Feb 18, 2018 - Lent I

The Cathedral Church of the Nativity

Sunday February 18, 2018

Sermon: The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa

I Lent    Mark 1:9-15

The author of Mark’s gospel cuts to the chase. “The Kingdom of God has come has come near.”  The biblical commentaries remind us that 14 times, Mark references this Kingdom; telling us of its coming, describing its nature, attributing to whom it belongs, and impediments to its entry.  What we are to “get” the “reign” or “Kingship” of God is not understood as place but as Power. Power! It is God’s willful power to put right all that is wrong in the world.  This “invasion” if you will into the world, into our time, into our space, into our moment is found active in Jesus himself!

The author of Mark cuts to the chase.  Jesus is baptized, God is on the move. The heavens open, God names for those to hear, this is my son my beloved.  The one who brings Power to make all things right.

42 times Mark uses the word immediately, helping us to know that God’s power is on the move. Immediately the Spirit drives Jesus out into the wilderness, which translates as “threw out”.  Unlike the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, where we see a more intimate dialogue between Satan and Jesus, where Jesus the Kingdom bearer is tempted by the standards of the world, Power, Money, Selfishness; we see in Mark that Satan is at work always in battle against the heavenly Kingdom that seeks to make the wrong right.

You and I know that as I speak these words about God’s power that seeks to make right in the world what is wrong, that again we gather brokenhearted. It is almost as if there are no more words left, no more tears in us; that despair might could win the day. It is almost as if a whole new definition of anger must be created. I speak of course again as we stand in the shadow of another act of senseless violence. We seem impotent or paralyzed to do anything about it.

With Jesus in the wilderness it seems as if the tempter would have us run to places of “either “or” positions regarding the complexity of the sin that has aligned for these repeated (and they are repeated, we are even arguing about that), acts of violence. Gun control, mental health, social deconstruction, If only God were back in schools.  Indeed, here we are in the wilderness, Satan seeks to tear us apart.

I am so mindful this day as we prepare for our Spaghetti Supper tonight. A night so valued in this congregation’s life. A gift given to us by our young people in support of the Camp where so many young lives have been touched, empowered and transformed. I am mindful of one of the young victims of this week’s shooting, Cameron Schentrup who was a leader Episcopal Church youth group. Who the night before the shooting was making pancakes at the parish pancake supper, serving, praying, and laughing just as our kids do here now. I am so mindful of my conversation with my daughter the night after the shooting, after a day in school where she named the nervous tension among fellow students and faculty in her school, a real-time cloud of sadness and fear like a pall over their day.  We can do better friends.

But we can do better. We will do better. WE can claim what has been given us that is a power working in us that can do infinitely more than we can ever dream or imagine. We can Love First! We can turn our hearts and minds. We can repent of our incessant selfishness and sinful propensity to run hard to politicized ideologies where Satan would have us assault one another even as the innocents are dying.

WE can do better, we will do better. We can believe, trust, that God’s Power can drive us together to find a common ground and a common working to make right what is wrong in this world.  Our children living in fear in our schools is not right. All of us I believe agree.

We can do better, we will do better. Let us take the lead. Followers of Jesus.  Let’s find a better way. Let’s talk to one another, let’s pray together, and let us please take action together.  We can follow our Bishop’s lead by working together in our communities and with our lawmakers for common sense laws regarding assault weapons.  (Visit episcopalchurch.org) We can support our educators by talking with them, gaining their perspective, asking them what they need.  We can mentor in local schools where we may bring hope and some presence to a young person who needs a little love a little help. We can engage with mental health professionals and begin again a conversation about mental health services to those who need it. We can quite frankly just get to know our neighbors. Build community where perhaps community needs be built.  We can do better, we will do better. We can resist the bait on social media to be forced even in our own minds and hearts to positions that tear apart and do not build up.

The author of Mark cuts to the chase. Jesus emerges from this time in the wilderness with the tempter, arrives on scene, and makes the announcement. Like the announcement at an epic wrestling event, “Let’s get ready to rumble”, Jesus proclaims, The Kingdom of God has come near, Repent, and believe in the Good news”.  Repentance, Metanoia, is to turn ourselves, our mind and our hearts toward God, to “believe” in the good news that God’s reign invades to make right in the world what Satan would have otherwise, is to Trust. “Pistis” the Greek, is to trust in the gut God’s power. To allow God’s Spirit to carry you through the turbulence of what may come your way, to “believe” trust, that God’s power can forgive the darkest and most painful of what is in us to forgive, that God can and will fetch us when we stray so very far away, that God’s power can overcome diabolical powers we seem helpless to control, that God’s  very nature and deepest desire is to restore us, and to hold so tightly, embracing us as if we have returned from a distant journey or having survived a harrowing experience only to be met with Love.

