Monday, January 30, 2006

The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany: What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

The Venerable Richard I. Cluett
Deuteronomy 18:15-20; 1Cor. 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28
January 29, 2006

What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? … Jesus rebuked him saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.

What a powerful way to begin a ministry. What a powerful way to let the world know, and let all the powers of the world know that things are different now. There is a new order, a new way of life, a new power for good, coming into the world. Unclean spirits beware!

And the world’s never been the same since. Or has it? Does your experience, does your observation, tell you that the power of God has completed the establishment of this new rule, this new order, this kingdom, Has the power of God completely overcome the evil powers, the unclean spirits of this world? What’s the phrase? “In your dreams!”

This divine new order inaugurated in the life and ministry of Jesus and demonstrated that day in Capernaum, that small town by the Sea of Galilee, is exemplified by, is characterized by, is defined by spiritual transformation, a liberation that touches every dimension of human existence. Healing, empowering, exorcising, befriending; bringing those the world considers the least, the last and the lost, bringing the oppressed, the disenfranchised, and the outcasts back into the light and the life and community for which God created them. Using the power of God's love to heal and reconcile, save and forgive, restore and renew.

The people in Capernaum didn’t know that as part of their daily world, and people today don’t experience it either as part of our daily world. No wonder they were amazed. No wonder we are amazed when we catch of glimpse of it here and there in our lives or in the news.

Do you know the phrase? “Leading lives of quiet desperation.” No one here today should be fooled by the relative comfort and ease of lives that look economically secure, but may be emotionally fragile or relationally fractured. Living on the edge used to be a phrase applied to those on the edge of society. Now it includes those who live on the edge of bankruptcy, on the edge of stability, on the edge of sanity, on the edge of isolation.

Dreams, values, structures, systems don't seem to be handling it anymore. There's a sense of being out of control – spending, emotions, lives, the world. People are nervous about their lives, their futures, the very world itself.

In our own society, it is clear that we live in a culture that seeks fulfillment, satisfaction, and meaning in pursuit, acquisition and consumption. The values reflected in our society are foreign to what Jesus brought as Kingdom values. More and more the media both defines and reflects the culture. Music, novels, film, TV and newspapers deal primarily with cultural trinity of power, money and sex.

We live in an age that aspires to the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. People seek fulfillment in the allures, the attractions, the powerful seductions, the comfort and the ease, and the glitz of this present world - what the novelist Susan Howatch has termed the "glittering images, glamorous powers and ultimate prizes" offered by this present age. Doomed attempts to brighten dark lives.

We used to have a bumper sticker in the Lehigh Valley. I've Got Mine! It was given out by a bank to people who could afford a certain denomination of Certificate of Deposit. The corollary is, “I don’t care if you get yours, just don’t get in the way of me getting mine.” There is a confusion of needs and wants that has created a culture that is less interested in making a living than in making a killing.

This is precisely the situation that Paul was addressing with the people in Corinth. It’s not enough that we take care of ourselves. Our faith, our discipleship, God’s presence, God’s kingdom, God’s order is to be lived out in a relationship where we are cognizant of, attentive to, and responsive to the needs and situations of the rest of the people in the community.

It has been said that the most important thing for the Church is not great preaching (this gives me great comfort), or programs or prophecy. Very simply, it is for the members of the church to live together and love one an¬other and offer their love and life for the world … to offer a living, loving community which offers the people of the world an alternative. The kingdom Jesus brought.

The love and care and justice and security we want in the world must first be incarnate here in each one of us and in our community of faith, this parish, just as they were first incar¬nate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Christian community is not built by focusing on community. It is a by-product of people loving people. People who worship together, work together, pray together, study together, share themselves with each other … these people will come to love one another; and the kingdom of God will be present in that place, in this world.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached a sermon at St George’s Cathedral in Capetown, South Africa on Sunday April 24, 1994 the eve of the vote ending apartheid. He said,

“We are all wounded people, traumatized, all of us, by the evil of apartheid. We all need healing and we, the Church of God, must pour balm on the wounds inflicted by this evil system. Let us be channels of love, of peace, of justice, of reconciliation.
“Let us declare that we have been made for togetherness, we have been made for family, that, yes, now we are free, all of us, black and white together, we, the rainbow people of God! And let us make a success of this democracy. And we are! We are going to make it. For we have a tremendous country, with tremendous people. Our God, who makes all things new, will make us a new people, a new united people in a new South Africa."

