1.25.09 - 3 Epiphany, Cathedral, Bethlehem Year B The Rev. Canon Jane Teter
In the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
“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, … (Collect for the day).
When I was a child, one of the more important pieces of family equipment was an old iron bell. My mother used this bell to call us home for dinner and other family activities. Its gong would sound throughout the neighborhood, and my brother and I would abandon games of hide-and-see, cowboys and Indians, and turn our skates and bicycles around and head home.
Because we knew the consequences of not immediately heeding its summons, we quickly responded to the bell. Even the neighbors knew what it meant. Our passage home was often accompanied by a neighbor calling out, “your Mother is calling.”
The calls in today’s Gospel demand a similar kind of obedience, even if they are profoundly different from my mother’s dinner bell. Jesus issues two calls, one universal and one particular. Though their scope is different, both insist on an immediate response.
The first call defines Jesus’ message in three simple phrases, “This is the time of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the good news!” Isn’t that the heart of the Christian vocation? - “this is the time of fulfillment, the reign of God is at hand, reform your lives and believe the good news.” To know that here and now God is completing the work of redemption in our lives? To hear in that good news the invitation to become more than we ever thought imaginable?
Only from the center of that first calling can we begin to understand the second, not as something that was given to the disciples there and then, but to us at this moment. For Jesus takes the universal call of his preaching and he calls Simon and Andrew, James and John, you and me, to follow him.
But notice how he does it – it is not simply a matter of call; but to call from; to call to. Unlike my mother’s bell, the call of Jesus doesn’t demand that we abandon what we are doing but that we transform it. Simon and Andrew will no longer be simple fishermen. They will fish for people. James and John will leave their father not to abandon their family but to belong to a larger family: those who hear the word of God and keep it.
It is the same for us today. Each one of us is called to use our particular talents and limitations to further the fulfillment of the good news in everything we do.
We are called to model our lives on the example of Christ. Now, we know we can never be perfect, but surely we can try to do our very best.
We need to do what we can do as best we can and not worry about what we cannot do. Perhaps that is visiting a shut-in, volunteering at a soup kitchen or a food bank or a shelter, maybe reading a book to children or the elderly. Some may run errands or do some shopping or help with minor repairs, shovel snow or cut the grass. I know some of you helped in some way when our local churches (including Nativity) cam together to set up emergency shelters for the homeless when it was bitter cold outside. There are many opportunities – use your gifts to make a difference in someone’s life.
When I moved here from Lebanon many years ago, I left behind several residents of nursing homes that I visited regularly. I missed those visits and I began to send notes and cards to them on any and every holiday. I did that for several years and then began to wonder if I was doing this for myself. Then one day I met an old friend for lunch and she told me she had been to visit May and May had showed her a huge pile of cards she had received from me over the years. My friend told me she looked through them all the time.
So, you see, little things do mean a lot.
Today’s gospel tells us to “follow me and I will make you fish for people.” A retired priest who is a good friend is an avid fisherman. He says, “the lesson is about the calling of Simon and Andrew to be evangelists.
The point is that God through Jesus asked them to be followers of him, and that he would make – not force – but help them become “fishers of men.” He built on what they already knew and utilized what they were to help become evangelists, heralds, role models, mentors.
I think of the people who have influenced me, he continues: college professor, priest, mother, garbage man, sick and lonely, many parishioners and many friends. In this day and age with the decline of heroes and moral leadership, and the rise of cynicism, we must listen carefully and respond faithfully to the invitation of Jesus.
He continues, “I hope I am not stretching it too much when I say fishing can teach you a lot. There are three requisites about fishing. You have to go where the fish are. You have to offer what the fish want. Your have to present your offering in a way that is attractive and inviting, not scary or threatening. Doesn’t this say something about evangelism? He says that, even more basic, you have to have confidence, you have to have hope, you have to have a sense of expectancy that the fish are there, that you are offering them good stuff, and that you can catch them. Frequently, he says, I have seen evidence of fish. Often I see others catching fish. Sometimes I have caught a fish. Even so, the ratio of cast to fish is very low. There are other benefits to fishing. Perseverance is important. Keep trying. I have gotten to know a wonderful guide on the river. Jerry sometimes comes over to me and suggests I cast to a different location, try a different fly, or with a suggestion to improve my casting.
This friend has some wise learnings:
- be inviting but not scary or threatening
o no “brother are you saved”
o no “you better mend your ways or you will go to hell”
(who am I to make that decision?)
- we need to be caring and compassionate and have lots of patience in all we do. We need a good, positive attitude – remembering to
follow Jesus’ example in reaching out to people.
- we need to meet people where they are, not where we want them to
be. (not “why the heck is he homeless – the point is he is homeless and needs our help).
- Don’t go it alone – be open to support and suggestions from others.
Maybe my way isn’t the best way – my fisherman friend was open
to suggestions that made him a better fisherman.
And so, this Jesus, this guide, comes to Simon and Andrew, James and John, and to each of us, and says “come here with me, watch me, try this…I will make you fish for people.”
