Author: Rosemary Lovelace

Christmas Day – George Yandell

C. S. Lewis always liked to say that God has a way of making straight paths into crooked lines.   

Sometimes when meeting folks who are unfamiliar with the life of the church or its ministry, it might help us to repeat this mantra: “You know—most of us are just not able to schedule a crisis.” That seems so true of our lives, whatever ‘crisis’ we might face- a crisis of illness and death, or the crisis of unexpected joy and good fortune; we simply cannot schedule what eventually shapes a great deal of our lives. Our life of faith is about seeking and accepting the unseen hand of God when it moves, and accepting the uncertainty of where it may lead us.   

I imagine ‘crisis’ was very much on the minds of Joseph and Mary as they fulfilled their state obligations of census and taxes on the road to Bethlehem. Has it ever been easy to schedule the birth of a child? (Unless you plan an induced delivery).

In those weeks that would become our first Advent, on that night that would become our first Christmas, I’d guess that Joseph and Mary might have thought or uttered the word “crisis,” either under their breath or in the depth of their hearts. “What in God’s name is going to happen next?”   

The unseen hand of heaven was moving through their lives, all the tables turning, and they had no way of knowing how or where things might end. No way to make a market forecast. No real plan B or C, except to hang on for dear life, and bed down where the Lord might make a place for them– a stable, a manger, unknown surroundings filled with nothing but God’s promise, and ultimately God’s love.   

One of the most powerful insights C. S. Lewis ever shared is that all of Western history—all of its wars, its art, its music, its literature; the great cathedrals of Europe, the Sistine Chapel, the discovery of America, the rise and fall of kings, tyrants, and governments—all have hinged on the simple beauty of a girl saying her prayers.   

A young woman at prayer has shaped the world we have inherited, the world we share, and the world we give to our children. That young woman is Mary, and the prayer she offers is one of faith, courage, and hope in the face of what for her, and for Joseph, must have been a “crisis.”   

In what “best of all possible worlds” would a young woman ever desire to have her child born on the road, in the back of a garage, in the presence of a man who was not actually the father of her child? And yet, it is Mary’s crisis, it is her faithfulness, that opens another doorway to how we live our lives and the history that we build and share on our journey.  

Mary holding her baby in a stable, in a garage, is one of the reasons that we know God has compassion on those who suffer uncertainty and tragedy in life; because that is how Christ himself enters the world—in the midst of the worst of all possible circumstances. The baby who arrives in Bethlehem is not on the world’s schedule; He is the unexpected guest. This baby is the crisis none could foresee, but whom everyone ultimately will desire and need.  

If we are traveling the crooked lines hoping to make a straight journey, God travels with us. God comes to guide, encourage, laugh with us. God comes to weep with us, and dry our tears. God knows, from the inside-out of a crisis, what it means to take the detours as we make our way home. 

Be at peace, my friends, the King of Peace was born into our uncertainties so that we might know the certainty of his love. God is with us.   

(Adapted frm the Very Rev. Alston B. Johnson, St. Mark’s, Shreveport, LA, as reprinted in the Anglican Digest, Autumn 2013.)

Christmas Eve – George Yandell

I saw this logo in Advent a few years ago, on the sign at Grace Presbyterian Church in Dawsonville- I think it most appropriate for the season: “A long, long time ago in a Galilee far, far away…”  

Have you ever had any disruptions at Christmas? Any family mistakes? I can remember when I was 10, my uncle Larry came up missing just as 14 of our family members sat down around the festive dinner table. He always cut the turkey while it was still hot, standing at the head of the table. My aunt said, “Where’s Larry?” My cousin Nancy said, “He’s taking a shower.” Turns out my uncle had had a libation or two, and lost track of time. We all laughed while the turkey got cold and we waited for his shower to end. Any of you have any other mistakes or disruptions at Christmas?  

You just heard the story in Luke of how Mary and Joseph had major hurdles and disruptions in getting to Bethlehem. They had to obey the decree of the Roman Emperor to go to the husband’s hometown to be registered in the census. It is @ 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, through mountainous territory, and around or through Jerusalem, the major city. Nazareth was up in the hill country, away from culture and high living. We’d call it the sticks, the backwoods.  Sort of like Jasper is to Atlanta. Mary was very close to giving birth. When they got to the little suburb of Bethlehem after difficult travel, they had to bed down in a lean-to manger. Mary gave birth in a hay-bed and laid Jesus in a feed trough. Joseph must have been incredibly anxious.   

A few things come clear in the story- Mary and Joseph were poor, and they were law-abiding, observant Jews.  Roman legions occupied their homeland. They had to camp out where Jesus was born. They had no helpers, no attendants at the birth.   

And then shepherds were led to the manger by angels. Shepherds, of all people- looked down on by everyone as ragged, uncouth, and dirty. The angels terrified the shepherds. But they followed the angels’ instructions. They made it to the hay-bed stall and were the first to find Mary, Joseph and Jesus. They babbled to Mary and Joseph what the angels had told them, that Jesus was the Messiah, the long-awaited savior for the world. Their disruption from guarding the sheep and finding their way to Bethlehem made public the news of Jesus. Mary treasured all they’d said, and pondered them.   

