Sunday's Sermon at Church of the Nativity, Lewiston

“Which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them,

            does not leave the 99 in the wilderness

            and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?”

The thing about the Gospel of Luke, I have discovered,

            is that each parable and story seems to have one point in it

                        that makes no good sense,

                        that isn’t what you would expect.

Having seen the Judean wilderness,

            how rocky and rugged it is,

            how hilly the terrain is,

            how full of wadis or steep gulches it is,

it really wouldn’t be a very good idea

            to leave 99 sheep out there alone while going to look for one.

But the point is what it is that makes God rejoice.

It’s not how good one might be,

            but whether one can repent.

That’s what makes God rejoice.

Repentance here means changing one’s mind.

It is the willingness to change courses,

            to be open to change.

This is more delectable to God, it would seem,

            than us managing on our own to keep on the straight and narrow!

God savors the lost,

            and those who know they’re lost,

            the ones who can’t find themselves,

                        and thus know their need for God.

Over such as these there is great rejoicing in heaven.

So spiritually, we could say, it is much better for us

            to have really screwed up,

                        and realized it             in order to repent

            than to somehow manage on one’s own not to get into trouble,

                                    to have done a fine job!

Are you scratching your heads over that?

Well then, let’s talk personally about repentance

            and how that may be an appropriate topic for consideration

                        here in this parish family.

For some folks here, members of this church family,

            the last few months have been difficult and painful.

For others it has been bewildering,

            wondering what happened that a seemingly well like priest left.

                        Her departure was a surprise.

Who’s to blame for what happened?

            That is the question that often come up first.

But who’s to blame is a moving target

            depending on who is asking the question.

Rather – in situations like these,

            since blame is not a productive approach,

I want to suggest to you that we all look at what happened

            as a systemic breakdown in the way

                                    the members of this family live with each other.

Oh, a failure.

            Our parish failed to deal with this situation

                                    in a way that everything could be fixed.

No, not that kind of failure,

            because that assumes that the average congregation can achieve

                        or sustain a successful blending of diverse personalities

            peacefully and without conflict

through all the vicissitudes of ordinary daily life.

I’ve never encountered a congregation, or a family for that matter, like that.

I have yet to meet a church family,

            extended family, nuclear family, or married couple

                        that hasn’t had their share of clashes, miscommunications,

                                    misunderstandings, rash words spoken without thinking,

                                    jumping to conclusions and making assumptions

                        conscious and unconscious.

Rather

            let’s give up the expectation that because we are a church family

                        we should innately act better than we do.

We’re all a bunch of sinners here, myself very much included.

            Some of us understand that this is the real reason why we are here.

Instead let us consider our personal and corporate failures

                                                as though they were a gift.                        Yes, a gift.

Can we let our own failures

            whether here or in our private lives

be opportunities for helping us dare to look into the mirror

            reflecting back to us our own realities that we would rather not see.

Amazingly this daring to look at ourselves open to seeing

            our short comings, foibles, misunderstandings,

            deliberate sins and unintentional sins – daring to look at that –

is to receive the gift of repentance that God offers us.

Spiritually it is always good when we come to the recognition

            that we have screwed up in one of our relationships.

Being able to see, or even just begin to see,

                        the damage we may have inflicted on another

is to encounter not only what we wish we didn’t have to look at in ourselves

            but also, at the same time, in that moment of truth

                        to experience an unequivocal divine acceptance and expression

of grace, forgiveness and love

            offered without fanfare,

                        straight forward with a certainty you can depend upon.

That is repentance, the being turned around.

As I said to you the very first Sunday I was with you, (which was August 25)

            repentance is what God does in us.

The repentance, the turning, is an act of empowerment by God,

            as it states in Acts 11:18.  [God gives repentance into life.]

And it is God’s kindness that leads to repentance,

            as it says in Romans 2:4.  [God’s kindness leads you into repentance.]

The sheep that was lost probably didn’t intend to get lost.

Most likely it was head strong, following the devices and desires of its own heart,

            rather than staying with flock or heeding the shepherd.

The sheep did not repent.

            It was repented.

            It was turned about            by the shepherd                        when it was found.

And even more outrageous, the coin that was lost

            could not possibly know how it had sinned,

                        let alone how to repent.

But it would stay lost until the woman with the broom

            found where it had rolled away.

You can depend on God, the Divine woman with the broom, coming after us.

                        Isn’t that a great image?!

We are each too important to God

            to be left on our own to find our own way back.

So please, may each one of us

            do some prayerful reflection on how you yourself,

                        without looking at anyone else,

            have failed in the life of this community, recently or long in the past,

                        failed through inattention or assumptions,

                        a hastily spoken word or a judgmental thought,

            and find in that grace-filled response of our Lord

                        something to enable the restoration of broken relationships

                        or grace to reach out to one another

                                    with expressions of regret and sorrow,

                                    forgiveness and restoration

            that can help the whole Body of Christ here in this place

                        to function so much better.

