird. If a phrase is well-known, we tend to abbreviate it because “everyone knows the ending.” But shortly, because no one uses the whole phrase, the unspoken part is lost. A perfect example of this is the phrase, “Curiosity killed the cat.” But how many of you know the second verse? How many of you know that the next line is “But satisfaction brought it back?”

This is also true with this part of Isaiah. We all know of the image of a future where the lion will lay down with the lamb, but how many know why? Is it because we humans will devise the perfect peace or the perfect government? Absolutely not. Isaiah tells us that this peace will come from God and only through God:

“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

Let me repeat this passage again but slightly rephrased: the WHOLE WORLD shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, like the waters covering the sea. What a concept! Everyone will know God. No one will doubt. All will see Him and know Him like we knew Him in the Garden of Eden. And not only every one but EVERY THING! In other words, in this future date, all of creation shall know God, know that He exists, and more importantly, know that He loves us. We will know and feel His love with certainty.

That to me is incredible. And yet, doesn’t it make a whole lot more sense? Doesn’t it make a difference knowing why this peace will come? And, what is more, knowing that all of Isaiah’s prophecies have come true, we can take comfort that this too will be fulfilled some day.

In our Gospel lesson, many miss the message of love. They hear the condemnation of the Pharisees and Sadducees, but they do not see the love promised behind this message.

In our Gospel, we hear St. John the Baptist calling for repentance and amendment of life. He is calling for this so that we may be reunited with God. And in this group are some Pharisees and Sadducees. They have come to be baptized. But it is also clear that they have NOT come to repent:

“Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham to our father.’ For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”

So how is this love? The truth is that any Pharisee or Sadducee would have been welcomed IF they came with true repentance. But they showed up, thinking they had nothing to confess. They thought that, because they were Jewish, they were saved. In other words, just because they happen to be born of the line of Abraham, they need not confess anything. They were saved through an accident of birth. St. John wants to make it clear that lineage does not save. Repentance saves. Faith in Christ saves. But, heritage does NOT save.

This is tough love. If God did not truly love us, He would not have tried so hard to get us to follow Him. He would not have sent His only-begotten Son into the world to show us the way and to die for our sins. We need to hear the brutal truth so we WILL change, so that we WILL come back to God.

For each of us, it is clear we do not live in the ideal future prophesied by Isaiah. We live in a time where God is constantly being obscured by the pressures and pleasures of this world. We live where God and His love can be and is doubted. We live in a time where the only way to exemplify and to educate as to God’s love is through how WE love OTHERS.

Christianity, and our faith in it, compels us to love, not only our friends, but also our enemies. It also compels us to emulate Christ so others can see Him in this world. Therefore, it is our duty to keep the spirit of Christmas all the year long. As Lucy would accuse us, we are to become fanatics of God’s love. And by doing so, others may come to know God, to repent of their sins, and to come into that paradise that we are promised throughout the Bible. This is the promise of Love; and this is also the obligation that comes with this promise.


Amen.





Sermon Novenber 18th, 2007
Believing Prophecy

“But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” [Malachi 4:2a]

Since the birth of Christianity, there has been a tradition of analyzing Biblical text. At first, it was very similar to our sermons – what does a passage mean, how does it relate to other text, how can it be read so that the meaning is consistent with the rest of the Bible, what is God telling us, et cetera. With the birth of the Reformation and the printing press, this analysis changed to one of translating the text accurately and removing any corruptions in the text created from inaccurate copies.

However, in the 19th Century, textual criticism of the Bible took on a new wrinkle. It soon became one of authorship. Is the Book of Isaiah really written by Isaiah? Was there one author or two? Did the Synoptic Gospels originate from a single, common source? Was Chapter 16 of the Gospel of St. Mark added after the fact? These types of textual criticisms can be somewhat interesting, but they often add fodder to the fire when someone wants to challenge our belief that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

I was listening to a Christian radio broadcast some Sundays ago when the preacher spoke of a situation that arose a few years ago. Many atheists will use textual criticism to support their position that the Bible is all made up. One of the most common criticisms relates to any prophetic text. The claim is that it was written after the fact. These critics will claim that the text looks prophetic because the author will credit a long-dead prophet with the saying. And these atheists use the fact that no manuscript exists that predates the event as proof of their theory.

Well, this preacher relayed an incident where such a claim was made about the Prophet Jeremiah. And then they found a prophetic text in a document that predated the event, clearly showing the power of the prediction. This was so powerful that a very famous English atheist became a believer.

The truth is that most textual criticism relating to authorship is based largely on very little evidence and a lot of supposition. For instance, the belief that the Book of Isaiah was written by two authors is based solely on a change of writing style – the use of certain words, and the like. But the second half encompasses prophesy and therefore would necessarily be written differently. Additionally, I do not know about you, but in the course of my fifty years on this earth, my writing style has changed several times, with my favorite words changing as well.

Likewise, the claim that Chapter 16 of the Gospel of St. Mark may have been added is based on only one manuscript that does not have this chapter. All the other manuscripts to date have Chapter 16 in the document. On the basis of this evidence and this evidence alone, some claim that Chapter 16 was added later to the text.