January 28, 2018

The Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, PA

Sunday January 28, 2018

Sermon: The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa

Mark 1:21-28

Why does he do what he does?

For whom does he speak?

Who has authorized his ministry?

Who is this guy and why does he matter?

Imagine if you will, being part of a first century audience, gathering to hear a great and true story being told in the city center by the greatest of story tellers. Imagine if you will the story just in its beginnings, opening with a splendid fight scene. A story of an unknown underdog, stepping into the ring with a powerful and seemingly unbeatable enemy.

Here is the story of Mark. The story of Jesus and this Kingdom Jesus is born to bring and fight for.

The scene is a synagogue in Capernaum, a place like this, a place of prayer, teaching, and worship, the least expected place for a fight.  But there is one.

A man with an unclean spirit finds Jesus, and sensing perhaps he is about to meet his match, or perhaps a sense of arrogance, he asks Jesus, “What are you up to Jesus?” “Have you come to destroy us?”  “We know who you are”.  Some suggest perhaps a nuance in Mark’s gospel that goes like this, “Are you picking this fight Jesus”?   “Can’t you just leave well enough alone, others have”?  “We know who you are and what you can do”.

This is a one rounder, Jesus and the Kingdom Jesus represents acts quickly and with authority. The evil that bounds, that possesses, that limits this man’s freedom is cast out and told to be quiet. It is hushed. We do not know where that evil goes, we are told that it is silenced and the man free.

A remarkable story then, for those gathered in the city center listening to the story teller tell it. The teller invites the listener then to the questions provoked about Jesus through those characters within.  For those witnessing Jesus actions ask basically these questions.

Why does he do what he does?

For whom does he speak?

Who has authorized his ministry?

Who is this guy and why does he matter?

The answers to these questions will emerge throughout Jesus ministry. The answers will emerge through conflicts and confrontations as Jesus authority (exousia), presence, word, and deeds will threaten all forces that claim authority over people’s lives.  This includes Caesar and the government that occupies and oppresses, those members of the religious establishment who abuse and use the religious laws of the day to incarcerate spirits rather than liberate them. It includes the forces at play in everyday life, hunger, illness, despair, “demons that oppress”, prejudice, fear, and ultimately even death itself.

Imagine now the storyteller is here, today in this place. What could be next? What will we see and hear of this Jesus next? Look for it and for him this day and this week and perhaps in your own life and the world you inhabit ask these questions.

Why does he do what he does?

For whom does he speak?

Who has authorized his ministry?

Who is this guy and why does it matter? 

January 21, 2018

The Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, PA

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Sermon: The Ven. Richard I. Cluett

Mark 1:14-20

I was wondering this week is you have ever been confused or disappointed by God, if you have ever been disappointed in God. Or how about the Bible. You ever been confused or disappointed in or by the scriptures? Or have you maybe had some down times when you have been disappointed that your relationship with God didn’t go the way you thought it would or should? Have you had sometimes when your trust and faith became somewhat tenuous? You weren’t so sure any more. There seemed to be no proof in the pudding, as it were? I have!

Take for an example, today’s gospel reading. I find it confusing and disturbing that in these past weeks we have become used to the Power and Glory of God at work in the world. We have heard and read of such things as the miraculous pregnancy of Elizabeth, the announcement that Mary carries the Son of the Most High, Mary’s powerful hymn describing what this means for the powers of the world, as well as the least powerful of the world. The birth of Jesus, the presentation of Jesus to the world represented by the 3 wise visitors, the naming of Jesus, the baptism of Jesus – in all of these the presence and power of God are clear, obvious, and palpable – you can almost feel God near – in your bones and in your spirit.

But today we hear of the death of John the Baptist, and we hear Jesus proclaim the presence of God’s kingdom and his calling a very few disciples to join him. No angelic or archangelic voices, no clear voice of God. No John. Just Jesus and some followers are left. That’s it. One might call it a rather inauspicious beginning of a kingdom, much less a movement.

Something else that is a little out of sync for me is the call of those disciples. Jesus called – and they just picked up a left – everything – immediately. Did you think that was a little extraordinary? Now, I have never been “slain in the Spirit.” Jesus has never appeared before me to invite me, nor has Jesus knocked me off my horse, to ask why I was not following him.

When I was aware of Jesus calling me, I thought both he and I were mistaken. That would never happen, not if you know what I know about me. And when the niggling whisper became an insistent call, my response was not immediate, to say the least.

