Last Words

Well, here we are.  My last Sunday and last sermon.

 

Ordinarily I would be tucking into the Gospel reading for today,

            exploring how it is relevant for our own lives 

            and how it gives us insight, light and strengthening grace

                        for facing the challenges we have been dealing with.

 

For this really significant Resurrection story today

            I am going to refer you to the sermon I preached to you last year,

                        since this is the Gospel reading 

                        for the 2nd Sunday of Easter every year.

It’s posted on the Nativity Facebook page and on my blog

            for those of you who would actually do such a thing 

                        as to look up a sermon from a year ago and read it.

 

But today is my opportunity to say some parting words to you,

            and dole out some advice for handling the coming weeks

                        before your new priest is discerned, called, and moved in.

 

Most of you here have been blessed by the many years that +Gretchen 

            was here and served as your rector.

That was a special time

            and a large part of that was because +Gretchen was a great priest,

                        and a very good administrator.

And that’s a major reason why this diocese discerned and called her

                                                                        to be their bishop.

And you all can be rightly proud 

            of her service to all the congregations in the diocese

                        because it has been excellent.

 

Her leadership has served the diocese well during this incredible time

            of living through a world wide pandemic.

 

And I am thankful for that leadership,

            because I, like every other priest, was working out how to do ministry

                        under new and difficult circumstances,

            and doing that not as your rector, but as an interim.

 

Let me say right here during the time of serving as your interim Vicar.

            I have not fulfilled all the  expectations you may have had

I have not resolved differences between individuals.

            I have not satisfied everyone.

Some of you disagree with me on various topics, and that’s okay.

            That wasn’t my job – to be everything for everyone.

But I did what I could and trust the rest to our Lord.

 

So amazingly, 

            despite having long stretches when we couldn’t worship together,

                         we engaged in the calling process,            

            and you folks have responded to all sorts of surveys and questionnaires,

giving your input to the profile committee

            for the ministry they were tasked with

                        in creating the all important Parish Profile.

 

That profile committee, which, I must say, 

was a really excellent group of people,

            talked with every one of you,

            and then put together a well crafted parish profile.

You owe thanks to Rosemary, Annamarie, Harold, Mary Lou and John

            for a job well done.

 

I think we can now reasonably say that the worst of the pandemic is behind us,

            and I have been truly impressed with how you all 

                        cooperated together to make this place safe for gathering

                                                                                    during this time.

 

You all have been a witness in a crazy world 

            about caring more for the health and well being of others 

                        than supposed individual freedom rights 

            that flew in the face of medical knowledge and wisdom.

 

And you all can be very proud of the fact that we have a core membership here

            that made it possible to continue providing essential services,

providing life sustaining food to the community during this prolonged crisis.

                        I am so proud of you for this

            because this has been the epitome

                                                             of showing your faith through your works,

because in giving to those in need,

            very truly you are giving  to the Risen Christ disguised in your midst.

I am so proud of you all for this.

 

So even though we haven’t hit the attendance numbers 

            that we had pre-pandemic,

we have nonetheless come through this terribly trying time stronger.

You have been tried, and whether you can see it or not,

            you have come through the time of trial.

 

The contemporary wording of the Lord’s Prayer

            for “lead us not into temptation” reads “save us from the time of trial.”

I want you to think about what we have been through in the last 2 plus years

            and know that this has been a time of trial.

We have come through this trial by the grace of God,

            whether or not we recognize that God’s grace has been at work.

 

When your new priest arrives, 

            I hope very much that you will tell this person

                        stories about this time.

Don’t sugar coat the stories, be honest.

We weren’t heroic or angelic,

            but we persevered in being faithful.

We weren’t always kind and gentle with each other,

            but I heard apologies and expressions of grief and regret

            and, at times, occasions of tenderly reaching out to each other.

Saintly we were not, but I would say that we have been saints-in-training.

            And you better be sure to keep working on being saints-in-training! 

 

You know, this congregation was very fortunate to have been enrolled 

            in the Baptized For Life program.

That was just the impetus that was needed for making a commitment 

            to spiritual growth and sharing our faith stories with one another.