We can hypothesize as much as possible, and we can apply as much logic as we can, but sometimes the evidence is just too little and too sketchy. In Sri Lanka, there are two organizations. One is the YMCA and the other is the YMBA, the Young Men’s Buddhist Association. If one were to be logical and knew nothing about the organizations, we could say that Buddhism has existed a lot longer than Christianity, and therefore, the YMBA probably existed first with the Christians borrowing the idea. But we would be wrong. In fact, the YMCA existed first and was brought to the island. The Buddhists liked it so much, they adopted the model.

In our lessons for today we have prophetic predictions. Some have come true and some have yet to come true. And for many of us, our question is how do we address these prophesies?

Our Gospel for today predicts the destruction of the Temple:

And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, [Jesus] said, “As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The Gospels were written, as best we can tell, after the destruction of the Temple. Does that mean that Christ did not really predict this, did some one make this up to validate Christ, or was it what Christ really said?

In the Book of the Prophet Malachi, we have a prediction of a final judgment where the just would be vindicated and the unjust punished:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

Without dying, Elijah had gone up bodily into heaven. For that reason, to this day his return is expected by many in Israel. In fact, on Passover, an extra place is set “for Elijah,” and any stranger who comes to the door should be invited in because he may be Elijah. Was Malachi restating an expectation or was he really predicting what would happen at the “dreadful day of the Lord?”

The truth is that prophecy makes us feel uncomfortable. We know how people let superstitions rule their lives. We also know that charlatans use prediction to swindle people, and we know others use it to get people to do what THEY want. Christ Himself warns us in our Gospel lesson that there will be people trying to fool us:

And he said, “Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, ‘I am Christ,’ and ‘the time draweth near.’ Go ye not therefore after them.”

But true prophecy is not superstition. It is not the property of charlatans. It comes from God. And we must believe that God does provide us with signs and prophecy because, through both, we were foretold about the coming of Christ.

There are a lot of people out there who would love to sow doubt. Not only do they not want to believe, they do not want anyone else to believe either. They may laugh at or ridicule Christianity, but deep down they really just do not want it to be true. It is too frightening to them. It demands too much of them. Instead they want to do what they please instead of what God wants of them.

There was a Rabbi who loved the game of golf, but his schedule was too busy. It prevented him from playing as often as he wanted. One Saturday, he gave into temptation. Because it was the Sabbath he drove 60 miles from his home so as not to be recognized. On the 3rd hole which was a par 3, Moses looked down from heaven and said to God, “Look at that; even after 2000 years they are still laying burdens on the people that he cannot keep. He should be punished.” God responded, “I will take care of it.” At that moment, the Rabbi hit his tee shot, and the ball went straight to the green, took two hops, and went into the hole – a hole in one. Moses was beside himself, “God, I thought you were going to punish him and instead you reward him with a once in a lifetime event. Why?” God replied, “I did punish him. Who is he going to be able to tell.”

Those who try to sow doubt do so through “analysis.” But their analysis has more to do with what they WANT to believe rather than what is true. And how do I know this? Because I was one of them once.

The truth is that the Bible is written by those who believe. The Gospels didn’t have things added to them because of some great conspiracy or some need to falsify the record. In fact, with the Gospels, those who wrote them did so because they absolutely believed that Jesus was the Christ and more. They believed He was God-incarnate and were willing to die rather than recant their faith.

And we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, confirmed, in part, through its prophecy. Jeremiah predicted as to the Kingdom of Judah, and it came to pass. Isaiah prophesied as to the Messiah and part has come to pass. That is hard for non-believers (and even believers) to wrap their minds around, but it is powerful.

But what makes it equally difficult is that, many times, believers get it wrong. They misunderstand what is being predicted. They only read part, or they read too much. They read it in a way that makes them feel comfortable, or they accept the way someone else reads it. And, in the end, they miss it when the prophecy comes true.

When Jesus was born, the Jewish people expected that He would be an earthly King, that He would be powerful, and that He would vanquish Rome. In fact, they expected two Messiahs at the same time. They had it wrong. And because of this, many missed Christ’s first appearance on Earth. And only through hindsight do we appreciate how Christ fulfilled prophecy.

Prophecy is difficult for many intellectual Christians to accept. Often, it is glossed over. But prophecy is clearly a means that God uses to prepare us and to let us know what we should expect. It, therefore, behooves us not only to be open to the possibility of prophecy, but to believe that we have a document that contains prophecies that have come true.

We are also to understand that the experts may have it wrong, both those who seek to destroy our faith and those who believe. We must be prepared for prophecy to come true, but we must be prepared that it may come true in a way unexpected by us! And, ultimately, we must maintain our faith by understanding the arguments against what we believe.

Remember, we are to believe like little children, which means in an open, innocent way, free of preconceived notions and sophisticated doubts. But this does not mean in ignorance or in naiveté. And if, like a child, we can accept the prophecies in the Bible, then we too will find comfort in what God tells us through the prophet Malachi:

“But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”


Amen.




Sermon Novenber 11th, 2007
Believing in the Resurrection

“For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.” [St. Luke 20:38]

When I was a little boy, there was a special TV play for Christmas. The star of the play was the young boy who had reached stardom on the show, “Family Affair.” I do not remember the whole play, but the gist of it was that a young boy has died, and in order to become an angel, he had to prove himself. Needless to say, the play was supposed to be heartwarming. The play may have been good, but the theology behind it was very bad.