What I do know is that each of us is here today because we have been called by God to follow Jesus. If your response was an immediate, “Yes, Lord, I believe and I will follow”, what a blessing for you. My years of experience being with followers of Jesus is that Jesus had to pursue most of us. Many of us more than once. He was the Hound of Heaven at our heels, until we were overtaken, overcome, and wanted to willingly, even pleadingly ready to say, “Yes, Lord, I believe and I will follow”.

Theologian Karl Barth once wrote that Simon, Andrew, James, and John are “elected to discipleship simply through the fact that Jesus claims them.” In other words, it was not about them, it was about Jesus. Like it or not, our place is with Jesus. It is in the mind and heart of God to have it so. Jesus claims us therefore we are disciples.

It is kind of like that car dealer who says in his ads, “You may not have known it, but I have always been your car dealer.” You may not have known it, but Jesus had already claimed you as brother, sister, disciple, and more. We had to, at some time, and have to today decide whether or not to claim Jesus.

It is clear from today’s reading that a lot depends on Jesus and his disciples. The powers of the world did their most heinous worst when they killed John, a righteous and good man. It was now up to Jesus and those who are with him to be signs that this is God’s kingdom, here and now in whatever era or generation we have been placed. Clearly the stakes are high.

And it is no wonder that we demur, that we equivocate, that we delay, that we are suddenly distracted by urgent other business. And therefore, Jesus must wait for us to claim him, too, but of course in our own good time.

The first time I left home, I was 14. It was the most difficult thing I had ever had to do. I boarded a train to go to boarding school 100 miles from home. My choice, my desire, but still very, very hard. When our son left home at 18 to go into the army, there were 3 very emotional, anxious people with tears in their eyes. It is always hard to turn from what we have known, loved, counted on, found comforted in and to enter into a new way, a new future, a new purpose.

John Calvin wrote that “God called rough mechanics like Simon, Andrew, James, and John in order to show that none are called by virtue of his or her own talents or excellences. Like those disciples who misunderstood and failed Jesus at every turn, we too are sinners in need of forgiveness… Like them, we sinners, despite our failings, are slowly being formed into followers of Christ. Like them we are called not to the enjoyment of a private salvation but to a public vocation.”

As warm and comforting as those Advent and Christmas readings are, God comes in Jesus into the real world, to claim real people, to give love to real people, to heal a very real world – and all of it in need of repentance, forgiveness, merciful healing and loving Grace. We forget that those readings earlier include the slaughter of innocent children, an escape across the desert into Egypt, and more real world danger, degradation and desperation than we could possibly imagine.

And so here we are, you and I, today called by Jesus, claimed by Jesus as God’s beloved, and presented with this very real world we have been born into that is in sore need of the awareness of God’s presence, the righteousness of God’s judgement, the acceptance of God’s love and mercy, and the repentance that will lead us all deeper into being the Kingdom of God.

That is what Jesus proclaimed after the death of John. That is what he called those fishermen to. Like them, we too are called to trust him, trust his message, leave behind what we must and follow him. And we are called by him to do that today and tomorrow and all our days. He will be with us wherever we go and in whatever we do, and he has given us this wonderful community to be with us.

Feast of the Epiphany

The Cathedral Church of the Nativity

Feast of the Epiphany

Homily

The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa

Sunday January 7, 2018

“When they had heard the king, they set out, and there ahead of them, went the star they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.”

There you know our story goes, these “wise men” who traveled from the East, following a star which they had discerned would lead them to something, someone, worthy of a King’s homage. These wise men, would navigate their way past the single most ominous threat to the promise of this new Kingdom reign as they worked their way around Herod, the puppet King, who had no interest in any potential threat to his power.  There these men, having been guided by a star, would indeed pay homage, and bring offerings, Gold Frankincense, and Myrrh.

Perhaps the greatest gift these three “wise guys” bring in our story is that which Scripture uses to define them. Wisdom.  They had the sense, not all that common, for who would just follow a star for miles and miles, but the sense to be guided by a star, sent their way by God.

Today, as we observe this Feast of Epiphany, I wonder, what stars has God sent you in your life?  Who have been the stars or pointed to a star that has guided your path?  Those people or circumstances that you may have had the sense, common or uncommon to have found help in navigating you away from those “Herod” like things that perhaps sought  to disrupt, destroy or overcome. Those who helped point your attention to something more than the temptations to go down a road where maybe you struggled with alcohol or drugs, or an unhealthy relationship, or idolizing money or other things. I wonder today if we could just pause for a moment and think of those who Grace working through, pointed us to a Star that re-kindled our dreams, or showed us the way home, or Loved us when we were utterly unlovable, or just listened to us when no one else would, Or even those who hit us in the noggin with a two by four and told us to “wise up” and get our act together.


When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.    “Wise Guys”.