And the unclean spirits are coming out -- with cries and convulsing but coming out nevertheless. And the people are amazed.

How do we live in the kingdom of God now? How do we faithfully follow the lead and example of Jesus? How do we witness to and exercise the power of the love of Christ today? There's only one way. We love our way into the hearts of others — and, thereby, into the heart of God. And the world will never be the same.

Monday, January 23, 2006

The Third Sunday in Epiphany: For God alone my soul in silence waits

The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch
January 22, 2006
Jonah 3:1-5, 10Psalm 62:6-14Mark 1:14-20

For God alone my soul in silence waits


So. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time….What do you suppose happened the first time?

You probably do know, because it’s the part of the Jonah story that includes the whale. Jonah was a prophet of the Lord. That means he listened for God’s word and proclaimed it to the people. So it was no surprise when God gave Jonah an assignment to tell some people to mend their evil ways. However, it was quite a surprise to Jonah when God told him to go Nineveh, and not a pleasant surprise. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, an d the Assyrians were the enemies of Israel. As far as Jonah was concerned, Nineveh was the heart of the evil empire. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell them to shape up and repent of their evil ways or else God was going to destroy them. Of course the Ninevites, being Assyrians and all, didn’t know Yahweh. They had other gods they paid attention to. So being a sensible prophet from a small town who had no diplomatic standing, much less any know-how, Jonah books passage on a ship heading for Tarshish--in the exact opposite direction. He flees from the presence of the Lord.

Of course that worked out really well for him. He gets on the boat, heads down to take a nap and God hurls a violent storm at the ship so that the ship threatens to break up. The sailors are terrified and start praying to any god they can think of. They didn’t know Yahweh either. They wake Jonah up and tell him to pray to his god as well. The storm does not abate and being superstitious folks, as sailors are wont to be, they cast lots to see who brought this storm on. Of course the lot falls to Jonah.

Jonah has to admit that he worships the LORD GOD whom he has been trying to flee. He tells the sailors the only remedy is to throw him overboard. To give the sailors credit they are quite reluctant to do so. They row harder trying to get back to shore, but the violence of the storm increases. So they finally pray to the LORD GOD not to hold them responsible for Jonah’s blood and they throw him overboard.

The storm immediately stops. The sailors become instant believers in the LORD GOD. Jonah goes under and the waters close over him. But God sends a large fish to swallow him up and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days. Three days. I suppose Jonah had some time to think. After three days he prays to God saying, “I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me.” If not before his sea change, then certainly now Jonah knows where salvation lies. It is in the hands of God alone. “I called to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me.” Sounds a bit like a psalm. Sounds like the psalm we prayed this morning:
For God alone my soul in silence waits….

Parker Palmer, a well known teacher, writer and speaker on spirituality says that the soul is like a wild animal: tough, resourceful and resilient, but also shy. If you go into the forest to see a wild creature you are not going to find it by marching about and shouting. It will not appear on demand. If you want the wild creatures to come out, you need to be quiet and still and patient.* If we want to connect with our souls, we need to be still and quiet and gentle with them. I believe we need to connect with our souls in order to hear and respond to God’s call for us.

For God alone my soul in silence waits.

It is in the belly of the whale that Jonah finds silence--and his soul. He repents: he places his trust in God, again, and God has the whale spit Jonah out. And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and tell them what I told you to tell them!” This time Jonah goes. I expect Jonah is still not happy. Nothing has changed about Nineveh. It is still the capital of the evil empire. Jonah begins his three days walk crying out, “God is going to destroy Nineveh in forty days.” Now, imagine your self leaving this cathedral and walking west through Bethlehem and toward Allentown for three days straight telling people God was about to punish them for their evil deeds. You can imagine what kind of reception you would get. Well, that is what Jonah feared. Yet, amazingly, the people heed Gods’ call to them and repent. Every last one of them, even the king. God acts, by not destroying them.