In our society, we picture heaven populated with angel-like souls floating on clouds. Sometimes the image is saccharine-sweet and very unattractive. There is a gospel song that I recall where the female singer is speaking of her image of heaven when she was a sinner. One of the lines is “If you are good, you get to go to heaven, but if you are bad, you get to go to town.” In other words, those who are holy are no fun and have no fun. But again, this is incorrect.

Finally, many in our society picture an afterlife where we are perpetually disembodied spirits living in heaven where the dead live eternally in bliss. One of my favorite jokes about heaven deals with the pope.

There was a pope who died and went to heaven. He met St. Peter at the pearly gates where St. Peter said, “Heaven is a very large place. So, to help you get around, we have given you this VW Beetle. We also give you a condo to live in.” The pope was greatly appreciative and started to drive to his condo. As he was driving, he was passed by a limo. As he looked into the back, he recognized the man being driven. The pope was a little shocked.

When the pope arrived at his condo, directly across the street was a palatial mansion, and there, sitting at the front window was that same man. This shocked the pope even more, so he jumped back into his VW and drove back to St. Peter. When he got there, he turned to St. Peter and said, “Please don’t misunderstand. I am very happy to be in heaven and grateful for all that you have given, but I don’t understand something. I am a pope, and yet I have a VW and a condo, yet an ordinary man whom I knew has a limo and a mansion. Why?” St. Peter just smiled and said, “Well you know, you are our, what, 200th pope? But the man you recognized is our first attorney!”

None of these images of heaven, however, are correct Christian visions of what happens after we die. They are more a result of popular myth, Gnosticism, and other cultural beliefs. They are more a product of Hollywood than the Gospels. So what is the Christian notion of what happens to us after we die?

Christianity has a very controversial notion as to what will happen. It is intimate to our faith. It is a belief we profess every time we recite the Apostles’ or the Nicene Creed. Yet, we tend to gloss over it, not really addressing its ramifications. It therefore behooves us to understand what we believe as to what happens to us when we die:

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.”

The first thing we have to recognize is that mankind was created by God to have both a body and a soul. When we were in the Garden of Eden, we were not disembodied souls. We moved, we ate, and we slept. Therefore, we know that God intended us to have both bodies and souls.

The notion of heaven as a state where we no longer have bodies, in part deals with our notions of time and in part by the influence of Gnosticism.

First, we must acknowledge that we are creatures of time. We think linearly. We think in terms of time passed. We therefore have a hard time conceiving of a place without it. We look at heaven as within time, and thus a place where we wait: we wait for others to join us, and we wait for Christ’s second coming. And it is possible that heaven or paradise is within time. When Christ hung on the Cross, He told the believing criminal next to Him that, because of the man’s faith, he would be with Christ THAT DAY in paradise. But, if paradise is not within time but rather outside of it, then it is possible that at the moment we die, we will find ourselves with all the others who have died either before or AFTER we died. And, what is more, we may find ourselves being resurrected at that very moment! Of course, this is all speculation. None of us will truly know until we have gone through it ourselves.

The second notion that creates a false image of what will happen is directly attributable to Gnosticism and other faiths that share its beliefs. The Gnostic believe that there are two Gods of equal power; one is good, and the other evil. The good God created the soul and everything spiritual. The evil God created the world and everything physical. They believe, therefore, that anything physical is evil. Consequently, the ideal state is one as a disembodied spirit.

But Christianity sees the body and soul as an integrated good. Our original sin and fall may have corrupted our souls to be so weak that we inevitably will sin and our bodies to die, but that was NEVER God’s intention. We therefore believe that, in the end, we will be reunited with our incorruptible and remade bodies. Why do we believe this? First, Christ, whom we believe to be God incarnate, tells us so:

“But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.”

In our Gospel lesson for today, Christ is confronted by the Sadducees. We know that, at the time of Christ, there were at least two camps within Judaism. One was the Pharisees who were scrupulous in their adherence to the Mosaic Law and the traditional interpretations of Judaism. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the body.

The Sadducees were the other faction referenced in the Gospels. They believed quite differently than the Pharisees and came into conflict with the Pharisees quite often.

The Sadducees were never numerous, but they were influential, especially in Jerusalem and in the Temple. They were mostly wealthy people and/or High Priests. Not much is known about them or their beliefs because, after the fall of Jerusalem, they disappeared from history. What we have been able to gleam is that they rejected the traditional interpretations of the Pharisees, following only the written Law instead. They thus rejected any retribution in an afterlife and in the resurrection of the body. They also rejected the belief in angels and spirits. Although Christ criticized the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, He also criticized the Sadducees for being just plain wrong:

“Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.”

Secondly, we believe in the resurrection because Jesus WAS resurrected! He was the first, but not the last. Christ showed us that death was vanquished and that we WILL be resurrected.

When we read about Christ’s resurrected body in the Gospels, we are instantly struck by how it is different and how it is like our own bodies. First, Christ looked different. He was not immediately recognizable. Only after He spoke did the Apostles recognize Him. Second, Christ was able to pass through locked doors; He would appear and disappear in a manner unfamiliar to us and our bodies. But, Christ’s resurrected body is like ours in that He ate and that He could be felt. His body still had the nail marks, too. But regardless of what the nature of our new bodies will be, Christ’s personal resurrection is the ultimate vindication of our belief in the Resurrection of the Body.