No matter what small group you have been in,

            I hope you value that opportunity going forward 

                        to keep working on those relationships

                        and on your own going deeper into your relationship with Jesus.

THIS is THE BEST THING you can do as preparation  

            and as you anticipate the next priest who will be coming to Nativity.

 

Now, some words of advice about how you are to view your next priest.

 

First of all, this person is not your savior.  Jesus is!

This new priest will be working WITH you, not FOR you.

            So you will need to continue working in your areas of ministry

            as you have been, and maybe in some new ways or with fresh vision.

You are not to back off from the ways you have been contributing in service.

            Can I press you to pledge that now?  

No slacking off when the new priest arrives!

                        even though that is often an unconscious thing that happens.

I am telling you that now and I want you to remember this.

            And it doesn’t need to be just Maxine and Don doing everything 

                        – God bless them – 

Trust that you will not be treading on anyone’s toes 

                                                                        by offering to help in any area.

 

Second word of advice, 

new clergy leadership does not guarantee a growth in attendance.

            Having that expectation – spoken or unconscious – 

                        is really detrimental to you all.

You and your new priest will need to work together and pray together

            about HOW you want to be a welcoming beacon of light

                        to the LC Valley.

You and your participation will be a big part of what happens 

                                                in terms of congregational numbers.

 

And be very clear that the purpose of reaching out to bring in others

            is NOT about sustaining the membership 

            so that you can meet the budget.

                        Loving, sweet Jesus, no!

 

It is about one beggar showing another where to get bread.

            That is one of the best definitions of evangelism that I have ever heard.

One beggar showing another beggar where to get bread.

            There is no judgment in that kind of evangelism.

There is admitting that I am just as much in need of God’s mercy 

                        as you are or as anyone else is.

But I have found something life giving and life sustaining here,

            I have found a solid ground for faith here,

            and it has sustained me through difficult times:

                        times such as these last couple of years with a pandemic

                        and ragged times of my own doing – or undoing.

 

Each of you need to do your own reflection about this – I mean it – 

            and then be thankful for our Risen Lord faithfully with us

            hidden in bread and in wine and in each other.

 

Third word of advice:  This is essential for being able to be with each other 

            in loving ways that create connections, rather than dividing.

Do not judge each other.

            That is presupposing your own values and rules on another

                        without knowing their circumstances,

                        without knowing the whole picture.

Do not expect others to act or be as you think they ought to be.

 

And now a last word of advice:  remember, control is an illusion.

            Do NOT try to control the ever moving flow of Life, of the Spirit leading.

A good way to quit trying to control is to recognize that at its base

            control is motivated by thinking you know what’s best.

It takes some humility and spiritual maturity to recognize this.

Control is a trap.  Don’t get caught in it.

 

But know this: You are all so lucky to be here.

You have made it through the plague that stalks in the darkness

                        and the sickness that lays waste at mid-day,

                                                to quote Psalm 91 – read that Psalm!

As you wait your turn to come up to the altar to receive communion,

            pick up the prayer book and read Psalm 91, page 719.

And be so utterly thankful for God’s providence that has overshadowed you.

 

In conclusion, let me tell you a story.

            There is an ancient story, not in the New Testament

                        but handed down through the oral tradition,

            a story about the Apostle John.

 

Of all the twelve he was the only one to live to old age.

He lived through persecutions and the martyrdom of the other apostles.

He is said to have lived through exile on the island of Patmos.

He is attributed with writing the Gospel of John, 

                        three epistles, and the Book of the Revelation.

 

The story goes that when he was very, very old

            the faithful would gather around him to hear his wisdom.

Now, as he was approaching death, 

            they came to ask him for what his final sermon to them would be.

Gathering his strength so that he could speak, he said,

                        “Little children, love one another.”

After some silence, he then spoke again:

                        “Little children, love one another.”

After further silence, he spoke once more:

                        “Little children, love one another.”

 

I don’t think I could do better than that.

So my dear sisters and brothers, if you want to honor my time among you,            

    do this:            Love one another. 