“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…”
Amen.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday January 18, 2009
The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa
II Epiphany
I Samuel 3:1-10
A boy, rabbinic scholars tell us probably 12-15 years old, living thousands and thousands of years ago, is slumbering warmly in his bed, protected from the elements of the outside when he is rudely interrupted by a voice calling him! Samuel, Samuel! Thinking wrongly the voice is but a rude interruption or even a call for help from his mentor Eli, who he shares the space with, he rises from the warmth of his bed, and travels through the dark house and asks, What do you want! It’s not me calling, go back to bed! Good news! We all love to go back to bed. Three times that voice comes and three times the young boy finds himself confused and yanked out of bed! Finally Eli, the mentor discerns the voice must be coming from God and with simple wisdom and some fear for his own place in the world, Eli says, it is God, Just lay there and listen! Imagine the twelve year old boy and the context of his world. These were ancient times where the people of Israel in their journey with Yahweh have not yet developed into a nation governed, ruled, and protected as other people’s were at the time. Many of their powerful neighbors were established as a monarchy, ruled by a King. Israel at this point in their history are more of a confederacy of sorts, organized as tribes scattered throughout an ancient land, worshipping a unique God. This people would daily be challenged by influences of competing for “prosperous” and generous farm lands. They would compete with a diversity of people’s and nations for the same land, and would be influenced by other customs, ways, and even Gods! How do these tribes stay unified, protected, and how do they make for themselves an “economy”? For Samuel, the young boy, he will be called by God to stand in line as a “JUDGE” and a Prophet”. A Judge as is the name given to those “holy men” called to be leaders of this “confederacy” of tribes, to hold them together, unified in purpose, in devotion to Yahweh, and as competitors to foreign influences and challenges. For Samuel, the young boy, you have to wonder as he contemplates the complex enough question of who he is becoming as a young man, how he might identify himself as a young man in complex world. If he is to Listen to God, what could it all mean for his life? If he is to listen to God and even make his way through the complexity of his context to discern this call, he has to be asking what difference can he make at all should he respond to this call?
I don’t know about you, I don’t know how you listen to God’s voice. I don’t know if God’s voice wakes you from your sleep, or slips into your daily conversations, or comes to you in prayer. I know what wakes me these days is the stark contrast of the cold outside and the blessed warmth of my bed. What wakes me these days is the strange juxtaposition of life that puts me in the warmth why others are on the street in the cold. I know what wakes me is the middle of the night is the thought and challenge of waking my way to the next piece of my daily routine, how and when the juggle of schedule will lead to all that needs to be done get done. I know that at times when I am awakened in the middle of the night I give in to the bad habit of turning on my television and there I see the complexity of the world I live in. I know you see it too: war, economic tenuousness, disease, famine, crime; you know the list. These things of my context I confess I sometimes get a helpless feeling, as I consider what it is that I am to do about any of it.
The complexity of the pace of life and our place in it is a challenging enough task. We consider our place and future in our vocations, employment, our relationships, and in our household. It is plenty complex as rise and face our own identity, strengths and weaknesses in the human condition. It is even more complex when we consider the struggles of our local governments, our nation, and the world.
I suppose what I mean to say is that when we start each day, just trying to figure out who WE ARE, What we will BE, WHO we will be in the everyday, this seems like enough of plenty, BUT when on top of it then we may find ourselves reflecting on a world and even struggling to pray for a world that is war torn in many places, where there is suffering and hunger in so many places, where there is financial and economic tenousness and even ruin in so many places, this sometimes seems overwhelming!
We listen for God’s voice the scriptures reveal to us, yes Lord, but How can we even consider taking our place in this sometimes overwhelming world? Where do we look for that voice? How can we hear that voice? Most importantly, if we do hear that voice, that call, and if we get to a point of responding, are you sure its going to make any difference at all?
Sometimes in it all we may find ourselves caught up at times in history, where the smacking of justice catches up with the ticking of history. We may see glimpses of calls heard and responded to that break in to our daily lives in tangible and significant ways. I pray we note the significance of his profound historical moment in our country as we witness an African American being sworn in as President of these United States. This is particularly poignant as this act occurs just a day after we recognize the life and witness of Martin Luther King who, having heard God’s voice of call, responded in such a way that led to the sacrifice of his very life in the name of Justice and equality for all of God’s people. I pray this sacrifice by not only Dr. King, but so many ordinary people who marched and sacrificed and died in dark remote forests in the middle of the night, to public streets in cities like Memphis, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Chicago. These brave actions made so such a moment in history possible. Regardless of our political positions and persuasions all of in this moment of history want what is best for our country. We hope against hope that the difficulties of our country and the world can be faced with integrity and faithful action by those we elect to help lead and invite us into faithful actions of resolve in the face of our challenges.
Thank God for such a witness and response to God’s vision for equality that would lead us to see tangibly that equality is possible.
Yet still, for you and for me, trying to figure out our place in this world, even so, we may be wondering how we take our place in this equation of life in a way that can make any difference at all? Let’s face it, for the majority of us here today, and certainly with some exceptions, we will not be the ones sitting at tables of influence charting forward a plan for economic recovery, or for finding resolution to peace in the middle east, or creating a systematic approach to eliminate hunger and disease, around the world. Its complex enough isn’t it, trying to figure out how we will stay alive in our marriage, Be alive as a parent, sustain ourselves and provide for ourselves and our families.