This is not a story about smooth sailing. It tells us of barely making it, of getting by with nothing. With other poor, cast-off people bearing the incredible news of Jesus’ birth. The days were fulfilled, the gospel says. “To perfect, complete, finish- to reach a goal, be fulfilled, be completed, made perfect.” [From Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance]  

There’s more in the story than initially seems. The word fulfilled doesn’t just mean Mary’s time had come to deliver Jesus. It means this event is the perfection of God’s intent. Out of disruption and chaos comes completion- the goal is reached.  

I know of another Christmas with disruptions and upset. Maybe you’ve heard the story. It appears that a newly established parish of St. Nicholas-in-Oberndorf, Germany faced having Christmas without music in 1818. The organ had broken down. On December 24, the assistant priest Joseph Mohr brought a text he’d written to Franz Gruber, the acting organist. Mohr asked Gruber to set the text to a tune to be sung as a duet with guitar accompaniment and a chorus of girl’s voices. The new song was sung at the Christmas Eve service that night with the priest playing the guitar. When the repairman came to fix the organ shortly after Christmas, the song was sung to him and he spread the song through the region in the following years.   

The song was introduced to the U.S. by the Renner family, a group of folksingers who toured the country in 1827. Silent Night now appears in many languages throughout the world. It has become an essential part of Christmas celebrations everywhere. [Adapted from the Hymnal 1982 Companion, Vol. 3 A, pp. 110-112, Raymond Glover, Editor, 1994, The Church Hymnal Corporation.]   

We will sing it at the end of the service, with candles lighted, and recall how Silent Night has become a universal song for Christmas observers.   

The mystery of the birth of Jesus, captured in a disrupted moment, with a simple priest and church musician, working to fulfill the worshipers’ needs without their normal resources. Sounds like Mary and Joseph with the shepherds, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s the message for us- Christmas is a disruptive time, in the best sense. From difficulty comes fulfillment.  From a hay-bed perfection is born. That might be our prayer this Christmas, mightn’t it? And as we pray it, we can realize we are part of the holy family- we’re witnesses to Jesus’ birth and we’re in his kinship group. Don’t you know that’s why Bp. Judson Child wanted to name our parish Holy Family? Not just to recall Mary, Joseph and Jesus, but to include us as part of that family.   

I want to close with a poem: “A Prayer for Christmas Morning”  

The day of joy returns, Father in Heaven, and crowns another year with peace and good will.  

Help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men.  

Close the doors of hate and open the doors of love all over the world.  

Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.  

Deliver us from evil, by the blessing that Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts.  

May Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and Christmas evening bring us to our bed with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.  

By Robert Louis Stevenson

Advent IV – George Yandell

As you heard the gospel reading, it sounded and felt most familiar, didn’t it? Nothing new here- Luke’s story has been adapted into millions of Christmas pageants over the centuries. Many of us have been in those pageants. Boys wearing bathrobes, girls with scarves draped over their heads. Baby Jesus in a straw-filled imitation manger.  

Reading Luke’s birth narrative beside Matthew’s, a number of differences and features become clear:

Luke barely mentions Joseph- he is almost invisible. Mary is the central character. Women play much more prominent roles.  

Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah are childless. She conceives a child late in life, John the Baptizer. As wonderful as her conception is, her role when she sees her relative Mary is that of a prophetess. She understands and celebrates Mary’s secret. She praises Mary, blessing her because of her child to come and because Mary responded with faith to the angel’s message. [Adapted from the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, volume 2.]  

Divine conceptions in the ancient world were fairly common- great figures were often spoken of this way- Caesar Augustus was called the son of the Divine Julius Caesar, thus Son of a God.  

Gabriel was sent by God the Creator to Nazareth- a small Jewish settlement of @ 200-400 residents. It was atop an upward climb on winding footpaths. The slopes approaching Nazareth were ideal for growing grapes and olives. The dwellings were made of stacked fieldstones with thatched roofs. [This description from Excavating Jesus, Crossan and Reed, 2001, HarperCollins, pp. 32-34.] All of the other divine births were of people with wealth, stature. The birth of Jesus was not. His family was living under Roman occupation, way off the grid, in poverty.  

Conception by human-divine interaction was accepted by most everyone in the 1st century- it was a cultural given. It was a mysterious affair. And it was the destiny of those born from those mysterious interactions to be world-shakers. So the songs and prophecies that developed after Jesus birth, death and resurrection told the truth.  

As we now move into Christmastide, this is my prayer for us and all those across the globe who are now witnesses of Jesus’ birth: Let us be Elizabeths to our world- praise Mary, who said ‘yes’ to God’s angel- and let it be to us according to the Word of God.  

Advent 3B – George Yandell

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us.” This is the beginning of the collect for the third Sunday of Advent in our prayer book. It dates from the late 8^th century. John the Baptist is the great stirrer, the great agitator in the gospel reading today.  

There were two movements in Galilee in the 3^rd decade of the 1^st century. Both were intensifications of Jewish belief and practice. First came the baptizing movement of John the Baptist, then came the Kingdom movement of Jesus. Some would say they together make up the hinge point in the history of salvation.   