And this is not a new belief or a new interpretation. This belief in the Resurrection is a hallmark of Christianity from the very beginning. It is one of the reasons Christians were persecuted, and it is one of the reasons that Christianity is so unique among religions. In fact, this belief was so strong that early Christians started rejecting cremation, which was the practice in Rome, and started being buried whole just to confirm their belief in the Resurrection of the dead.

For us modern Christians, we must learn to understand this belief. We must understand that this belief is a revealed truth, one only demonstrated by Christ’s words and actions, and therefore, not deducible from observing the world.

We must also understand that this belief means believing that our bodies, though fallen, are good, and those things associated with the physical, though corruptible, are also good. It changes our perspective. It reveals that what is physical is not necessarily evil, but what we do with it may make it evil. Thus, eating and the pleasure of good food are not evil, but the idolizing of food is. The pleasures of this world for Christians therefore are not evil in and of themselves but Hedonism or the idolization of physical pleasures is.

We must remember that we do live in a physical world that originally was created to be good. We must also realize that it is still man’s nature to corrupt that which is good. And we must conduct ourselves accordingly, both appreciating what God has bestowed on us, and guarding ourselves against our nature to corrupt. And finally we should take comfort in the fact that, when Christ comes to judge the quick and the dead, He will raise those who believe from the dead, providing us with something God intended us to have from the very beginning: bodies that are immortal and incorruptible. And that truly will be a glorious day!



Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 3:25 PM

 
Sermon Oct 7th
Being Called to God’s High Table.

“For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” [St. Luke 14:11]

As many of you know, I am a recovering attorney. For many years before God finally clubbed me and told me where to go, I searched for a “better” career. I didn’t want to settle for anything “beneath” my abilities, and I wanted to make lots of money. At one point, I thought of being a stock broker. Well, a friend of mine arranged for me to be interviewed at Merrill Lynch. They, in turn required that I take a test. After the test, we had our real interview.

I will never forget what the man said to me. He turned to me and said, “You clearly have the knowledge and ability to be a stock broker. That is clear from the test. But we also tested you for your competitiveness. I am rather surprise but you tested at the lowest three percentile for competitiveness. Although we would be happy to train you, you may want to rethink whether this is a good match.” What a wakeup call. These were very wise words. And I began to understand that I CANNOT do everything and anything to which I set my mind. I am limited by my abilities, and I am limited by my temperament.

In most of the demands of this world, there is a constant pressure to be number one. We are told that we can be anything we want to be; all we need do is pursue it. This is a prevalent theme in advertisement; and this may be the biggest lie of all. Everyone must be at the top, but how can everyone be the “best?” It is impossible.

One of my friends at Law School once relayed the story about his father. His father had graduated third in his class from Harvard with his MBA. Because of this, his father constantly kept abreast of the other two who finished ahead of him. This is a man with a mansion in White Plains, New York, and wealth beyond our comprehension. But, the other two always did a little bit better than he. This man could never enjoy his accomplishments because he was never first, and as a result, he ended up committing suicide one day in his basement.

We are to do our personal best in whatever we do. As long as we do that, we are a success, even though the world may not see or recognize it. Unfortunately, many of us, not only want to do well, we also want to be recognized for this ability. We seek recognition, notoriety, and celebrity status. And this need for recognition is not reserved solely to the business world. Many people want to be recognized, and often, for what they have done. And this need is becoming even more acute in our society.

I recently spoke with a friend of mine who manages a Jenny Craig. She had been at a management class where they spoke about the differences between those in their fifties and sixties with those in their thirties and those in their twenties. Although there are always exceptions, what they told her was that, because the thirty and twenty-something people are used to constant praise in school, they expect it at the work place, as well. They expect to be praised, not for something exceptional, but for those things required of them. And they expect to be praised even when they do a mediocre job. If they are NOT praised, they become very disappointed and depressed.

But, this search for recognition, God warns in our lessons for today, is a trap. This need for recognition becomes the sin of pride:

Pride is hateful before God and man: and by both doth one commit iniquity.

After all, pride is the sin that caused angels to fall; and pride is the sin responsible for many great men and women’s follies. Pride will cause us to think that we are better than what we are. In our Gospel Lesson, Christ warns the Pharisees of the failings of pride:

“For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

This theme of God’s is a constant one. The first shall be last and the last shall be first is said by Christ many times and in many ways. Yet, we, like the Pharisees, have a hard time accepting this statement. We gravitate to those who in our world are first. To think that in the next they will be last is hard to grasp, let alone accept. And because of this, if we are not careful, it is easy to get caught up in the sin of pride.

But as prevalent as pride in oneself is, there is another pride I would like to address. It is the type of pride to which all of us can and probably have succumbed. It is the pride of thinking ourselves right. It is the pride of the self-righteousness, and it knows no bounds. The self-righteous can be religious or not; they can be conservative or liberal; they can be men or women, old or young. But they all have one thing in common. The self-righteous think they are right no matter what and will not listen to opposing opinions.