So as we rise in the darkness of each day, grateful we pray for the gift of another day, but I confess as we engage the boy Samuel and the story of his calling, perhaps each us deep down asks the question, so if I can after all Listen for God’s voice calling me, what difference will it make anyway even if I figure out how to respond?
Madeline L’Engle in her book “Glimpses of Grace” quotes a poem her Grandmother used to recite to her:
“Little drops of water,
Little grains of Sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.
She goes on to say, “ I believe the Kingdom is built on little things that all of us do. A single drop can’t even make a puddle, but together, all our drops and God’s planning can make not only a mighty ocean but a mighty difference”.
It’s easy to be overcome by the bigness of the complexity of the world’s needs and easy to be in a place to wonder, if we are able to hear God calling, What difference will it make anyway. It’s understandable that we may stand afar and be thankful that Samuel answered his call to Yahweh and became a prophet of integrity and a Judge who would lead the tribes of Israel strongly against foreign invaders. He would call people into faithful relationships with Yahweh, and he would “begrudgingly” give in to the cry for a Monarchy and anoint Saul as the first King of Israel.
Its understandable that we would stand grateful that a young boy from Atlanta would hear a call from God that would lead him to lead a movement that would work toward equal rights and we would give thanks for that sacrifice for justice.
But given most of us will not lead a nation, or a movement, though indeed I am banking on the fact that some out there may, we still ask the question to God, what difference can we make.
Sometimes God’s opportunity to “make a difference” begins with a simple email naming small realities. For example this week, an email came from across the river, It’s cold outside, dangerously cold, and the small but deserving homeless population in Bethlehem have no shelter. Like drops of water combining together to make a mighty ocean, or in this case, like grains of sand coming together to create a pleasant land, the pieces of a puzzle began to come together in response to a call! Here on Thursday night, blankets and pillows began to arrive, soup and cereal, bread and water, bodies and souls, coming together, and with heart and soul, the basement of Sayre Hall was transformed into a sanctuary from the cold for a number of God’s people who otherwise would have been on the street. The next night St. Andrew’s in East Allentown followed suit, and a van ran from the Cathedral transporting folks, lastnight the Unitarian Church became that pleasant land, tonight St. Andrew’s again, tomorrow back here at the Cathedral.
What difference does it make? I wonder if one of our guests after a night off of the street might help us with that answer.
The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa
II Epiphany
I Samuel 3:1-10
A boy, rabbinic scholars tell us probably 12-15 years old, living thousands and thousands of years ago, is slumbering warmly in his bed, protected from the elements of the outside when he is rudely interrupted by a voice calling him! Samuel, Samuel! Thinking wrongly the voice is but a rude interruption or even a call for help from his mentor Eli, who he shares the space with, he rises from the warmth of his bed, and travels through the dark house and asks, What do you want! It’s not me calling, go back to bed! Good news! We all love to go back to bed. Three times that voice comes and three times the young boy finds himself confused and yanked out of bed! Finally Eli, the mentor discerns the voice must be coming from God and with simple wisdom and some fear for his own place in the world, Eli says, it is God, Just lay there and listen! Imagine the twelve year old boy and the context of his world. These were ancient times where the people of Israel in their journey with Yahweh have not yet developed into a nation governed, ruled, and protected as other people’s were at the time. Many of their powerful neighbors were established as a monarchy, ruled by a King. Israel at this point in their history are more of a confederacy of sorts, organized as tribes scattered throughout an ancient land, worshipping a unique God. This people would daily be challenged by influences of competing for “prosperous” and generous farm lands. They would compete with a diversity of people’s and nations for the same land, and would be influenced by other customs, ways, and even Gods! How do these tribes stay unified, protected, and how do they make for themselves an “economy”? For Samuel, the young boy, he will be called by God to stand in line as a “JUDGE” and a Prophet”. A Judge as is the name given to those “holy men” called to be leaders of this “confederacy” of tribes, to hold them together, unified in purpose, in devotion to Yahweh, and as competitors to foreign influences and challenges. For Samuel, the young boy, you have to wonder as he contemplates the complex enough question of who he is becoming as a young man, how he might identify himself as a young man in complex world. If he is to Listen to God, what could it all mean for his life? If he is to listen to God and even make his way through the complexity of his context to discern this call, he has to be asking what difference can he make at all should he respond to this call?
I don’t know about you, I don’t know how you listen to God’s voice. I don’t know if God’s voice wakes you from your sleep, or slips into your daily conversations, or comes to you in prayer. I know what wakes me these days is the stark contrast of the cold outside and the blessed warmth of my bed. What wakes me these days is the strange juxtaposition of life that puts me in the warmth why others are on the street in the cold. I know what wakes me is the middle of the night is the thought and challenge of waking my way to the next piece of my daily routine, how and when the juggle of schedule will lead to all that needs to be done get done. I know that at times when I am awakened in the middle of the night I give in to the bad habit of turning on my television and there I see the complexity of the world I live in. I know you see it too: war, economic tenuousness, disease, famine, crime; you know the list. These things of my context I confess I sometimes get a helpless feeling, as I consider what it is that I am to do about any of it.