You might think that Jonah would be pleased. Surly this was a wildly successful gig for a prophet. But Jonah is still unhappy. You’ll have to read the rest of the story yourself. The book of Jonah is in your bible and its not very long. Make sure you read the last chapter.

For God alone my Soul in silence waits.

One of the things I take from the Jonah story is that despite Jonah’s reluctance and downright disobedience, God’s will was still carried out. The people of Nineveh were given a chance to turn to the Lord and they did. Jonah was God’s prophet. And he blew it. Even when he did go to Nineveh, he wasn’t happy. But God’s hope for the people of Nineveh was fulfilled. God can work with what God gets. We don’t get just one chance to get it right. Jonah got a second chance to hear God and to act on God’s word.

For God alone my soul in silence waits,
truly, my hope is in him
He alone is my rock and my salvation…
God has spoken once, twice have I heard it.

Perhaps God speaks only once. But then God’s word reverberates through time and space, there waiting for us when we are ready to hear it…or to hear it again. How can we hear God’s call for us if we are not listening with our souls? How can we connect with our souls if we do not find the space to be quiet and patient? Or do we need to end up in the belly of a whale to hear God’s word?

For God alone my soul in silence waits…God has spoken once, twice have I heard it.

Jesus, the Word, comes along preaching the word of God, telling people to repent and believe in the good news. As he passes along the sea of Galilee he sees Simon and Andrew, James and John, fishermen about their daily business. He calls them to follow him and they do. I don’t know why. They were not prophets, trained to hear God. They were fishermen. We don’t even know if they were particularly religious. We know of no deliberation or internal dialogue on their parts. They don’t talk to their families or tell Jesus they need to sleep on it. They don’t head off looking for a ship to Tarshish. They just follow Jesus. They hear and respond to God’s call.

Why is it so simple for them? Why do they hear and respond the first time? Why do they need no second chance? I don’t know. I don’t know why they got it right off the bat and Jonah didn’t. But it does make me glad because it says there is more than one way to respond to God’s call. There is not one way to get it right. Sometimes following God’s call for us it comes easily, almost without thought. Sometimes it requires a storm to get our attention. Yet even when we are deaf or reluctant, God’s purpose is still carried out.

For God alone my soul in silence waits…God has spoken once, twice have I heard it.

All of which says to me, prepared or not, God calls us and there is no way to know how we will respond. Some days we will be like Jonah, some like Simon Peter. As our collect for today prays, “Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the good news of his salvation….” Regardless of our response, God is relentless in the call.

For God alone my soul in silence waits.

If you want to hear God’s call for you, find a quiet place in the woods… and wait patiently for your tenacious soul to show.


*Parker Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco 2004, pp. 57-59

Copyright © 2006 Anne E. Kitch

Monday, January 16, 2006

The Second Sunday in Epiphany: Do you hear what I hear?

The Venerable Richard I. Cluett
1 Samuel 3:1-20); 1Cor. 6:12-20; John 1:43-51
January 15, 2006

How do you hear the voice of God in times such as these? In all the din, in all the noise, in all the busyness, in all the chaos, in all the competing voices that would claim our attention, how do you hear the voice of God in times such as these?

Or is the voice of God rare today as it was in the time of Eli? Have we as a people so distanced ourselves from God that there is no Word heard today. Have we as a church become so involved in our own petty personal pieties and politics that God’s Word cannot be heard?

Or if a word is heard, how do you know it is the voice of God? Pat Robertson hears God saying, “I have struck down Ariel Sharon because I am displeased with his leadership.” Robertson also heard God say, “I have caused the storm and the floods to wipe this Sodom and Gomorra called New Orleans off the face of the earth.” Was it the voice of God or did he listen to his own voice?

How do you know when it is God calling? There is no Caller ID here.