John was possessed. Possessed by God’s wild urging to say it all before time ran out. He knew in his core that God was coming. He felt deep empathy with God and rage at everyone’s insensitivity to God’s prophetic word.  As he stood knee-deep in the Jordan, he railed out, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” People came from far and wide, heard and believed John. Some scholars state that it was through John’s ministry that Jesus perceived the nearness of the kingdom of God and Jesus’ own relation to it. For Jesus, John is the beginning of the Good News, the Gospel.    

John’s legacy of powerful confrontation is dimmed now by our hearing and re-hearing his call to repent. Every Sunday we acknowledge before God and one another that we are unworthy followers of John and Jesus. Yet we elude the conversion to which John points. In the 3^rd century, St. Theognostos spoke these words: ‘We shall not be punished or condemned because we have sinned. But we shall be punished if, after sinning, we did not repent and turn from our evil ways to the Lord; for we have been given power to repent, as well as the time in which to do so.”  

I think though, you and I are insulated Christians. We can stay warm and separate from threats like John’s. But we better look closely- our insulation is keeping not only the poor and wretched at arm’s length, but the Messiah as well.  

That’s the real message John brought. But I have a hunch- I doubt John really knew who he was preparing for. John answered the authorities when they questioned him, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”  

This is the season of imagination and curiosity. It is like a group of people standing on a street corner looking up for an object that is not yet seen or identified, but nevertheless intuited, longer for, somehow expected to arrive. Like the people in the beginning of the old Superman serial on TV- “Look, in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…….” In other words, we are in a season of hope, a season when faith is turned toward the future- God’s future- where finally grace reigns supreme.   

John harkened to Isaiah- the Spirit of God was propelling the coming of the Messiah in his own time and place- “Isaiah is talking about heaven come to earth!” It was not just a messenger God sent, it was God who would come to God’s own world. “Good news to the oppressed, binding up the brokenhearted, liberty coming to captives, prisoners set free…” John was on fire, looking for the coming one.  

Advent is for the disillusioned, the beat-up ones who look beyond their present way of life.  They know there is no health in them, nor is there any hope for a future without more of the same. Their way, their agenda has turned into a ‘house of cards.’ Advent IS for everyone, but only the people who want to change, and who turn to Christ for that change to happen- they’re the ones for whom the promise of newness of life comes true.    

When Gandhi was once asked by a reporter what was the secret to his happiness, the holy man replied, “Three words. Renounce and enjoy.” Renounce control and embrace grace. Breathe a little easier. Take yourself less seriously. Soar, and leave the results to God.   

For you and me, that’s the difference. Unlike John, we look back and see John through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. But to stand with John and look forward to a coming One of God’s own qualities, that’s what renews us. Because Jesus didn’t come once for all, and then leave- Christ comes now, again, to seek us and turn us toward God, to turn our hearts from isolated, insulated detachment. The world needs the hope for transformation that Christ’s coming begins.  

We are John. We have been commissioned for human transformation. The mission is clear- cooperate with God, stir up the world, starting right here, where we are. Stir things up so kingdom life pulses with attraction. As John so anticipated the Coming One, so must we.   

For 17 years, there is one in our midst who has reminded us again and again to minister to the disillusioned, the beat-up ones who look beyond their present way of life. Katharine is retiring today, as you know. She has been a witness beyond peer for Holy Family. We will not only miss her but will need to recall ourselves again and again to the ministries in which Katharine has led us. Katharine, my hope and prayer is that as you enter this new phase of life, you will pray for us, as I bid us pray for you. And Scott, don’t let her sneak back into serving as she has- maybe help her to learn to flyfish, cook new recipes, play more with your grandchildren. And maybe even to sleep in on Sundays. Katharine, I pray for you that like Gandhi you will renounce control and embrace grace. That you’ll breathe a little easier.  

Like John, Katharine has kept us focused on the promise that God repeatedly made- redemption happens now, especially for those on the margins, those in distress. Jesus built on John’s channeling of the great prophets before him. In a real sense, Jesus lived his ministry as deacon to the oppressed people of Galilee and Judea. Diakonia is a noun used 32 times in the New Testament and variously translated as “ministry,” “service,” “relief,” or “support.” Following Jesus and living his love is Katharine’s signature method of serving.   

At the peace [in the 10:30 service], we’ll have a simple service of recognition and appreciation for Katharine’s ministry among us and for us. It’s going to be hard to let her go.  

1st Sunday of Advent – Katharine Armentrout

Asking Questions as We Wait

The lighting of that Advent candle on the wreath creates a light of love and hope that shines into our winter darkness. That light also shines into the beginning of our liturgical year. It lights our way into Advent – the time when we prepare for the coming of the Christ child AND we prepare for the coming of Christ at the end of the age.  

You see Advent carries both meanings. Advent means that we are not just waiting for Mary and Joseph to get to Bethlehem and the birth of the Christ-child, but we are also anticipating that consummation of the promise that Jesus will come at the end of time in Great glory. As one writer said: “[Advent] is a time to reflect on the unexpected nature of Jesus’ humble birth and join in the anticipation of when he will come again to reunite Heaven and Earth once and for all.”  