The complexity of the pace of life and our place in it is a challenging enough task. We consider our place and future in our vocations, employment, our relationships, and in our household. It is plenty complex as rise and face our own identity, strengths and weaknesses in the human condition. It is even more complex when we consider the struggles of our local governments, our nation, and the world.
I suppose what I mean to say is that when we start each day, just trying to figure out who WE ARE, What we will BE, WHO we will be in the everyday, this seems like enough of plenty, BUT when on top of it then we may find ourselves reflecting on a world and even struggling to pray for a world that is war torn in many places, where there is suffering and hunger in so many places, where there is financial and economic tenousness and even ruin in so many places, this sometimes seems overwhelming!
We listen for God’s voice the scriptures reveal to us, yes Lord, but How can we even consider taking our place in this sometimes overwhelming world? Where do we look for that voice? How can we hear that voice? Most importantly, if we do hear that voice, that call, and if we get to a point of responding, are you sure its going to make any difference at all?
Sometimes in it all we may find ourselves caught up at times in history, where the smacking of justice catches up with the ticking of history. We may see glimpses of calls heard and responded to that break in to our daily lives in tangible and significant ways. I pray we note the significance of his profound historical moment in our country as we witness an African American being sworn in as President of these United States. This is particularly poignant as this act occurs just a day after we recognize the life and witness of Martin Luther King who, having heard God’s voice of call, responded in such a way that led to the sacrifice of his very life in the name of Justice and equality for all of God’s people. I pray this sacrifice by not only Dr. King, but so many ordinary people who marched and sacrificed and died in dark remote forests in the middle of the night, to public streets in cities like Memphis, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Chicago. These brave actions made so such a moment in history possible. Regardless of our political positions and persuasions all of in this moment of history want what is best for our country. We hope against hope that the difficulties of our country and the world can be faced with integrity and faithful action by those we elect to help lead and invite us into faithful actions of resolve in the face of our challenges.
Thank God for such a witness and response to God’s vision for equality that would lead us to see tangibly that equality is possible.
Yet still, for you and for me, trying to figure out our place in this world, even so, we may be wondering how we take our place in this equation of life in a way that can make any difference at all? Let’s face it, for the majority of us here today, and certainly with some exceptions, we will not be the ones sitting at tables of influence charting forward a plan for economic recovery, or for finding resolution to peace in the middle east, or creating a systematic approach to eliminate hunger and disease, around the world. Its complex enough isn’t it, trying to figure out how we will stay alive in our marriage, Be alive as a parent, sustain ourselves and provide for ourselves and our families.
So as we rise in the darkness of each day, grateful we pray for the gift of another day, but I confess as we engage the boy Samuel and the story of his calling, perhaps each us deep down asks the question, so if I can after all Listen for God’s voice calling me, what difference will it make anyway even if I figure out how to respond?
Madeline L’Engle in her book “Glimpses of Grace” quotes a poem her Grandmother used to recite to her:
“Little drops of water,
Little grains of Sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.
She goes on to say, “ I believe the Kingdom is built on little things that all of us do. A single drop can’t even make a puddle, but together, all our drops and God’s planning can make not only a mighty ocean but a mighty difference”.
It’s easy to be overcome by the bigness of the complexity of the world’s needs and easy to be in a place to wonder, if we are able to hear God calling, What difference will it make anyway. It’s understandable that we may stand afar and be thankful that Samuel answered his call to Yahweh and became a prophet of integrity and a Judge who would lead the tribes of Israel strongly against foreign invaders. He would call people into faithful relationships with Yahweh, and he would “begrudgingly” give in to the cry for a Monarchy and anoint Saul as the first King of Israel.
Its understandable that we would stand grateful that a young boy from Atlanta would hear a call from God that would lead him to lead a movement that would work toward equal rights and we would give thanks for that sacrifice for justice.
But given most of us will not lead a nation, or a movement, though indeed I am banking on the fact that some out there may, we still ask the question to God, what difference can we make.
Sometimes God’s opportunity to “make a difference” begins with a simple email naming small realities. For example this week, an email came from across the river, It’s cold outside, dangerously cold, and the small but deserving homeless population in Bethlehem have no shelter. Like drops of water combining together to make a mighty ocean, or in this case, like grains of sand coming together to create a pleasant land, the pieces of a puzzle began to come together in response to a call! Here on Thursday night, blankets and pillows began to arrive, soup and cereal, bread and water, bodies and souls, coming together, and with heart and soul, the basement of Sayre Hall was transformed into a sanctuary from the cold for a number of God’s people who otherwise would have been on the street. The next night St. Andrew’s in East Allentown followed suit, and a van ran from the Cathedral transporting folks, lastnight the Unitarian Church became that pleasant land, tonight St. Andrew’s again, tomorrow back here at the Cathedral.
What difference does it make? I wonder if one of our guests after a night off of the street might help us with that answer.
