Monday, October 10, 2016

Sermon for the Celebration of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

As a Franciscan who deeply values the example of St. Francis,
            I always appreciate the opportunity to help others
                        to see more in Francis than the blessing of animals.
Not that this is unimportant!
            We humans desperately need to get over our species bias,
                        our racism that sees the human race
            as more intelligent than other creatures, and therefore more important.
We need to get it that we are a part of the whole ecosystem,
            dependent on the other components of that ecosystem,
and, honestly, the ecosystem could get along just fine without us,
                        and probably a whole lot better.

That being said Francis knew the interrelationship of all the beings in creation.
            The Canticle of Creation expresses that fully.
Francis refers to Brother Sun, Sister Moon, brother fire and sister water,
            and our sister, Mother Earth, who generates so much that is life sustaining.

But Francis is known for more than his ecological astuteness.
There is the Francis who kissed the leper
            and identified with his Savior to such an extent
                        that he adopted a radical poverty so as to live the way Jesus did.
That close identification with Jesus reached its fullness
            when Francis experienced within his own body
                        the same wounds as Jesus bore in his crucifixion.

Today I want to talk about another aspect of Francis
            that I think is very timely and relevant to the issues of today
                        and what we are all facing to some degree or another.
This is Francis as the agent of peace in the 13th Century and the 21st Century.

Understand that Francis is a peace saint,
            a reconciler between God and humans
            and a reconciler among humans, one with another.

When Francis was a young man and still trying to achieve personal glory
            as a knight in shining armor,
he rode out from Assisi with many of his peers
            to engage in battle with the town of Perugia,
                        some 10 or 12 miles away,
            where there had been long standing contention between the two –
                        feudal warfare perpetuated over the generations.

Francis had been taken prisoner
            and had languished a year in a dungeon in Perugia,
                        before returning home ill and re-thinking the vain glory of war

Not many years later, now gathering many brothers about him
            and living a life of extreme Gospel poverty,
Francis was approached by those who also wanted to follow his example
            but who were married and had families to care for.

“Give us a rule of life to live by too,” they demanded of him.
And so the Third Order came into being.

In the rule that Francis gave them,
            as well as living simply and penitently,
                        Francis gave them a way to live reconciliation and peace:
“You are not to bear arms,” he told them.

As the medieval feudal system depended largely
                        on the serfs, the common people, for their standing armies,
            and as the Third Order grew rapidly to many thousands of members
                                                                                    throughout Europe,
the number of serfs available for carrying on the continual warring
                        between lords and fiefdoms shriveled up.
The influence of St. Francis of Assisi essential brought to an end
            the whole era of feudal warfare.

But there is another story about Francis often overlooked
            until this last decade or so.

In 2005, just four years after 9/11, on October 4
            the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi coincided with
                                                Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year,
                                                and the beginning of Ramadan.
This convergence provided a great opportunity for interfaith dialog,
            a time for learning about one another – Jew, Muslim and Christian –
            in order to build bridges of reconciliation and peace
                        in a time of war, violence and fear.
And it provided an opportunity to look with new understanding
            at the story of Francis during the 5th Crusade
                        and his encounter with the Sultan Malik al-Kamil.

One thing this shows is that interfaith dialog is not new,
            is not a product of just this generation.

Eight hundred years ago Francis was engaged in
            a high level, interfaith dialog for the sake of reconciliation and peace.

The story goes that Francis and one of his brothers, Illuminato,
                        traveled to Damietta, Egypt, in 1219 during the 5th Crusade,
            and they went where they weren’t supposed to go.
Risking their lives they sought out the Saracen leader,
            Sultan al-Kamil, who intrigued by Francis’ audacity,
                                                            and after some testing,
                        engaged with Francis in open-minded conversation.

Although Francis was unsuccessful in his attempt to see
                                    the sultan converted,
            he was granted safe passage instead of martyrdom,
            and the Sultan then gave offers for a truce and possible peace.

He also told Francis that although he could not become a Christian
                                    because of his leadership position,
            would Francis pray for him.

Now the reason Francis was able to get so far with the Sultan
            was not because of having convincing arguments
            or proving his way was the right way,
                        but through his openness of heart, his ability to listen and observe.
It was through his acceptance and willingness to embrace
                                                                                    all who came into his path.
No one was a leper to him anymore.
            No one was turned away from or rejected.
            Everyone was welcomed as though they were Christ himself.
Francis went to his enemy because he knew that he would find in him
                        what he had found in the leper – Jesus.
For always in the unexpected places Jesus is to be found.

In the two weeks that Francis and Brother Iluminato spent with the Sultan
            the conversation shifted,
                        moving into a place where neither had been before.
They found a space for dialog that they both could be in,
            a space liberated from the two warring sides,
            a place in which they could speak what was vital to life and death
                        that was not shared by the rest of those around them.

Liberated from the outer condition of the Crusade
            they could share with each other their spirituality,
                        talk about experiencing God in prayer.
This enabled them to get beyond stereotypes and differences.

During the 5th Crusade, the one Francis took part in,
            his mission was not to defeat, but to embrace the enemy.
And what began as a confrontation in the Sultan’s tent evolved
            as each came to realize that before him was another human being
                        who knew God,
and so the need to convert was not the point;
            there was no need to turn the other to a different religion.
The Sultan was deeply impressed by Francis,
                        especially the way he was living what he preached,
                                    how he revealed Christ in his life.
And Francis was learning from the Sultan and his people
            a way of worshipping God that the people of Europe could benefit from.
For instance he came home to his brothers,
            and immediately encouraged them to prostrate themselves in praise to God
                        whenever they heard a church bell ring.

We have an extant prayer of St. Francis written after this encounter with the Sultan
            that praises God in the style of
                        the Islamic praises of the names or attributes of Allah.
I quote it in part:
“You are holy, Lord, the only God, and your deeds are wonderful.
You are strong.  Your are great. You are the Most High.
            You are almighty. 
            You are Good, all Good, supreme Good…
You are love, You are wisdom, …
            You are joy and gladness. … justice and moderation.
You are beauty. …
            You are our haven and our hope.
You are our faith.  Our great consolation,
            Great and wonderful Lord, God almighty, Merciful Savior.”

So this example of Francis, I would like you to consider,
            is now today for us more relevant than ever.
Look at the issues around refugees, terrorism, immigration, Islamaphobia,
            and political and economic polarizations.

Francis went where he wasn’t supposed to go.

We are responsible for how we relate to the stranger living with us,
                        the immigrant, the refugee, the one who looks different,
            our social lepers.

Can we embrace them like Francis did?
Can we go where we are not expected to go? –

            to the place that brings reconciliation and peace.