The much larger issue here is how we all respect one another

            and how we become more aware of

                        how our words and actions impact the whole community of faith,

                        how we respect and honor one another

                        or how we disregard each other

            as we doggedly pursue our own agendas,

and our own personal beliefs about how things ought to be done around here.

And, of course, this isn’t restricted to just here.

We encounter the same issues in our families and in the workplace,

            often, I would say, blundering unaware in actions and decisions

that affect others in ways we had not intended.

And – here’s a thought –

whatever bothers you in another is likely a disowned part within yourself.

There are different ways of handling all this:

-       ignoring the situation, hoping it will go away,

-       defending one’s position,

-       giving a long list of rationales for why you were right all along,

-       or just admitting the mess up and taking some lumps.

Whatever response we may have according to our habitual response pattern,

            we are still exhibiting our “lost-ness.”

And so we continue to run into the same kind of screw ups over and over.

And, you may have noticed, that until you or I get the lesson,

            we will continue to be pursued by God,  the Woman with the Broom,                                                                         searching us out

                        in order to have that joy of bringing home the lost.

So if you want to make God really happy,

            ‘fess up,

            face the music about your own habitual screw ups.

And you too will know the greater joys of heaven,

                                    the joy in the presence of the angels of God.

                                                                                    Thanks be to God.

Sermon at Nativity, Lewiston, September 8

“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother,

            wife and children, brothers and sisters,

            yes, and even life itself,

cannot be my disciple.”

“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me

            cannot be my disciple.”

“…none of you can become my disciple 

            if you do not give up all your possessions.”

This is the message of Jesus that we don’t want to hear.

Wouldn’t it be nicer to preach on the Epistle today?

After all when was the last time you heard a sermon on Philemon?

It’s a great little epistle to study.

It shows a very human side of Paul,

            how he very adroitly twists Philemon’s arm

            and lays it on rather thick:

“When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God…

I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, 

because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed - through you,

For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ 

to command you to do your duty, 

yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—

and I, Paul, do this as an old man, 

and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, 

whose father I have become during my imprisonment. 

Formerly he was useless to you, 

but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. 

                        (That’s a pun on the meaning of the name Onesimus.)

I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. 

I wanted to keep him with me, 

so that he might be of service to me in your place 

during my imprisonment for the gospel; 

but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, 

in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced.

Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, 

so that you might have him back forever, 

no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—

especially to me             but how much more to you, …

So if you consider me your partner, 

welcome him as you would welcome me. 

If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, 

charge that to my account. 

I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. 

I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. 

Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! …

Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, 

knowing that you will do even more than I say. 

One thing more--prepare a guest room for me, 

for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.” 

Well, who can say no to all that?!

            Paul asks a lot of Philemon, and I bet he got it all.

But then there is the Gospel for today,

this message of Jesus that we don’t want to hear.

If we take his words seriously, 

then it sure looks like Jesus is asking too much.

This is where he goes over the top.

 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother,

            wife and children, brothers and sisters,

            yes, and even life itself,

                        cannot be my disciple.”

“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me

            cannot be my disciple.”

“…none of you are able to become my disciple 

            if you do not give up all your possessions.”

You are not able.

Paul may ask a lot of Philemon,

            but Jesus demands even more from his disciples.

And this Gospel reading for today is not the only passage

            in which this radical message appears.

It’s in all four Gospels in seven different places!

            So I guess we are going to have to pay attention to it.

Well, we do need to look at that word “hate” that appears here.

Does Jesus really mean for us to hate father and mother, 

spouse and children, brothers and sisters, and even life itself?

Consider two kinds of hate.

            One is the emotion of hate in which one person is reacting to another.

If we are reacting, 

that means a relationship exists there, a connection and a violation.

            The reaction of hate ties the one hating even more to the one hated.

            There is very strong attachment in this kind of hate.

The other is what is indicated in this passage here in the Greek.

            It means to turn forcefully away from, to renounce,

                        to turn away from attachment.

            This is a kind of repentance, a letting go of prior circumstances,

                        a letting go of the way in which all prior relationships had been held.

Jesus is asking his disciples for this kind of renunciation. 

But even at that, this is still extreme.

            Disciples are asked to reframe all prior relationships

                        with family, with possessions, with self.

How can we possibly measure up to what Jesus is asking?

Very, very few have shown such utter abandonment of self

            in following Jesus – 

                                    maybe St. Francis of Assisi and a few others

So for the rest of us, we need to be in a continual process 

            of spiritual formation, of spiritual growth

- working towards becoming a disciple, seeking to become a disciple - 

                        as a life long process

            until we are fully converted,

            until we have finally become disciples.