Now, we must be careful. There are those who cannot listen to an opposing opinion, not because they are self-righteous, but because being wrong will cause a major trauma in their life. I know someone who is adamant about the belief that the fetus is not a human life. This is a defense mechanism. She once had an abortion, and to accept it as a life would be too much to bear. This is not what I mean by self-righteous.

What I mean about being self-righteous is being smug in our beliefs. It means a type of belief that goes beyond feeling that we are right and becomes a judgment that condemns others for being wrong.

When I was a little boy, one of the nuns read us a story about a woman whose father had taught her to never question her own decisions. She was right. And she should never let anyone persuade her otherwise. So this woman dies and ends up in an anteroom of heaven. There are two hallways. One is narrow, cramped and lowly. It goes up. The other is broad, wide, comfortable, and beautiful. It leads down. Well, as you may have guessed, she chose the one that went down to hell, but no one could convince her of her error, because she knew that she was right.

We all respect the person who can admit they are wrong, and we like the person who can make fun of themselves. But are these traits we, ourselves, emulate? And can we do this all the time and in all situations?

We must constantly be on guard against the type of pride that results in being self-righteous, but at the same time, sometimes we are to stand up for what IS correct.

There are those who would tell us that God changes His mind, or that Christianity may be altered because of the prevailing culture. What these people forget is St. Paul’s admonition:

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

How do we defend the faith without being self-righteous? The key is in the word “how.” First, we must listen. There are times when we ARE wrong. Another’s interpretation may be valid. Listening is important. We may grow; and we may understand. We may also find that facts are mixed in with half-truths or even lies. We must listen to ascertain which is the wheat and which is the chaff.

Second, we are to ask questions. This helps our understanding, but it may also point out to whoever is speaking that there may be issues they have not addressed. These questions are for information. They are not accusatory or condescending.

Finally, when we find that the truth is not being spoken, we MUST state the truth. We are to state the truth no matter what the consequence may be for us, personally. However, we MUST state the truth IN LOVE!

St. Paul wrote: “Let brotherly love continue.” This means that we must state the truth without pride, without judgment, and without self-righteousness. It means stating our position without saying that the other person is wrong. We must trust that God will lead the other’s heart to understand. But we must state the truth.

This is the key to being a good Christian. It is what makes Christianity not the religion for the faint hearted. It demands our very best. It demands our constant understanding of others and a need to serve others. It demands that everything we do puts others above us. With this as our goal, how can we speak in a tone of self-righteousness? How can we speak with condescension? How can we belittle? We must be last so that we can do God’s will. And in doing this, we may take comfort in Christ’s promise that, when we meet Him in Paradise, He will call us to be with Him at the high table.


Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 11:53 AM

 
Sermon Sept 30th
Angels and Demons

“There was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.” [Revelation 12:7-8]

A man by the name of Beryl David told a story about what happened to his 74 year old grandfather who lived in New England. He said that his grandfather was returning from an out of town Mass one cold evening when his car broke down. As he got out of the car to check the engine, he fell and badly twisted his leg. When he tried to move, the pain was so excruciating that he nearly passed out.

As he lay helpless on the road, he began to notice that the cold ground, which had a layer of frost on it, was sapping his body warmth. He began to realize that there was a chance he might die, so he started to pray.

Hours later, a young man driving a white car spotted Beryl’s grandfather. He stopped and immediately tended to him. Then the young man drove the grandfather to a local hospital. After making sure he was going to be all right, the man disappeared. The only thing they could find out about this young man was that he might have been a college student because he had a jacket with the word “Providence” lettered on the back.

Although some called this young man a Good Samaritan, no one could convince Beryl’s grandfather that this young man was connected to the university. He was convinced that he was a messenger from God – in other words, an angel.

For each of us, the image of angels conjures up very specific feelings. There are those who picture them as little cherubs, looking more like children than people. There are others who picture them with very feminine features, to give them an otherworldly appearance. Still others picture them as very human. Ultimately, none of us know exactly what an angel looks like, but we know exactly what our image of an angel is.

Today we celebrate a feast day dedicated to all the angels, but most especially to St. Michael. And the Lessons for today speak very eloquently to the issue of angels and our belief in them.

Angels appear throughout the Bible. Three strangers came to Abraham who showed the three great kindness. After this, they revealed themselves to be angels. It was an angel who came to Lot to warn him of the ultimate destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet only two angels have ever been named. One is the archangel Gabriel who only is mentioned in the New Testament. The second is the archangel Michael.

The Archangel Michael appears in both the Old and the New Testaments. In the Old Testament, Michael is mentioned in the Book of Daniel. In this Book, we see that Michael is an Archangel and that he has a very special, protective role for the Nation of Israel:

“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”

St. Michael appears in two books of the New Testament. He is mentioned in the Book of Jude and in our lesson for today, the Book of Revelation:

“There was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.”

St. Michael also is the patron saint of those who are in the armed forces, the police force, and the fire department. Consequently, and especially in time of war and trouble, many people feel a close affinity to this Archangel.

But our readings for today present images of heaven, both frightening and comforting. The first is Jacob’s dream where he sees a ladder set up on the earth, with heaven at the top. And Jacob sees angels ascending and descending upon the ladder:

“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.”