The very name “Advent” comes from Latin, meaning ‘a coming’ or ‘arrival’; and its concept comes to us from the earliest time of the church, before the gospels were even written. The early church was waiting, waiting for the “parousia”- for the promised second coming of Christ. For His Advent. And it is this waiting that is the focus of our Advent season.  

Now, for those of us old enough to remember, Advent had a definite penitential overtone…a worrying, almost a dread waiting for judgment. In fact, there was a time when fasts were called for during Advent; and until relatively recently, the color for Advent was the color purple – the color we use for the penitential period of Lent.  

But the Church, and we as people of faith, have come to focus on this time as one of hope. It has become less penitential and more about a prayerful time of anticipation and preparation; the hoped-for fulfillment of God’s promises. Advent now is not so much about being penitential, or, worrying about what is to come, as it is a time to prepare, both as individuals and as a community of faith, to be ready for the arrival of Jesus and His transforming call to love and ministry.  

Thus I think we can see this time as a season of hope, a chance for new birth and a renewal of our commitments as people of faith, as we await His coming. As a symbol of that sense of hope and deep spiritual waiting, we now use Sarum blue liturgically, a color that brings us a spirit of hope and inner peace.  

So the question becomes what do we do in Advent? Do we sit and passively wait? I don’t think so. What do you do when you are waiting for someone’s arrival? You prepare. Now I don’t have to tell you that the Big Box stores have been preparing for Christmas since the beginning of October!! And it is not just retailers who are jumping the season. Coming home from the prison last Monday evening, still in the month of November, Terry and I saw many houses that already had their Christmas lights on and their Santa Claus figurines out in the front yard.  

But I think they are not only rushing the season, they are missing the very important parts of preparation – what this season is all about. Preparation is not only decorating the house, buying presents and sending out our Christmas cards. Advent offers us important time to take stock. To take stock of how we are living out our lives of faith. Getting ready for the arrival of our Lord, I think, means that we need to take the time to assess just how He will find us when He arrives. Will he find us as faithful witnesses to His love, find us at work telling His story?  

I think Jesus paints a picture of what we need to be doing while we are waiting in our Gospel this morning – Together, together as a group, we are called to care for His household while we wait. Jesus says, “When the homeowner leaves his house, he puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Keep awake.” I think Jesus is telling us that as we wait, we need to be about the tasks he has given to us as His church, and that we all need to be working together.  

In order to do that we need to look at how we are doing those tasks and how well we are using the gifts for those tasks that we have been given by the Holy Spirit.  

In other words, I think that Advent is the time when we are called to take an inventory of our faith-life. That may sound business-like but spiritual directors from earliest times have encouraged a faith-life inventory. Confession is one way to do such inventory. It is an important assessment for those of us who try to live out our baptismal promises. But confession is normally done individually. We try to look, as a friend likes to say, at “the ways we have fallen short of glory of God”.  

But I think we are also called at this time of Advent to look at ourselves as Holy Family, as Christ’s church in the community. We need to take a look at how we, Holy Family, are living out our call as witnesses to Christ’s never-failing love. I think we are called to examine how we are being “church” to our parishioners, and equally importantly, how we are being church to those in our community.…  

Paul, in most of his letters, was writing to the churches, not to individuals. It was the “church” which was to carry forward the Good News of Christ.  He counseled them on how to be church, how to carry the message of Jesus to others, and, at times, chastising them for the ways they were falling short. In other words, his letters helped the churches take a long look at their life as a community living out God’s love.   

So does Holy Family do something like that? Is there a way to take our spiritual inventory? Yes, at year’s end all the committees submit their Annual reports for the work that they have been given to do. Just a look at our Touchstone for this week tells you that we have many committees hard at work here, and there will be a new one that will work to incorporate new members. All of this is important to our functioning as “church”.  

But, and you knew that I would have a “but”, while the facts reported out by the committees in our Annual Report are one aspect of our life together and are very important, they don’t comprise all that we are called to be as “church”. As Church, we are called to be “the Body of Christ” in the world. To do that we need to worship together, learn together, to seek and serve Christ in all people. I think we need to be in conversation about what might the Holy Spirit have in mind for us? And how are we doing spiritually? Conversations are needed.  

The Holy Spirit is here to stir us up, to goad us into study, into asking questions and wrestling with what other things we, as Holy Family, need to be doing as “church” in this place. You might wonder what are some of the questions that might be asked when doing a spiritual inventory of our church. Some of the questions could be:   How close are we to living out our Mission statement? How are we following up with the ideas for “church” generated by our Small Group Input sessions? To enrich our spiritual lives, do we need to be more attentive to study and learning? Are there different ways we can do worship and prayer? Do we need to find ways to be more present to our older folks? Do we need to be connecting with other churches to help the needs in Jasper? In other words, what might the Spirit be calling us to do in the New Year as God’s people that might not be captured in a committee report?  