The more I experience faith and trust in Jesus,

and the more I become aware of the Divine Presence,

                        the more I realize how utterly ignorant I am,

                                    and how far I have to go to become an authentic disciple.

This passage is about the willingness to give up self identity

            in terms of ego centric attachment to body and mind even,

            to let that go in devotion to Jesus,

            to lose one’s self in Jesus,

            to call nothing “mine”

                        because there is no “me,” as I want to define me, left.

When there is no me left

            then we are like Jesus,

            then we can say we are true disciples.

However this is not anything we can accomplish by ourselves.

Yet we can cooperate in the process of formation,

            being formed as disciples,

            being formed into the image of God,

            being formed as a new being in Christ.

The image of clay in the hands of the potter from Jeremiah

             – this is a description of formation.

We can translate that image into the human situation:

            We need to be as pliable as clay in order to be formed,

            that is, we need to be open and willing to be changed.

There is very little substantial change that we can accomplish on our own

            but we can discover the way of letting go 

of our own self improvement projects

                        in order to be in that wonderful flow of life in the Spirit.

Counting the cost:

            whether building a tower or waging a war

            some forethought is called for.

Once you get started, you better be prepared 

to see it through to the end,

            to be ready to accept all the consequences for your choice,

                                                            and to do that it will cost you everything.

So in counting the cost 

            part of making it possible to meet that cost

                        is the conscious decision 

to be active in fostering spiritual growth

                                    now and in the future and for your whole life time.

Spiritual growth and Christian formation

is not about learning more and more facts and figures

                        about the Bible or the Church or liturgy,

            although that can provide a context for spiritual discovery.

Formation happens through the spiritual disciplines 

of prayer and meditation 

and reflection on the texts of the Bible 

            and on the texts of our lives and where those two texts intersect.

Jesus is fully engaged, not self-absorbed, but natural and free; 

no ego self is apparent in him.

and he is engaging others to come into this same fullness.

Jesus models discipleship for us,

            and it is he who does the work in us

                                    in making us his disciples.

Second Sunday in Lent -- Sermon

In a book I was recently reading the author was describing

            a walk he would take through a large field

            where he often encountered another person walking his four dogs.

Three of the dogs would bound through the meadow with exuberant energy.

            They leaped and ran with joyful speed and grace,

            and were a delight to watch.

The fourth dog stayed close to its human,

                        but expressed its energy by running in tight circles.

The author, Martin Laird, couldn’t help but ask the man

            why this one dog just ran in little circles.

He explained that before he got this dog,

             it had lived practically all of its life in a cage

            where it could only exercise by running in circles.

All four dogs were off leash and free to run,

and three of the dogs realized that, got it,

and energetically explored the whole field,

            but for the one who was habituated to the cage,

            that was the only way it knew how to run.

We can look at this as a parable, a parable about salvation.

Salvation is literally about being set free,

            being liberated from what has caged us in our lives,

                        what has constricted life for us in myriad ways.

In salvation the whole field of possibility and fullness of life is there,

            but how many of us realize this?

            How many of us still live as though we are confined in a cage?

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

            the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! 

How often have I desired to gather your children together

            as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,

                                                                                    and you were not willing!”

What a heart breaking statement!

Jesus reaching out with love and life and freedom and joy

            to those who are at the heart, the center of their religion,

                        in Jerusalem where the Temple was,

                                    where the priests were,

                                    where the nation’s leaders were,

            and ironically the very place where God’s true messengers

                                    bearing revelations of God

                        are met with staunch opposition.

Why such resistance?

Why such resistance to being gathered together in the loving embrace of Jesus?

One would think that those at the heart of the religion

            would be the ones who would most welcome God’s messengers.

But no.

There is a difference between being at the spiritual heart of one’s religion

            and being at the heart of the institution of religion.

So that resistance to Jesus that he is expecting when he gets to Jerusalem?

            It’s because he is a big threat to his own religious institution.

                        For one thing, he was way too inclusive.

The Sadducees, who were the priests,

            and also the Pharisees,

            those whose religious observance of the holy law was beyond scrutiny,

were both quite clear about the distinctions that could be made between them

            and the pagan Romans, who held them as an occupied country

                                    and sucked them dry through the taxes for tribute money,

            and the tax collectors, who cooperated with this pillage,

and prostitutes and sinners and any foreigners who didn’t believe as they did.

And those were the very people Jesus was not ashamed to associate with.

            Indeed these were the ones who recognized the liberation of salvation

                        when they saw it.

The Roman centurion seeking healing for his slave,

the demoniac living among the tombs, a very unclean place,

            in the Greek Decapolis region,

the Samaritan leper,

the woman, bursting in on the dinner party at the home of Simon the Pharisee,             a woman known as a sinner,

            anointing the feet of Jesus with her tears and very expensive nard.