The second image we see is the battle between good and evil. It is a war waged in heaven between St. Michael and Satan. The third is the pronouncement of Jesus that He is, in fact, the ladder that Jacob dreamed about so many years before:

Jesus answered and said unto him, “Because I said unto thee, ‘I saw thee under the fig tree,’ believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these.” And he saith unto him, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ‘Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.’”

To those listening to Jesus, this pronouncement must have been shocking. However, if we really think of it, this statement makes perfect sense.

Jesus is our direct connection with God. Because Jesus was willing to become a Man, we have Emmanuel, God truly among us. He, through His life and statements, revealed God in a way to man heretofore never done. But this is not all. Christ is also the Pascal Lamb, sacrificed as the ultimate offering for all the sins of the world. At that moment, the veil in the Temple was rent in twain.

What we may forget is that, before this sacrifice, there was a gulf between God and Man. God was believed to be in the Temple in the place called the Holy of Holies. It was separated from the rest of the Temple by a heavy curtain. Only the High Priest could enter, and that only once a year when the sacrifice was offered for the sins of Israel. When Christ died on the Cross, that very curtain was rent in two. The separation had ended. And now we have direct access to God, through Christ. Therefore, Christ as the ladder between heaven and earth makes perfect sense, and this should give us great comfort.

But what about the existence of angels and devils? In our lessons, we have angels mentioned repeatedly moving from heaven to earth and back again. But we also see how devils came into existence. We see that they are fallen angels, angry and out for revenge.
There was a study recently made that revealed that most people believe in angels, but not devils. To me, this is very revealing of our culture. We believe in Heaven, but not Hell. We believe in angels, but not devils. We believe that all are saved, and no one will be punished.

In the movie, The Usual Suspects, Kevin Spacey’s character says, “The greatest lie the devil was ever able to perpetrate was to convince the world that he does not exist.” I agree with this statement. It has not been too often, but sometimes the devil slips, and we can see the true face of evil. We hear about it when we read about genocide, or about the persecution of Christians or other groups, or when we hear some of the leaders of the world speak. But occasionally we see it in our personal lives. And when we truly see the face of evil, it is clear that the devil exists.

When I was a child, there were two pictures in the elementary school I attended that I remember. One was of a child chasing a butterfly near a precipice with a guardian angel immediately behind her. The intent was to portray that this angel would prevent any harm to the little girl. The second picture was in one of my books. It was a black and white picture of the battle between St. Michael and the good angels and Satan and the bad angels. Now, being a typical boy, of these two, the picture of the battle was my favorite one. I could just imagine the immensity of the battle, with St. Michael being ultimately victorious.

As a child, I needed no sophisticated explanation of a battle between good and evil in heaven. Intuitively it made sense. God made sense. Heaven and hell made sense. I could accept the reality of the situation without question.

The question therefore must be what happens to us, as we get older? Well most would say we become more sophisticated and begin to understand that such things cannot happen. We start to accept society’s picture of reality, of what is and what is not possible. And in the end, we lose the ability to see what was so apparent when we were young. But here is the reality of the situation:

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”

Like the story related by Beryl, many individuals have stories where divine intervention in answer to prayer has happened. For instance, in the winter of 1940, a woman by the name of Josephine Kuntz found herself in a very precarious situation. Her husband, a house painter and textile worker, was unemployed. At the same time, their 18-month-old daughter Rachel had developed pneumonia and was not doing well. The doctor insisted that Rachel, in order to improve, had to eat a boiled egg each day. But this was beyond their means at this time.

The Kuntz were a church going family, but the idea of praying for what they need was foreign to them. The suggestion came from a friend to pray, and Josephine decided to do just that. She immediately got on her knees and prayed.

Later that same morning, Josephine heard this cackling noise and went outside only to see a big, fat, red hen that she had never seen before in her yard. That hen laid an egg that Josephine was able to use for her daughter. This happened every morning until her daughter got well, and then the red hen was never seen again.

We as Christians must learn to embrace God like a child. This does not mean turning off our mind and our intellect, but it does mean being open to all possibilities. When we can be like a child, we see that God works through many to help us. And sometimes He works through those we call Angels. Therefore let us heed what St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Hebrews:

Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

So, no matter how we picture them, we should all take a moment and think back to our childhood image of angels and see whether in that image we may not be able to glimpse the divine. As Howard Thurman once wrote:

“There must be always remaining in every man’s life some place for the singing of angels and some place for that which in itself is breathlessly beautiful and, by an inherent prerogative, throws all the rest of life into a new and creative relatedness. Despite all the crassness of life, despite all the hardness of life, and despite all the harsh discords of life, life is saved by the singing of the angels.”


Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 11:51 AM

 
Sermon September 23rd
The Nature of God.

“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” [St. Luke 15:7]

There is an on-going debate in our society as to the nature of God. There are those who pronounce that God is an “inclusive” God, meaning that he does not discriminate. But the trouble with this stand is that, truth, by its very nature, IS exclusive. It excludes that which is not true. Those who say that God’s nature is inclusive make God’s nature promiscuous. He accepts everyone, even when they don’t believe in Him.

Then there are those who profess that God is a vengeful God. These people profess that the nature of God is one of hate and judgment. They make God seem judgmental, without love and without mercy.