Monday, January 12, 2009
1 Epiphany ~ The Baptism of Jesus
January 11, 2009
The Ven. Richard I Cluett
“Today the Lord comes to be baptized, so that humankind may be lifted up; today the one who never has to bow inclines himself be-fore his servant so that he may release our chains; Today we have acquired the kingdom of heaven: indeed, the kingdom of heaven that has no end.” (excerpt from the Orthodox Liturgy, Feast of the Theophany, with thanks to Suzanne Guthrie)
And so it came to pass long ago and not so far away…
One sunny, early summer morning on the bank of a lake in western Massachusetts where my parents lived, our family was gathered for the baptism of my brother’s firstborn son. My brother had asked me to baptize him in that place where we all had been together so many times as a family. We had some pre-baptism conversations that sufficed as instruction.
We had also spent time discussing the theological ramifications of blessing the water of baptism – that would be … the lake. From that time forth would all those who dipped themselves into those waters be… Well, you can carry on that conversa-tion yourselves.
I stepped into the lake water with the parents and Godparents and the child. The prayers were offered, the blessing of the waters invoked, and I took the child in my arms and immersed him in the cold, dark waters.
At which point my brother lunged forward with a look of abject terror on his face, as I raised the sputtering child. Three times he was plunged into the dark depths and lifted into the light in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And my brother saw that his firstborn son was not sputtering, he was laughing, giggling, burbling with joy, with pure, utter joy! That day he acquired the kingdom of heaven that has no end. And, by the way, so did my brother.
But, there is a reason why the lectionary begins this day with the description of the very beginning and the dark chaos when the wa-ters covered the face of the earth, and then God brings forth -- Light!
Today we celebrate “God’s will to flood the entire world” with Light. We celebrate God’s will to bring each and every creature out of chaos, out of darkness, out of the depths, loosed from bind-ings into the light of life and love and freedom lived in God.
That is what we celebrate today and every time a person comes through the waters of baptism into the light of a life lived in God. [and that is what is going to happen with these 3 young children who will be baptized today.]
+ + +
James Weldon Johnson says that before God started creation, eve-rything was “Blacker than a hundred midnights/ down in the cypress swamp.”
Have you ever visited that dark place? I have. I have even inhabited it -- for quite some time. So did Jesus. In a time of wondering and confusion, his wandering brought him to the bank of the river where he was drawn into the dark, swirling waters, in the midst of the chaos of humanity drawn there for the same reasons. Down he went into the water, plunged by John under the waters, and lifted up into the light of God’s presence, now knowing that he was God’s Beloved Child.
Herbert O”Driscoll has told the story this way:
“And so he came to the place, a stranger as all Galileans were in this hot blazing valley leading to the Dead Sea. Their eyes met and the longing for certainty in Jesus eyes is mirrored by the ambiva¬lence in John's. … they move into the water...
“When he comes up from that transitory burial under the water, it seems as if his world ignites and shines with validation and certainty. He is right! The journey has brought him home! Wave upon wave of peace and wholeness descend on him, calming, resolving, dovelike. Thundering in his consciousness are the intimations of the truth about himself and his vocation. He feels the affirmation and the terror of being in the presence of him by whom he is called My Son, my Beloved.”
A short three years later, he again found himself in that dark place when he was in the Garden at Gethsemane. Darkness and chaos and the evil powers of the world surrounded him, and he ques-tioned, he agonized, over all that he had held so dear, for which he had labored so hard, given so much, travelled so far.
And again, from that darkness he was lifted up, high upon the cross, so that you and I and all who come to God in some sem-blance of faith, with some miniscule modicum of hope, but who come nevertheless – he was lifted up so that we can live in the light of God’s kingdom. Now He lives in the presence of God, He reigns in the kingdom of God, and He lives in the hearts of God’s people.
+ + +
Before God’s Incarnation, before God’s Epiphany, the world was sunk in deep darkness, and so it is again in our day and time. I will not afflict you with a litany of the darkness of the world today. You know it well. You live it, too. You contend against it, too. You want to rise from, as well. It is ever before us on CNN and the nightly news: local, national, and international. We know it in our neighborhoods, in our circle of friends, in our families, in our own selves. Darkness abounds. Darkness abides, Darkness would cling to us forever.
It seems to me that from the very beginning of beginnings, and from our own beginning coming through the waters of birth and the darkness of the birth canal into the light of life, from before time and forever, the journey toward light has begun in darkness.
But we don’t have to live there. It doesn’t have to end there.
What we read of Jesus’ baptism; what we observe in the baptism of an infant; what we dream of in those long night hours is true. God is in this life. God’s spirit is upon us. God’s love is constant. God’s power is ours. And God has given us a reason, a purpose, a life to be lived.
It is possible to live in this life, missing the light of God, missing the presence of God, missing the empowering, comforting Word of God's love, missing the light of God’s love. It was possible for Jesus to have stayed in Nazareth; he didn't have to go down to the Jordan.
We have those choices, too. We can decide to stay in our anxiety, to stay in our ambivalences, to remain trapped in uncertainties, to live in darkness. Or we can decide to leave our Nazareth, and make ourselves available to the word, the light, the love of God and to let God’s spirit work in us.
All of us are, each of us is, Beloved of God – the God in whose love and by whose power shown to us in Jesus – life can be lived, purpose can be discovered, hope can be found, and love can be known.
As the Orthodox liturgy affirms, “… we have acquired the king-dom of heaven: indeed, the kingdom of heaven that has no end.”
Amen. And amen. And amen.