And I think our church teachings make it clear that each person here today should be involved in this inventory-taking. Certainly the Vestry and George, the Committee chairs, should be involved, but also each of us should participate. Just like our gospel today makes clear –  many are needed to take care of the Master’s house. You might ask: “Why should I be involved? I am not on a committee or on the Vestry”  

Yet each person here this morning is a minister of the church by virtue of his or her baptism. Did you know that? You are each a minister. Under the teachings of the church, found on page 855 of the Prayer Book, Lay people are listed first in answer to the question: “Who are the ministers of the church?” The answer reads “The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests and deacons.” While George and Ted, and other priests and deacons, are called to serve at the table, it is you, “all you all”, who are also ministers of this church. With the privileges and also the responsibilities of that role.  

This comes from our teachings as the church. Look at page 855 of the prayerbook and you will see that I am not making this up: “The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.” “To take their place in the life, worship and governance of the church”.  

I think Holy Family needs each of you faithful souls to be part of this inventory of how we are doing as the Church of the Holy Family and where God might be calling the church.    

And so, as we wait in this season of Advent for the coming of Christ, the season lighted by the Advent lights of love and hope, my prayer is that this time of waiting for the arrival of our Lord will be a time of intentional and prayerful waiting – a time of questions, a time of reflection, a time of wondering what God is calling each of us to do, and a time of dreaming about how Holy Family could be even more a beacon of Christ’s presence in our world. Amen

Proper 29A – Christ the King – George Yandell

Christ the King – an odd title for a peasant Galilean prophet, a sage. Messiah, yes, but king? Jesus pushed against the kings of his day because he saw they were corrupt, were extorting punishing taxes from the poor. Those kings had even turned the priests of the temple into pawns for working the program to oppress God’s people. So Christ as King must mean something more and different from worldly kings.  

Today’s collect invites us to entertain the future God intends for humanity: to restore all things in Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We pray that we all may be brought together under his most gracious rule. It marks the end of the Church year. Next Sunday is Advent Sunday. It begins the brief season when we prepare for the observance of Jesus’s birth. Today culminates and yet prepares us for what’s coming.  

The observance of Christ the King Sunday is a recent addition to the church calendar in western Christendom as Ted noted in his sermon last Sunday. It was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925, when the world had been ravaged by the First World War. Pope Pius envisioned a dominion ruled by a King of Peace who came to reconcile all things, who came not to be served, but to serve. [This paragraph adapted from an article by Libby Howe in “Christian Century”, Nov. 4 2020.] The Episcopal Church began to observe it with the “new” 1976 prayer book.   These events took place in 1925:

• Benito Mussolini dissolved the Italian parliament and became a dictator.
• US president Calvin Coolidge proposed phasing out the inheritance tax.
• In Munich, Aldolf Hitler resurrected his political party and published Mein Kampf.
• Teacher John Scopes was arrested for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution in TN.
• As many as 40,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan paraded in Washington, DC. The Klan had 5 million members, making it the largest fraternal organization in the US.
• Immigration to the US from Italy dropped by nearly 90% and from Britain it dropped by 53%.
• The Spanish flu pandemic had ended just 7 years prior.

  Given those events, their context seems to have demanded the Pope’s innovation. But seeing the world then and now almost a century later, it didn’t work as he had hoped.  

The work of Jesus the Christ has been called “sanctifying life, time and space.” Begun in his ministry of ushering in the domain of God, continuing into his death and resurrection, the cosmic Christ reveals the nature of the invisible God. Everything was created and redeemed through him. He reigns supreme over all creation, and is also head of the Church, its origin, its source of power, its purpose. [This adapted from “Synthesis, a Weekly Resource for Preaching”, November 2004 issue.]  

Matthew’s gospel calls humanity to ‘decenter’ ourselves in the interest of meeting those in need with relief, compassion, comfort and dignity. Augustine and Martin Luther preached discipleship as renouncing sin. Sin was defined by them as ‘to be turned or curved inward on oneself.’ [ibid] Becoming centered on others in the outer world is the major thrust of our ministry in Jesus’ name. Centering on others renounces sin.  

It’s significant to note in the gospel lesson that the sheep and the goats are clueless. It surprised them to know that when they encountered the hungry, the thirsty, naked, stranger, sick and imprisoned, they in fact had encountered Jesus.   

Jesus taught his friends to pray to God “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” God’s kingdom is not a place, but a condition. Kingship might be a better word- “thy kingship come.” Insofar as all the odd ways we do God’s will are at best half-baked and half-hearted, the kingship of God is still a long way off. As Frederick Buechner puts it, the kingdom of God is “a hell of a long way off, to be more precise and theological.” [Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, Harper and Row, 1973, p.50] We proclaim that the kingship of Jesus fulfills God’s dream for the world.  

Everything Jesus taught was a new creation. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, he will sit on the throne of his glory, and all the nations will be gathered before him.” What does Jesus mean? The “glory” is the envelope of brilliant light that surrounds the deity in Hebrew scripture. In Hebrew, the glory is God’s ‘ka-vode’. Jesus intends that all the people will be bathed in the light of God’s presence. That all will be created anew as one people.  