In John's Gospel it is so clear; it looks so natural. How easy it was for Nathanael to spot Jesus; to see Jesus; to find the Lord. Amidst the daily occupations of his life, Nathanael recognized Jesus when he came near without having seen any obvious signs of the presence of the Kingdom, without knowing the shape, form, nature, or name of the messiah. Why didn't he wonder if he was out of synch, if maybe he was the one who was wrong, and it really was the leaders, the Pharisees and the Saducees, who had the correct take on life and faith? How did he know it was the Lord when Jesus walked by, when Jesus came near?

There is, I have learned, an Emmy Award-Winning afternoon Soap Opera called One Life to Live which is set in a community modeled on the Philadelphia Main Line. The show is said to deal with real life situations, such as stories of interracial romance, split personalities, illiteracy, medical misdiagnosis, racial prejudice, lupus, gang violence, homophobia, rape -- and next week there will be “Oh so much more”!

What interests me is the name of the show, One Life to Live, and that the show is about what happens to people. The characters are victims, They are not actors, they are recipients of other’s actions, they are done unto. O Lord, I have only one life to live, what should I do with it?

My assumption is that each person in this cathedral today is seeking to listen, discern, and respond to a word God is speaking to each of us, personally. Wanting to know the heart, mind and will of God - personally - so that we can so conform our own hearts and minds and wills that what we do this day, that what we do in this life is pleasing to God.

Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold told members of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council meeting this week, “The Church is constantly in the process of becoming. Together we seek openness to this transforming work of the Spirit.” He quoted the French Jesuit scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: “For us God is eternal discovery and eternal growth.”

Martin Luther King loved to tell his story. He didn't want to be a national civil rights leader. He had gone into the ministry mostly because his father was a pastor and he always did what Daddy King wanted him to do. Martin wanted a quite life as a professor, possibly President of Morehouse College someday.

Through an odd turn of events, as a young pastor he was thrust into the forefront of the Montgomery bus boycott. He came home late one night, tired, frightened. The phone rang. An angry voice on the other end said, "We're gonna get you Nigger!"
Martin Luther King stood in his kitchen, frozen in fear. He wanted to call Daddy King for reassurance and advice. But Daddy King wasn't there. Then he said it was like a voice. "Martin, you do what's right. You stand up for justice. You stand up for righteousness. I'll be with you."

He had heard his name called. He knew what God wanted for him. His life was forever changed and through his life, used so well by God, was the world changed.

Do you know the story of the baby lion whose family - called by that wonderful name Pride - of lions had been killed by hunters. He was by himself until one day a herd of goats came by and adopted him. He became a goat, lived as a goat, ate grass, and led a quiet goat-like life. But he knew he was different from the rest of the goats. He looked different, and he felt different, too. Something inside him told him he was different.

Then it happened. One day another lion; a large male lion came upon the grazing goats. All the goats were frightened and ran away - as good goats should - all except the lion-goat. He stood still, watching, waiting. Suddenly the large lion let out this incredible, powerful ROAR. The little lion's eyes flew open, and he knew he was being called. He knew who he was. And he followed the big lion home - and spent the rest of his life in more adventuresome pursuits.

Episcopal priest, writer and retreat leader Tom Ehrich has discerned four realizations about call:
“First,” he says, “God's call tends to be mundane and unsurprising.” Usually not cataclysmic, not flashes of lightening, not being slain in the Spirit, but in the everydayness of life, if we look and listen it is there - and it makes sense.

“Second,” he says, “God's call has grace in it. It heals a wound, answers a question, uses an experience, bridges a chasm.”
“Third, God's call is ambiguous.” If we don’t pay attention, we will miss it.

Fourth, “God's call changes things.”. I have said to you before that God loves us just the way we are, but God loves us too much to let us stay that way. So, God’s call does change things like situations, and conditions, but it also changes us in ways that we reflect more clearly and more truthfully that we are made in God’s image.

The voice of the Lord can be heard in the land - even by you and me who God knows so well and tailors his Word so carefully that it fits us precisely.

Psalm 139 is my favorite Psalm and its reassurance is a fitting and comforting ending.
1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar...
6 Where can I go then from your Spirit? *
where can I flee from your presence?
7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; *
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8 If I take the wings of the morning *
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9 Even there your hand will lead me *
and your right hand hold me fast.

So, listen for this God who would have a word with us.
Amen.