The Ven. Richard I Cluett
“Today the Lord comes to be baptized, so that humankind may be lifted up; today the one who never has to bow inclines himself be-fore his servant so that he may release our chains; Today we have acquired the kingdom of heaven: indeed, the kingdom of heaven that has no end.” (excerpt from the Orthodox Liturgy, Feast of the Theophany, with thanks to Suzanne Guthrie)
And so it came to pass long ago and not so far away…
One sunny, early summer morning on the bank of a lake in western Massachusetts where my parents lived, our family was gathered for the baptism of my brother’s firstborn son. My brother had asked me to baptize him in that place where we all had been together so many times as a family. We had some pre-baptism conversations that sufficed as instruction.
We had also spent time discussing the theological ramifications of blessing the water of baptism – that would be … the lake. From that time forth would all those who dipped themselves into those waters be… Well, you can carry on that conversa-tion yourselves.
I stepped into the lake water with the parents and Godparents and the child. The prayers were offered, the blessing of the waters invoked, and I took the child in my arms and immersed him in the cold, dark waters.
At which point my brother lunged forward with a look of abject terror on his face, as I raised the sputtering child. Three times he was plunged into the dark depths and lifted into the light in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And my brother saw that his firstborn son was not sputtering, he was laughing, giggling, burbling with joy, with pure, utter joy! That day he acquired the kingdom of heaven that has no end. And, by the way, so did my brother.
But, there is a reason why the lectionary begins this day with the description of the very beginning and the dark chaos when the wa-ters covered the face of the earth, and then God brings forth -- Light!
Today we celebrate “God’s will to flood the entire world” with Light. We celebrate God’s will to bring each and every creature out of chaos, out of darkness, out of the depths, loosed from bind-ings into the light of life and love and freedom lived in God.
That is what we celebrate today and every time a person comes through the waters of baptism into the light of a life lived in God. [and that is what is going to happen with these 3 young children who will be baptized today.]
+ + +
James Weldon Johnson says that before God started creation, eve-rything was “Blacker than a hundred midnights/ down in the cypress swamp.”
Have you ever visited that dark place? I have. I have even inhabited it -- for quite some time. So did Jesus. In a time of wondering and confusion, his wandering brought him to the bank of the river where he was drawn into the dark, swirling waters, in the midst of the chaos of humanity drawn there for the same reasons. Down he went into the water, plunged by John under the waters, and lifted up into the light of God’s presence, now knowing that he was God’s Beloved Child.
Herbert O”Driscoll has told the story this way:
“And so he came to the place, a stranger as all Galileans were in this hot blazing valley leading to the Dead Sea. Their eyes met and the longing for certainty in Jesus eyes is mirrored by the ambiva¬lence in John's. … they move into the water...
“When he comes up from that transitory burial under the water, it seems as if his world ignites and shines with validation and certainty. He is right! The journey has brought him home! Wave upon wave of peace and wholeness descend on him, calming, resolving, dovelike. Thundering in his consciousness are the intimations of the truth about himself and his vocation. He feels the affirmation and the terror of being in the presence of him by whom he is called My Son, my Beloved.”
A short three years later, he again found himself in that dark place when he was in the Garden at Gethsemane. Darkness and chaos and the evil powers of the world surrounded him, and he ques-tioned, he agonized, over all that he had held so dear, for which he had labored so hard, given so much, travelled so far.
And again, from that darkness he was lifted up, high upon the cross, so that you and I and all who come to God in some sem-blance of faith, with some miniscule modicum of hope, but who come nevertheless – he was lifted up so that we can live in the light of God’s kingdom. Now He lives in the presence of God, He reigns in the kingdom of God, and He lives in the hearts of God’s people.
+ + +
Before God’s Incarnation, before God’s Epiphany, the world was sunk in deep darkness, and so it is again in our day and time. I will not afflict you with a litany of the darkness of the world today. You know it well. You live it, too. You contend against it, too. You want to rise from, as well. It is ever before us on CNN and the nightly news: local, national, and international. We know it in our neighborhoods, in our circle of friends, in our families, in our own selves. Darkness abounds. Darkness abides, Darkness would cling to us forever.
It seems to me that from the very beginning of beginnings, and from our own beginning coming through the waters of birth and the darkness of the birth canal into the light of life, from before time and forever, the journey toward light has begun in darkness.
But we don’t have to live there. It doesn’t have to end there.
What we read of Jesus’ baptism; what we observe in the baptism of an infant; what we dream of in those long night hours is true. God is in this life. God’s spirit is upon us. God’s love is constant. God’s power is ours. And God has given us a reason, a purpose, a life to be lived.
It is possible to live in this life, missing the light of God, missing the presence of God, missing the empowering, comforting Word of God's love, missing the light of God’s love. It was possible for Jesus to have stayed in Nazareth; he didn't have to go down to the Jordan.
We have those choices, too. We can decide to stay in our anxiety, to stay in our ambivalences, to remain trapped in uncertainties, to live in darkness. Or we can decide to leave our Nazareth, and make ourselves available to the word, the light, the love of God and to let God’s spirit work in us.
All of us are, each of us is, Beloved of God – the God in whose love and by whose power shown to us in Jesus – life can be lived, purpose can be discovered, hope can be found, and love can be known.