Here and Now Resurrection

Today, Easter Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of the Resurrection

            and not just for today, but for the Great 50 Days of Easter

 

We need 50 days of Easter

            - and notice that this is longer than Lent. 

We need 50 days to celebrate and practice living in Resurrection Life

                        to foster being open to realization of Resurrection

                                    as a present reality and potency of life

                                                                                    right here and now

 

So to aid in this awakening during the Easter Season

            we do things liturgically to represent living in Resurrection

·      We stand.

·      We omit the confession, because we are acknowledging                   

     that we are living in the state of salvation and grace                                           that the Resurrection signifies.

·      And we add Alleluias whenever we get the chance.

 

In the Resurrection story we just heard read

            the women come to the tomb seeking the corpse

                        to do it service and honor as respects the dead.

In that dark cave of a tomb as they fumble around searching for the body,

            instead they suddenly encounter right beside them 

                        two men in dazzling clothes that flood the tomb with light.

That’s enough to make you jump right out of your skin!

But it’s the question they ask which is the most important:

            “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

 

I want to quote from Bill Ellis,

            who had been dean at St. John’s Cathedral in Spokane.

He wrote this to address that provocative question 

                                                            the two in the tomb had posed.

 

Our catechism tells us that 

            “By his resurrection Jesus overcame death 

            and opened for us the way of eternal life.” 

Were we to content ourselves with these few teachings, 

    most of which are couched in highly metaphorical and poetic language, 

we would draw the reasonable conclusion 

            that the resurrection of Jesus is not particularly relevant to us 

                        while we are alive on this earth; 

it becomes important only when we die by making the next step possible.  

And thus, as far as our present existence is concerned, 

            the resurrection is like an exit from a very large building.  

It is nice to know it is there, 

            but we won’t need it until we are ready to leave.

 

This is helpful for all of us, 

      as we deal with our own mortality and of those we love, 

                        but it is not enough.  

A religion that deals only with what happens after we die 

            is a religion for the dead, not the living. 

What difference does the Resurrection make to us right here and now?

 

For all of us, from the least of us to the greatest theologians,

            our understanding of the resurrection 

                        is much too small, too limited, vastly incomplete.

I think I know what resurrection is, and then, lo and behold, 

            the scope of resurrection in my experience and awareness 

                                    expands beyond the borders of my comprehension.

Resurrection is far more than life after death,

            far more than an idea about heaven.

 

We say in the creed we believe in the resurrection of the body.

            But what sort of body is this?

The women come to the tomb,

            and even before the stone is rolled away, the body is gone.

That’s some sort of body! a body that can dematerialize,

            and then rematerialize in a room 

                        where the way in by the door is barred.

What’s going on here?

 

Yet it is a body that can be touched, 

            a body that can take in food, eat and swallow,

                        not like Marley’s ghost whom Scrooge could look through

                        and see the waistcoat buttons on the other side.

What kind of body is this?

The bodies we are familiar with die and decompose and return to dust.

 

But resurrection is more than a body, a physical body or a spiritual body.

Resurrection came after the death of Jesus,

            a death into which Jesus had taken all our sins, all our suffering,

                                                all our deaths.

He died our deaths.  He died our deaths for us.

There he was one moment dead

            and the next moment eternally alive and present – to all – everywhere,

                        a new sacramental creation.

 

Resurrection is the New Creation.

When Jesus died taking on all our death,

            that death took with it all death.

With his last breath, the last breath of the One who is the Word of God,

            who spoke all creation into being,

            now in this last breath he takes with him all beings,

                        back into that realm of Uncreated Light,

                        the realm of the undivided waters

                                    over which the Spirit was hovering,

                        back into the Source, back to God,

and now he brings to life, lifts up all that the Father had entrusted to him.

 

And so now everything is New Life,

            new life sustained in the resurrection.

It is all the New Creation, 

            continually and eternally sustained in the resurrection life of Jesus.

 

Now we can begin to see what difference resurrection means to us 

                                                right here and now.

 

We are living in resurrection.

If we had eyes to see this, we would be able to recognize

            the newness of every moment,

            the incredible wonder of life, of breathing, of growing,

            the love which sustains all life new every moment,

                        despite all the strife, contention, warfare, and suffering.