You may have heard of the Reverend Phelps and his group. They used to travel from funeral to funeral, pronouncing to their family that their child who had just died of AIDS deserved it and will rot in hell. Well now these same people are going to the funerals of fallen service men and women telling their family that their child’s death and 9/11 are the result of the quote “Homosexual agenda” unquote.

But who is right? What IS the nature of God? In our lesson for today, we seem to be presented with two conflicting images of God. But I submit that both pictures presented are consistent and reveal an accurate picture as to the nature of God.

In our Old Testament lesson, we have one of the most shameful acts of the Israelites. God has just brought them out of slavery and is leading them to the promised land. Before doing so, He wants to give them “the Law,” a set of rules, so that they will become representatives of God in this world. But, because of the time it took for Moses to get these laws from God, the people turned:

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, “Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.”

What we see after this is a discussion between God and Moses where God is so disgusted, he is ready to destroy the Israelites and start all over. But, if God is omnipotent, wouldn’t He know that this is what the Israelites would do once in the desert? Absolutely. This discussion is not for the Israelites, it is for Moses and for us. Moses needed to know the severity of God’s displeasure, but he also needed to know the extent of God’s mercy:

And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

What we forget is that God holds us to a just standard. Those who do not know Him are held to a different standard than those who do. As Saint Paul tells us in his first Epistle to Timothy:

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

Because our God is a loving God, because our God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy,” we tend to forget how much He hates sin. We, like the Israelites, believe we can do as we please. This means that, if we know better, we should DO better. And just because God has been merciful does not mean He likes what He sees.

But in this passage, still something else is revealed. Although this passage reveals man’s nature to fail and to sin, it reveals God nature – a nature to save!

Henri Nouwen tells the story of an old man who used to meditate early every morning under a big tree on the bank of the Ganges river. One morning, after he had finished his meditation, he saw a scorpion floating helplessly in the water. As the scorpion came closer to shore, the old man, moved by compassion reached out to rescue the helpless creature. But as soon as he touched the scorpion, it stung him. Instinctively, the man withdrew his hand. A minute later, though, he tried again. This time the scorpion stung him so badly that the old man’s hand instantly swelled, and his face became contorted with pain.

At that moment, a passerby saw the old man trying to save the scorpion and shouted: “Hey you stupid old man, what’s wrong with you? Only a fool would risk his life for the sake of an ugly, evil creature. Don’t you know you could kill yourself trying to save that ungrateful scorpion?”

Looking into the stranger’s eyes, the old man said calmly, “My friend, just because it is the scorpion’s nature to sting, that doesn’t change my nature to save.”

No act reveals God’s nature to save than Jesus Christ. As Saint Paul wrote:

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

God became Man in order to save men and women. Like the old man in the story, Christ was willing to be hurt and even killed in order to save. And in our Gospel lesson for today, we see why:

“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”

The nature of God is clear. He is NOT a hateful God. He is a loving God who wishes all to be saved. He is a God that, not only loves, but also wants TO BE loved. And here is the rub. Here is where people forget. Here is where those who wish God to be permissive and those who wish God to be hateful fail to really understand God. It is NOT enough that God loves us; WE must love Him!

Like any one of us, God does not want the person who just says they love Him. He does not want the person who professes their love just to get what they want, but then leaves as soon as it is convenient. God does not want the person who never changes and never does anything to show their love. God wants a true love; a love that results in a change in heart and a change in action.

But God will never force someone to love Him. He will not force people to obey. God wants us to choose to love Him. However, if we DO choose to love Him, God will go out and save us in a way like the good Shepard saves his lost sheep:

“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”

Finally, what we must never forget is that our God is a God of justice. Although WE are never to judge, God does. He knows our hearts. And He knows our nature. Although He is merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, God DOES get angry. Just because God has not exacted any punishment does not mean He permits everything. Just because we do not feel His disappointment doesn’t mean that God isn’t disappointed in us when we fail.

We must remember that God hates sin. He hates it when WE hate. He hates it when we do not love our neighbor. He hates it when we do not love those who hate US. And He hates it when we do not love Him with all our heart, soul and mind. But, at the same time, although God hates these things, He loves us.

We can rejoice that our God is a loving God. We can rejoice that, even though He may be disappointed in us when we sin and when we fail, our God is a forgiving God, quick to take us back and quick to overlook our sins. We can rejoice that our God is a saving God who is willing to die for us just to get us back. And we can rejoice that our God is a merciful God who, although just, is willing to commute any sentence against us as long as we repent.

All our God asks of us is that we love Him back, and that we show this love with an amendment of heart and action. Even if we continue to fall short, it doesn’t matter. He will make up the difference. In fact, He has made up the difference when He died for us on the Cross. But we MUST love Him, and we MUST try to show this love in how we think, in how we act, and in how WE, in turn, love Him and love others.


Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 11:47 AM

 
Sermon Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity
Homily: Being Cheerful Givers.

“‘Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.’” [St. Mark 12:43b-44]

Yesterday, I was having my hair cut. As I sat in the chair, to my chagrin, I heard Christmas music playing on the radio. Now, you must understand, I love Christmas. And I especially love Christmas music. I will pop in a Christmas CD even in the middle of summer, if the spirit so moves me. But as I heard non-stop secular Christmas songs I thought, “This is WAY TOO SOON. It’s not even Thanksgiving!” When I got home I read the lessons for today again and thought, “An apocalyptic lesson just before Christmas? What gives.” And then it hit me.