As the Orthodox liturgy affirms, “… we have acquired the king-dom of heaven: indeed, the kingdom of heaven that has no end.”
Amen. And amen. And amen.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
The Feast of the Epiphany Observed
Sunday January 4, 2009
The Cathedral Church of the Nativity
The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa
Matthew 2:1-12
At my house, the star that shines atop my Christmas tree has been dimmed! How quickly we have taken the journey of ritual that by its very definition as ritual invites us into an opportunity to become aware of God’s presence in our lives as miracle, hope, light, justice, peace. Our journey has led us from the expectant waiting in darkness to the rejoicing of God’s promise in flesh! The rituals of songs, prayers, symbols we participate in through our church year cycle bring awareness to my soul of my God who is my Companion, lover, friend, and strength.
The Christmas tree is my nod to the adoption of pagan symbolism and ritual into my own spiritual life. The Christmas tree that bore the light of a star on top of it, in the corner of my living room has now become a fainted symbol. The star, once beautifully and brightly lighted atop of that tree has come down. The victim of a golden retriever’s curiosity and wicked tail, the star could not survive the fourth tumble of the season to the floor. The needles of a dried out tree and a broken bulb signaled perhaps it would be best to remove the tree. The tree removed indeed and not lost on me is the reality that with the removal comes full recognition that in such simple symbolic things is great investment of emotion! The excitement of the promise of God’s hope and light is wrapped up in such symbols for me! I hate to take down a Christmas tree because it indicates to me the end of the full immersion in the season that leads us from our great expectations as we wait in darkness to the hope and promise of God’s “Emmanuel”! It was not lost on me that as I removed a broken star from the top of a dead Christmas tree, recognizing the removal of such also indicates the transitions that occur in my home! Back to school, back to the regular rhythms of work schedules, school schedules. That “special time” of rejoicing with family and friends, giving way now to the regular rhythms of our daily lives! But more than that, it was not lost on me the challenges of our spiritual journey in a difficult world as I also listened as CNN described yet one more unfortunate chapter of Middle East violence and dis-ease! The contrast of the promises of the season with the events all too familiar unfolding once again before all of us! When? When O Lord will we glimpse the fullness of your promise? Arise, Shine, your light has come, the prophet announces to us! “The glory of the Lord has risen upon you, nations shall come to your light!” O Come, O Come Emmanuel! Be with us God of peace, of compassion, of Reconciliation! Surely, the symbol of star I pick up from my living room floor is a star that leads the people he has made to the potentiality of something different than one more chapter of violence and despair! Shall we put away our things from this season, count it as over, and move on?
Not so fast! Let’s live into the fullness of the ritual that is set before us! The star on top of my Christmas tree may be dimmed but a star is followed today curiously by three strangers of the East, who catch a glimpse of it! This is the Epiphany journey we are invited to follow today! This is a story for the poet’s heart, the artists rendering! Our primary actors in this story today are in the scriptures nameless! Who might they be? Visitors Matthew tells us, Magoi! Though scholars throughout the years have tried to decipher just who these Magoi might be, “magician’s, or Zoroastrian Priests, it seems a reasonable conclusion that these “wise men” of the East at the least dabbled in astrology, and capturing a glimpse of the skies find themselves on a journey toward something clearly compelling enough to warrant a plan of action to embark on this journey!
Most importantly for Matthew’s Gospel, they are gentiles, and their recognition of this new born “King” tells us of God’s plan of salvation for all of the world and sets the stage for the drama that Matthew desires to tell of those within Israel struggling to accept the fullness of God’s Kingdom promise and God’s longing to shine a light of salvation for all of the world!
The scriptures do not tell us who these men are, but Christian tradition would name them, Melchior, king of Persia, Gaspar, King of India, and Balthazar, King of Arabia! Their following of this star would lead them to the presence of a new King, unlike any they had ever encountered! They would bring gifts worthy of a King, Gold of course! Frankincense and Myrrh, fragrance and oil worthy for the anointing of a King!
The promise that lies under this star is unlike any other King these brave travelers would know! This promise is clothed in humility and would stand in stark contrast to the “powers of oppression and abuse” of worldly monarchs, and instead declare a Monarchy whose powers would seek to transform a world through the powerful tools of forgiveness, reconciliation, and compassion! These powers are a far cry from missiles of provocation and devastation, and ground assaults of doom and blood.
And so it is for us! Our ritual pulls us into the fullness of what lies under the star! Particularly as the symbols of the season are slowly packed away and the world continues to present its challenges to another way of living, perhaps Epiphany is the ritual that rightly leads us with certainty back into our daily lives! THE EPIPHANY is God manifesting God’s light and goodness in the world through us. We stand in stark contrast to the darkness of the world and know that peace and reconciliation begins in an individual’s heart. Who full of God’s presence finds their fingers on a trigger? Who full of God’s presence finds in themselves an order for missile attacks? Who full of God’s presence can help but respond to violence with prayers and pleas for peace?
Lest we put away too quickly the symbols and rituals that invite us to the “isness” of God, let us become actors in this Epiphany drama! Like our main actors in this drama, shall we be compelled to follow a star? Let us bring gifts to the one we find there. Let us discover in our following that perhaps the gifts we bring are the same gifts given to us: forgiveness, reconciliation, and compassion.