 

We would see the abundance of goodness, of life.

We would see through our attitudes of scarcity.

We would see through our fears for what they are – baseless.

 

If we had eyes to see the resurrection

            we would see in each other the image of Jesus the Resurrected One.

 

We would see Jesus in each and every one of us,

                                                                        in all living beings.

We would bow down in awe and love before one another.

 

If our awareness of present resurrection were to expand,

            this would have great implications on what we would do.

 

It could shift our priorities, reorder our attitudes,

            change our emotional reactivity,

            reorient our aims and purpose in life,

            and energize us for participating more fully in life.

It would send us out as agents of resurrection,

                        lights sparked eternally 

                                    from that ultimate Paschal candle

                                    of Uncreated Light at the Source,

                                    the creating Word of God himself,

                                    the Resurrection Lord.

 

So that group of devoted women left the tomb

            and reported to the disciples and everyone all that they had seen and heard.

And the disciples’ response was not the joyful response we give when we hear

                        Alleluia! Christ is risen!

not

                        The Lord is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

 

They dismissed the women’s testimony.

            Easter Day was not yet a celebration for them.  They would be in hiding.

Still, Peter, at least, went to check out the report.

            But don’t go looking for the living among the dead.

 

May we not be so slow to believe, to accept the joyful Gospel good news.

 

This is the day of great rejoicing, this Easter Day,

            a day to offer our greatest praise and thanksgiving to Jesus,

                        for bearing our sins, our suffering, our death,

                        for revealing to us the heart of God,

                        for opening the way to life every new,

                                    and for the here and now.

            Offer our greatest praise and thanksgiving

                        for his incredible love and compassion,

                                                            for Jesus himself.

Alleluia.  Christ is risen… 

GOOD Friday

 Did you ever stop to wonder why today is called “Good Friday?”

                        Not Bad Friday?                        It’s Good Friday.

 

And did you know that this liturgy today

            is not meant to be gloomy, sad and depressing?

No, it’s meant to be solemn for sure, but not mournful.

 

The liturgy is designed to be reflective,

            giving a time to ponder,

            to ponder how such a death brings life and hope,

                                    how such a death opens the way 

                                                for healing and reconciliation in human lives,

                                    how such a death is glory.

 

Yet this is the hardest part of the week we call holy:

            staying present at the cross, with the crucifixion, with death itself.

 

But this staying present is part of our devotion and response in gratitude 

            for God’s gracious love expressed so incredibly for us.

 

At the time, there on that Friday, for the disciples 

            this horrendous crucifixion was devastating beyond belief.

For those who had been traveling with Jesus, 

            listening and taking in and pondering what he had been saying,

            watching how he interacted 

                        with all the various sorts and conditions of humanity that came to him,

            seeing the healings, the transformations taking place in people’s lives,

for these witnesses, 

            how could it be that it was all now destroyed in this cruel injustice and death?

 

For the disciples the political forces that ruled the world had smashed 

            what was the most beautiful, generous and loving gift of a person 

                                                                                                            that had ever been.

Their world was shattered.

 

They could not yet see how Jesus was putting on the image of the Forsaken One,

            how he put on every dimension of suffering of mind and body,

            how intentional Jesus was about walking straight into his death with all that.

 

St. Anselm had written about that, 

            saying you can’t do that unless you are God;

            you can’t take that on unless you are God.

That’s the mystery and the beauty and the goodness of the Cross.

 

Jesus had told his disciples, 

            “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”

That is the image of God – God on the Cross – 

            and not many get this, 

                        even though there is the mercy and love that draws us in.

How is it that this is resisted?

            Our persistent resistance to this good, beautiful truth!

 

Just a few hours before the crucifixion Jesus had said to his disciples, 

            “If you knew where I was going you would rejoice.”

 

Let’s just look for a couple of minutes at what is happening

            in the Passion story according to John.

In this account in particular you can see

                                                            that Jesus is the only one in control.

He is a calm center in the midst of power struggles, mockery, and cruelty.