The glory of God surrounds us and encompasses us when we turn ourselves as a people toward loving and serving those in distress. People reconciling with their enemies and those who’ve been cast off. This is the vision for the end of the age Jesus saw.  

As one curves outward, decenters oneself and practices self-sacrifice, the reward is encountering Jesus. Matthew promises that it’s inevitable. This is the gospel of Immanuel, God with us. He is not an abstract, distant king as the title today suggests. Jesus is the ultimate, living presence within our daily places, in our circles of contacts. Giving to God through the Church in our pledges moves us to be self-sacrificing in all aspects of our lives.  

Jesus is maybe at his best in describing kingship itself – the king made official at last and all the world observes his coronation. It’s like finding a million dollars in a field, Jesus says, or a jewel worth a king’s ransom. It’s like finding something you hated to lose and thought you’d never find again- an old keepsake, a stray sheep, a missing child. When the kingdom and its king really come, it’s as if the thing you lost and thought you’d never find again is you, your own true self. [ibid, adapted]

25th Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 28 – Ted Hackett

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…  

We are now just two weeks from Advent… And you can tell because our society is celebrating Christmas… At least in retail outlets…  

Advent….the season of preparation is only two weeks away… Advent used to be an odd sort of thing and it still is, really… Because it is the end of one liturgical year and the beginning of the next one…  

The Jewish sense of history went on a line…from creation to fulfillment with the coming of the Kingdom of God at the end… We still look for that in the big picture of history…

But the Church year can’t operate that way…we have to repeat the year over and over…till history is over… And as Yogi Berra famously said: “It ain’t over till its over!” So Advent celebrates both beginning and ending…  

The end is final, last judgement… The new beginning is the Birth of Jesus  

Around the fourth century Advent became more and more a penitential season…probably because the Church grew to become the religion of the Roman Empire and sin was more obvious  

By the Middle Ages Advent was called “Little Lent” and was very penitential… Clergy often wore black during Advent… It was, after all… The End of the World!  

And as also happened with Lent…there was “doom & gloom creep” the weeks before Advent became more and more gloomy… If you consider today’s readings… Zephania warns that the Day of the Lord…the day of judgment…is at hand. Paul tells us that the Day of the Lord is coming soon…like a thief in the night! The Gospel is also about Judgement…about the final accounting… And if you don’t do right by God…there’s no reward for you!  

Modern Christians have a much more optimistic view of things… Advent is rarely thought of as a kind of “Little Lent”… It’s a time for parties and the experience of the joy and fun of Christmas … It’s a good time…and I for one love it!  

But to make it even more complicated… Next Sunday…the Sunday before Advent… The New Lectionary marks the end of the Church Year with the up-beat feast of Christ the King… Instituted by the Pope in 1925 to remind secular Italians that Jesus was the real king… It was originally observed in October but in the 60’s it was moved to the end of the Church year…right before Advent… That way it says: “At the end of the world, Jesus will be King!”  

O.K…I can go with that triumphant idea… I can go with the idea that in the end… Despite the awful slaughter of innocent people in the Middle East and in Ukraine… Christians proclaim the ultimate victory of God over sin, suffering and death!… Yes…even as we go down to the grave we make our song… Alleluia…ALLELUIA!  

But if we get there too fast… If we get there without a deep sense of the sin of what we humans have done… Are doing… And will continue to do… Without knowing the terrible pain of the suffering… The hunger… the desolation… the hurting…  

The sins we will continue to do… In spite of sickness… Of homelessness… Of loneliness… Of terror… Of watching your kids torn apart by bombs… Or shot by thugs in the street…                

Unless we know these things… Unless we let our selves feel them… Unless we can hurt… And be angry for the victims…  

Our Alleluias will be shallow… Our celebrations will be thoughtless… Our joy…which ought to be real… Will be tainted by selfishness…. Will be soiled by denial… Will only be ways to kid ourselves…  

Jesus was born, we are told…in a manger… Stars and shepherds and wise men were there…rejoicing! But then… Then… He died in Agony… And before he rose, Transformed…  

Before he rose… He died…he died… Abandoned like someone in Palestine…torn apart by a bomb… In lonely agony… Blown up by a mine in Ukraine… Murdered at a music festival in Israel…  

Christianity is about a suffering God… A God who chooses to be a human… Chooses to know our pain… Chooses to die our death… Chooses to know our abandonment!  

That’s why Advent…the season before the birth of the King of Peace… Was once observed in black! The only way to Easter is through the pain and desolation of Good Friday…  

I don’t know what to do about Ukraine and Israel and Palestine… Or about homelessness and disease… Or about sin… But I know our dear Lord suffered as people are suffering All over the world… And God is weeping… And we have to take on some of that sorrow… Or the joy of the coming season will be hollow…  

But by God’s grace… Knowing sin but hoping through it… Knowing the sin of this world… But daring to hope anyway… Daring to sing Alleluia in the midst of the pain and death…  

That is our calling… That is part of our job as followers of Jesus… And that is also our gift! Our gift to an often hopeless world… Because it is Jesus’ gift to us!          