Sunday January 4, 2009
The Cathedral Church of the Nativity
The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa
Matthew 2:1-12
At my house, the star that shines atop my Christmas tree has been dimmed! How quickly we have taken the journey of ritual that by its very definition as ritual invites us into an opportunity to become aware of God’s presence in our lives as miracle, hope, light, justice, peace. Our journey has led us from the expectant waiting in darkness to the rejoicing of God’s promise in flesh! The rituals of songs, prayers, symbols we participate in through our church year cycle bring awareness to my soul of my God who is my Companion, lover, friend, and strength.
The Christmas tree is my nod to the adoption of pagan symbolism and ritual into my own spiritual life. The Christmas tree that bore the light of a star on top of it, in the corner of my living room has now become a fainted symbol. The star, once beautifully and brightly lighted atop of that tree has come down. The victim of a golden retriever’s curiosity and wicked tail, the star could not survive the fourth tumble of the season to the floor. The needles of a dried out tree and a broken bulb signaled perhaps it would be best to remove the tree. The tree removed indeed and not lost on me is the reality that with the removal comes full recognition that in such simple symbolic things is great investment of emotion! The excitement of the promise of God’s hope and light is wrapped up in such symbols for me! I hate to take down a Christmas tree because it indicates to me the end of the full immersion in the season that leads us from our great expectations as we wait in darkness to the hope and promise of God’s “Emmanuel”! It was not lost on me that as I removed a broken star from the top of a dead Christmas tree, recognizing the removal of such also indicates the transitions that occur in my home! Back to school, back to the regular rhythms of work schedules, school schedules. That “special time” of rejoicing with family and friends, giving way now to the regular rhythms of our daily lives! But more than that, it was not lost on me the challenges of our spiritual journey in a difficult world as I also listened as CNN described yet one more unfortunate chapter of Middle East violence and dis-ease! The contrast of the promises of the season with the events all too familiar unfolding once again before all of us! When? When O Lord will we glimpse the fullness of your promise? Arise, Shine, your light has come, the prophet announces to us! “The glory of the Lord has risen upon you, nations shall come to your light!” O Come, O Come Emmanuel! Be with us God of peace, of compassion, of Reconciliation! Surely, the symbol of star I pick up from my living room floor is a star that leads the people he has made to the potentiality of something different than one more chapter of violence and despair! Shall we put away our things from this season, count it as over, and move on?
Not so fast! Let’s live into the fullness of the ritual that is set before us! The star on top of my Christmas tree may be dimmed but a star is followed today curiously by three strangers of the East, who catch a glimpse of it! This is the Epiphany journey we are invited to follow today! This is a story for the poet’s heart, the artists rendering! Our primary actors in this story today are in the scriptures nameless! Who might they be? Visitors Matthew tells us, Magoi! Though scholars throughout the years have tried to decipher just who these Magoi might be, “magician’s, or Zoroastrian Priests, it seems a reasonable conclusion that these “wise men” of the East at the least dabbled in astrology, and capturing a glimpse of the skies find themselves on a journey toward something clearly compelling enough to warrant a plan of action to embark on this journey!
Most importantly for Matthew’s Gospel, they are gentiles, and their recognition of this new born “King” tells us of God’s plan of salvation for all of the world and sets the stage for the drama that Matthew desires to tell of those within Israel struggling to accept the fullness of God’s Kingdom promise and God’s longing to shine a light of salvation for all of the world!
The scriptures do not tell us who these men are, but Christian tradition would name them, Melchior, king of Persia, Gaspar, King of India, and Balthazar, King of Arabia! Their following of this star would lead them to the presence of a new King, unlike any they had ever encountered! They would bring gifts worthy of a King, Gold of course! Frankincense and Myrrh, fragrance and oil worthy for the anointing of a King!
The promise that lies under this star is unlike any other King these brave travelers would know! This promise is clothed in humility and would stand in stark contrast to the “powers of oppression and abuse” of worldly monarchs, and instead declare a Monarchy whose powers would seek to transform a world through the powerful tools of forgiveness, reconciliation, and compassion! These powers are a far cry from missiles of provocation and devastation, and ground assaults of doom and blood.
And so it is for us! Our ritual pulls us into the fullness of what lies under the star! Particularly as the symbols of the season are slowly packed away and the world continues to present its challenges to another way of living, perhaps Epiphany is the ritual that rightly leads us with certainty back into our daily lives! THE EPIPHANY is God manifesting God’s light and goodness in the world through us. We stand in stark contrast to the darkness of the world and know that peace and reconciliation begins in an individual’s heart. Who full of God’s presence finds their fingers on a trigger? Who full of God’s presence finds in themselves an order for missile attacks? Who full of God’s presence can help but respond to violence with prayers and pleas for peace?
Lest we put away too quickly the symbols and rituals that invite us to the “isness” of God, let us become actors in this Epiphany drama! Like our main actors in this drama, shall we be compelled to follow a star? Let us bring gifts to the one we find there. Let us discover in our following that perhaps the gifts we bring are the same gifts given to us: forgiveness, reconciliation, and compassion.
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