They found a welcome and got brought into that gathering embrace of Jesus,

                                                the One who is like the mother bird with her chicks.

They knew salvation is not about right belief,

                        about accepting a creed and doctrine,

            but about being set free, being liberated from what had caged them.

They know what it is to be brought into the loving embrace of Jesus.

The Gospel reading for today points us toward Jerusalem

            where Jesus knows he will be opposed

            by the very ones to whom he offers salvation.

He knows how it will come out,

            how instead of gathering under sheltering wings,

            he will stretch out his arms on the hard wood of the cross,

and embrace us all,           whether we like it or not, whether we know it or not.

This is the second Sunday in Lent,

                        and already we are one the road to Holy Week in Jerusalem.

And on Ash Wednesday

                                    the invitation to the observance of a holy Lent was given.

BCP, pg. 265            I invite you, [therefore,] in the name of the Church,

            to the observance of a holy Lent,

            by self-examination and repentance;

                by prayer, fasting, and self-denial;

            and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word.

Self-examination and repentance – BCP, pg. 267-268

            This litany is a most useful tool for self-examination and repentance.

Prayer, fasting, and self-denial –

and reading and meditating on God’s holy Word – what we are doing right now.

Let me come back to prayer, fasting and self-denial, and expand on these.

I must tell you that I teach meditation,

            and from my experience meditation encompasses all three.

Meditation is the prayer of silence,

            in which we are open to listening rather than speaking.

Meditation is a form of fasting,

            fasting from all activity: work, the noise of busy-ness,

            fasting from the senses: fasting beyond the tasting of food

                        fasting from sight by closing the eyes,

                        fasting from hearing by being in a quiet place.

Meditation is also self-denial.

            In the fasting from work and everything else that defines us

                        we are denying the self we imagine we are,

                        so that we can better see the self we actually are,

                                                as seen through the eyes of God.

I have engaged the spiritual discipline of meditation for quite some time now,

            and I have discovered that we have

                        a built in resistance to that loving embrace,

                                                that intimacy of close contact with Jesus.

I see this clearly in meditation practice

            where the intention is to sit in silence in openness of heart

                        for that close, intimate and personal contact in awareness

                                                            of Divine Presence.

THAT is most certainly a place where we can allow ourselves to be embraced.

And yet, I have seen this in myself

            and I have seen this in those I instruct in meditation

                        that the very moment in meditation

                        when awareness begins to open

                        and the limits of being drop away

                        and there is this huge expansiveness into infinity

            at that very moment

there is contraction,            

            an inevitable pulling away, pulling in, retreat from

                                    that divine and loving embrace.

The contraction away seems almost instinctual and automatic.

It’s like the self-preservation action of the sea anemone in a tide pool

                                                                        that pulls into itself when touched.

In that touch from the Divine

            in that expansion of awareness

            and dropping away of boundaries of separation,

we find ourselves at risk of being swallowed up in this huge Presence

                        that is embracing us, no matter how lovingly it is.

That sense of being lost in the Divine Presence

            is viewed by the ego as a threat.

To surrender to this loving embrace might mean

            that the ideas, values and even beliefs that I have,

                        that by which I identify myself and define myself

                                    as a separate and substantial being,

            are simply illusions of a presumed separateness that doesn’t exist.

And the divine joke is that this is true!

And when we get it, when we get the joke,

            what a relief!

I can give up that tortured enterprise of self-definition,

            and I am freed simply to be,

                        to enjoy on the most profound level

                        what it is to be a unique expression of divine creativity

                                    unconditionally loved, and without boundary or limit.

I don’t need to run in tight little circles.

 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets

            and stones those who are sent to it!

How often have I desired to gather your children together

            as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,

                                                                                                and you were not willing!”

How much Jesus loved those who were intent on shutting him down!

We might each ask ourselves

                        how we shut down the movement of the Spirit within us,

                        how we squelch his voice calling us out of our comfortableness,

                        how we resist being gathered under his wings.

Why does a hen seek to gather her brood under her wings?

                        Because of impending danger.

The mother bird offers protection to her babies

            even if she herself remains exposed to the disaster coming upon her.

Jesus comes to Jerusalem

            and stretches wide his arms on the hard wood of the cross,

            and his arms embrace the whole world.

In surrendering himself to death, the ultimate dissolution of self,

            he becomes the source of new life.

Lifted from the earth on the cross,

            he draws all people to himself.

Quit resisting our Lord’s invitation to come more closely within his embrace.

That is the purpose and work and goal of Lent.

And that is what salvation brings.

We can be set free to run boundlessly through the whole field of life,

            instead of in tight little circles.