11-12-23 Proper 27A – George Yandell

The passage we heard today is Joshua’s last will and testament. He assembled all the people at Shechem and challenged them to choose whether they would serve Yahweh alone. The people had been worshipping Yahweh as well as other gods, and Yahweh wanted all or nothing. If the tribes chose to serve Yahweh only, there was no falling back to old gods.  

Joshua repeatedly warned all the tribes, their elders, heads, judges, and officers that if they chose Yahweh, Yahweh would not forgive them if they returned to their old ways. “God is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. He will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.” The people cried out loudly their desire to serve Yahweh. The people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.” So Joshua led the people to enter into a covenant with God, similar to the covenant their parents had entered into at Sinai. Joshua wrote their promise with God in the book of the Law of God. After the people dispersed to their territories, Joshua died.  

It is true of all believers – we need to renew our covenant with God regularly, else we fall off in our faith, and forget the vows we have made. That’s what we did last Sunday in both services. Each Sunday we recite the Nicene Creed which is included in our baptismal covenant. It’s most important to note how different from the Israelites’ our covenant with God is. The Great Thanksgiving makes reference to that Covenant, quoting Jesus: “This is my blood of the new Covenant which is shed for you & for many for the forgiveness of sins.”   

In remembering what Jesus did in his death and resurrection, we repeat the ancient Jewish tradition of remembering the acts of salvation God has wrought. A Jew was one who through holy remembering, had crossed the Red Sea and entered the promised land. The heritage and hopes of the Jewish people were the individual’s heritage and hopes. A holy remembering of the mighty acts of God was basic to Jewish blessings which reminded God of what God had done in the past. It was a dialogue that asked God to continue to act as God had acted in the past. [Adapted from pp. 366-7 from Commentary on the American Prayer Book, Dr. Marion Hatchett, Harper Collins, 1995.]  

When we hear Jesus say ‘New Covenant’, it is not only for his disciples to remember, but to participate NOW in entering the sacrifice of his life and his resurrection into new life. We are not simply to recall his actions, but to enter them as a present reality. We have entered the kingdom Jesus promised, tho’ it is not yet fully realized. [ibid]  

Where Joshua’s covenant reminded Israel how unforgiving God is, our covenant acknowledges that we do fall into sin, and whenever we repent, God forgives us. Where Joshua’s intends to keep Israel separate from the surrounding people, we state that we will seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves. Where Joshua’s covenant celebrated Israel’s domination of Canaan, we vow to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. Where the covenant of Israel at Shechem confirmed Israel’s strict adherence to the law of Moses, we pledge to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ.   

There are many in churches today who would push us back toward the judgmental, unforgiving, dominating, exclusive Joshua-type faith. They call themselves ‘orthodox’, and the rest of us ‘revisionists.’ To tell the truth, the great revisionist was Jesus, giving himself on the cross for all God’s people, then rising to carry us into the new life of grace. He spread disorder wherever he went, whenever he met people and told them of the coming Kingdom. He never pushed correct belief, but invited people to practice the Way God had opened, to do the things Jesus himself did. Jesus raised us all with him, putting behind us the fear of being cast off by God and he dismissed the need to besiege those who believe differently from us. Christ comes now with open arms, to embrace the sinner and love the world God created. He sows gratitude and grace among his followers.  

Renewing our covenant each Sunday does have this important similarity to Joshua’s: We need to witness each other’s statements of faith, and hold each other accountable. It is only as the people of Christ together that we can attain the lofty intent of Christ for us: baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we will be Jesus for our world. There are no boundaries to the territories into which God sends us. There are no wars to fight, simply souls to lead, gently, by our example, into fellowship with God and with one another. And finally, renewing our covenant with Christ means we work, pray and give for the spread of God’s domain on earth. That’s why we’re initiating our annual pledge campaign. In that process we are transformed into Christ’s body. Transformed for action in God’s world. 

All Saints Sunday – George Yandell

I believe in the invisible. Some years ago in the Memphis paper, a leading nationally televised local preacher responded to a question about the appropriateness of Halloween. The preacher said, “The church appropriated the pagan observance of Samhein [Sow’an] and renamed it “Allhallowmass” and kept its emphasis on the dead. It is not an appropriate observance for Christians because it’s not biblical.”  

That preacher, and many Christians today, turn their backs on the invisible relationships that lie behind how we practice our faith. They want clear, handy explanations given to them. They want it simple, packaged. All hallows/all saints may be hard to understand. It’s all about connectedness. There have been only 69 generations of Christians since the resurrection of Jesus. At any point during those 1993 years the connections could have been severed. The church could have died.  

The word samain in Gaelic means simply “end of summer.” The ancient Celts observed the beginning of winter on this holiday in early November. A very old custom dictated that all folk would put out their hearth fires. Then families kindled a central bonfire and went from hearth to hearth, and from burial chamber to burial chamber, carrying the new fire. Each hearth and family burial chamber had its fire re-kindled from the one flame. The Celts made a communal effort to light the dark against the coming short days and long dark, cold nights. As they processed around their homes, they remembered their ancestors and told the stories of their lives. They kept their dead ancestors alive in the clan through their customs.  