And thenor a Christian has always been a troubling matter. The Old Testament Law commanded a 10% tithe. That concept is much easier to work with than the New Testament belief in giving. The trouble is that I have heard Evangelicals using the Law in order to require their congregation to give 10%. But with this requirement enters legalism that they accuse the Catholics of exhibiting all the time. I have heard discussions ranging from whether the 10% is on gross income or net income to whether donations to charities other than the church should be included in the 10%.

Not surprisingly, these discussions usually end up with the panel pronouncing that the 10% is figured on gross income and other charities do not count.

We Christians must be extremely cautious of these pronouncements. In our Gospel lesson, we have Christ warning us all about Church avarice:

“And [Jesus] said unto them in his doctrine, ‘Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.’”

The first issue is that it seems as if Christ is singling out only the scribes. This is not true. We have to remember the audience to which Christ is addressing. The scribes were not any more flawed than other groups, like the Sadducees, but the scribes were very influential on this community. Remember, scribes were not a holy order. Rather, they were wealthy professionals that were also religious lay leaders.

As an aside, the reference to long clothing is not one about which those of us who wear cassocks need worry. This reference just means that these scribes were wealthy. Only the wealthy could afford the extra material of long clothing.

Christ’s point was that these scribes loved all the attention of being religious leaders AND loved being wealthy. This is a deadly combination.

Like today, one of the easiest targets for con artists during the time that Christ was on the earth was the widow. Many were poor, but many were left well off by their deceased husbands. Without their husbands, they could be persuaded to give so much of their wealth away that they ended up destitute. This is what Christ is warning about. He is warning and condemning those who use their influence to rob those who are easy prey.

Christ did not want the religious to go into bankruptcy for God. And He certainly did not want the religious to prey on other religious people, especially the ones most vulnerable to influence.

We therefore need to be cautious when we read our Old Testament lesson. In it, we have Elijah asking a widow for the last of her flour and oil. The issue in this lesson is not one of proper giving but rather faith. Did the widow believe that Elijah was a prophet of God? Did she believe what God promised? Did she trust that she would be fed because she was willing to feed God’s anointed? The answer was yes. But by this, God was not commanding all destitute widows to give away the last of what they had.

But then, the question is begged what IS the Christian standard for giving? I have alluded to the fact that it is a much higher standard than the Law’s requirement of 10%. In his second Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote:

“He that soweth little shall reap little; and he that soweth plenteously shall reap plenteously. Let every man do according as he is disposed in his heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

The Christian standard for giving is much harder because it is NOT legalistic. We are to give, in many respects, more than 10%. Christ criticized the scribes and the wealthy because they did not give from their necessity, like the widow. They gave from their excess. They gave only from their surplus. But the widow gave from that which she needed to survive:

“And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.’”

Yet, what does it mean when St. Paul says that those who sow little reap little or those who sow plenteously reap plenteously? Is he saying, like some would have us believe, if we give a lot of money, we will receive a lot of money? Hardly. What St. Paul is saying is that God will provide for those who are doing acts of charity to continue those acts of charity as long as these acts are done in the proper spirit. St. Paul also is saying that we will be rewarded with God’s blessings. These blessings need not necessarily be monetary.

When someone is sowing, they sow seed. What they harvest or reap is not seed, but the fruit of the seed. We will be blessed by God, but not with what we want. He will bless us with what we need.

The ultimate challenge for us Christians is actually the second part of St. Paul’s statement, namely, “Let every man do according as he is disposed in his heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.” God does not want us to give because the law requires it. He does not want us to give with the idea that somehow we will be rewarded, though this is true. He wants us to give because we want to give.

Now, let’s not misinterpret this requirement. It does not give us the right to be miserly. Because we love our money and cannot bear parting with it, does not excuse us for giving very little or nothing. Nor does it make our gift of two miters a legitimate gift just because we would not be happy to give more.

There is a story of a soldier overseas back before the internet. He was missing his girlfriend, so he decided to send her a telegram. And he decided on a telegram because he thought it would be more impressive. He gave the telegraph operator a message to send. It read, “I love you. I love you. I love you. John.” The telegraph operator said, “Son, for the same amount of money you can send one more word.” So the soldier amended his message to: “I love you. I love you. I love you. Cordially, John.”

When we do not give cheerfully or when we give very little compared to our blessings, we are like this soldier. We profess our unabashed love, but when push comes to shove, our devotion is more “cordial” than true love.

If we love our money more than God, then we truly do not love God. We cannot serve two masters. We must let go of the love for money. That is the first step. The second step is to learn to be generous.

We are told to love nothing before God. What is more, we are not merely to give what we can; we are to give everything. We are to be God’s fully. Nothing else should be set up in our hearts to take God’s place. That being said, God is not in the business of bankrupting widows and orphans. He does not want anyone or any institution to take advantage of the weak or gullible.

The Christian standard for giving is NOT 10%. It is much more demanding than that. God wants us to give ourselves completely to Him. And when we have, we will then know in our hearts what we should give. And we will give, not from our leftovers, but from our needs. It may be time; it may be money. But whatever it is, it will be given cheerfully.


Amen.
- posted by Rev. Michael Penfield @ 1:10 PM