 

Everyone else exhibits that they really have no control over what is going on, 

that there is great failure on their part 

to achieve what they want to do.

 

The disciples have no apparent control over their drowsiness;

                        they fail to stay awake.

And then they all run away, fleeing for their lives.

Judas is doomed to play his role as betrayer

            despite whatever his motivation and intentions were.

 

In that strange scene in the garden, as John’s Gospel tells it,

            the band that comes to arrest Jesus at Gethsemane

                        is knocked to the ground by the force of the word 

spoken by Jesus, his simple statement: “I AM.”

Only when Jesus purposely gives them a second chance 

            can they lay hands on him and take him away.

 

Peter, in spite of his earlier protestations,

            fails in his ability to keep from denying his Lord.

 

The high priests and Sanhedrin 

can’t make a credible case against Jesus.

So they have to revert to political pressure 

to get Pilate to cooperate.

 

Pilate being backed into a corner, discovers he is not so powerful

            and he can’t engage with Jesus regarding Truth.

Then Pilate tries but fails to set Jesus free.

 

It is Jesus who acts, who is in control, 

who accomplishes all that needed to be done, 

right down to the last detail described in the ancient texts 

about the Servant, the Lamb of God.

 

And then the still point – that moment when he breathed out the last breath.

It is he who chooses when his last moment is, when he dies.

He completes all, 

and breathes out his breath 

and gives up his spirit.

 

The scene at the cross now becomes somewhat surreal.

His side is pierced.

Blood and water gush out

            spraying those standing there.

The witness giving the account of this tells the truth.

This is baptism in his death.

 

Death provides release of his presence 

            empowered to baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit 

                        without the limits of the mortal body.  

 

All that afflicts, that contracts, that inspires a sense of poverty, 

            that leads to violence, deception of self and others, 

            that promotes false, self-serving interest, 

                                                                        abuse, exploitation, addiction, war                                    – destroyed in death.  

Jesus dies the death of all that.  

 

And in his dying, all in us that is identified 

            with such a world of spiritual confusion, suffering and self-destructiveness, 

                        is drawn into his body on the cross.  

All that tragic evil dies there with the death of his body. 

 

He is on the cross in our condition of world-identified humanity.

He is on the cross performing a creative act.

 

For the death of Jesus is the absorption of the sacrificial gift of suffering             

            into the heart of God. 

Jesus takes our humanity in its fragmented, self-destructive state 

            into the divine presence 

                        that is always whole, eternally unbounded and creative.  

 

This is what we need to recognize: 

            by the crucifixion and death of Jesus, 

            as we, and all the world are drawn into and unite with his death,             

the way opens to embrace the eternal radiance of divine love, 

                        which is God.  

 

So today – Good Friday – 

is not just about a morbid reminder of a particularly gruesome death, 

for which we ought to grieve 

and feel deep remorse and penance,

but an occasion for deep devotion, gratitude, thanksgiving even

            for the blessed wood of the Cross.

 

Hymn 166 Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle

            a hymn by Fortunatus, one of the very earliest hymns of the Church,

Verse 4:

Faithful cross! above all other,

one and only noble tree!

None in foliage, none in blossom,

none in fruit thy peer may be:

sweetest wood and sweetest iron!

sweetest weight is hung on thee.

 

This is the glory of the cross,

            the precious weight that hangs upon it, 

                                                            precious beyond all counting,

            the grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying

                        producing the fruit of salvation and resurrection

                        and new life for us all.

 

            In the limitations of our own personal life perspective

                        focused on our immediate issues

we miss the hugeness – it is beyond anything we know how to ask.

 

Would that we could see more clearly

            how what we here suffer in the routine of daily life

                        often has more to do with our attitudes and presumptions

                        than with the actual reality of our situations.

 

Would that our eyes were opened

            so that we could see how much we are spared, how blessed we are.

 

Then we would sink on our knees before the cross, 

                        the rude representation of the suffering of God,

and express from the heart our love and devotion,

            our thanks and our acceptance of God’s love.

At the foot of the cross let it all drop away

and worship the glory with grateful hearts in wonder, love and praise.