When followers of Jesus came to the British Isles, the Celts learned the stories of Jesus. They immediately recognized that his death and resurrection extended their customs, and they happily converted. They praised the saints who had shown them the power of connecting with Christ and the earth. They recalled their dead friends, and dead enemies as well.   

The Revelation to John was written in the closing decades of the first century CE. By that time Paul and Peter had been executed by the Roman Emperor. Many congregations across the Mediterranean had experienced persecution. The throngs of people of all tribes and languages represent those early followers of Jesus who had lost their lives because of their faith in Him. Their assembly before the throne of the resurrected Jesus was joy-filled. They are the ones who have come out of the great ordeal- “they are before the throne of God and worship God day and night within God’s temple.”  

We live in unity with them as we worship on this All Saints Sunday. The life they experience now is our hope- it has been fulfilled in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. We are living in the dawn of the new age of justice and peace, although we haven’t yet cooperated fully enough with God for the new age of peace and justice to prevail. Jesus said it this way: “Blessed are you who are poor, hungry, weeping and are hated- rejoice! For your reward is great in God’s kingdom which is coming.”  

The capital S. Saints represent the new age of God’s love and peace on earth. We are living examples of the communion of saints reaching into a new generation of God’s people yearning for God’s peace to prevail. As our vows are renewed when we recite the baptismal covenant, we are linked with those who are being baptized today across the globe- they are the newest members of the Body of Christ.    

The communion of saints is invisible, but for the members of our kinship group gathered here for worship on this holy day. The communion of saints reaches back deep into our history and pre-history. It is all about connecting to power- the power of living in fellowship with one another, with the earth and the universe and our creator.   

The communion of saints honors all who have gone before us and who stand with us now. From the source of all light beyond the heavens, we carry the fire into the world and into the next generation.  Those who worship together with us are the communion of saints concretely for us. They help make the new age move closer.  

I bid you all nourish your curiosity for what lies below, above, within and among us. Let God bind us together in this moment. I bid you seek the invisible power of sainthood that comes from God, however God chooses to offer it. And I bid you seek the power from your spiritual ancestors and help build it your successors, and act in it together.  

All Souls Day – All Faithful Departed – Ted Hackett

Today we are celebrating “All Souls Day”… In the Prayer Book it is called “All the Faithful Departed.” I prefer the old, Medieval term “All Souls” Because I don’t believe that our eternal future all depends on how faithful we are in this life. I know that sounds a little…well…Heretical But for now… let’s leave it at being faithful certainly helps! More about that later…

All Souls’ comes the day after All Saints’ Day… Hallowe’en is All Saints’ Eve… It is the celebration of what early medieval people believed about the dead… They thought the dead who were in an “Intermediate State”… That is those who were not good enough for Heaven but not bad enough for Hell… Came back in ghostly form on All Saints Eve to beg for our prayers… And if we didn’t take pity on them…they would play malicious tricks on us! It started in Ireland in the 19th century and came to this country with Irish immigrants. Which explains my Irish grandmother’s Hallowe’en superstitions!

But we have moved All Saints day… One of the Church’s four main Holy Days…which comes on November first… To the next Sunday after All Souls to make it easier for folks to get to Church… So we’ll do All Saints’ next Sunday…    That’s convenient…but it disconnects Hallowe’en, All Saints’ and All Souls’ day… They really all go together… Because they all deal with the same thing… What is our destiny after Death?

We are not sure when the observation of All Souls started, but it became official in the 10th century when Benedictine monks made it a special day for prayers for those in Purgatory… Purgatory, of course, was a lot like Hell but it didn’t last forever. It was like a painful prison sentence… You went there and were tortured for a certain period of time till you had paid the price of your sins and then you would go on to Heaven….or at least to Paradise to wait for the end of the world when you would finally go to Heaven. That was in Europe… In the Eastern Church, those who were not in Heaven or in Hell were pointed to repentance by a feeling of intense longing and frustration… Like a kid with his nose pressed against the glass of a candy store… They sort of knew what the full presence of God would be like… But for now… Till they repented They were…Excluded!  

Hell in the Eastern Orthodox tradition by the way… Was final separation from God and the Saints… Not fire and brimstone!    Now I am sure you have all that straight… Even though I am a former Professor I won’t give an exam on it! It is kind of interesting though… Kind of like trivia… But does it mean anything to us?

Well…even today… In our skeptical contemporary world… It has a lot to do with death… The death of those we love… And our own death! And death….is inevitable!

But….there is something in us… A still, small voice inside us… A part of us that refuses to accept that death is The end… A part of us … That when we hear the voice of St. Paul in his letter to the Romans say:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor a angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!” We want to shout: Yes!…. Death will not be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Yes!…YES!!! My soul says: “YES!”

Paul’s “US” here… Nothing shall separate “US” from the love of God does not mean Paul and me… “Us” means all of us… Everyone… Death shall not separate any of us from the love of God!

Wait a minute… Does that mean no one is damned? No one goes to Hell? That’s easy to swallow for…say my Uncle Louie…a roguish alcoholic who played sort of mean tricks on people… But how about Hitler?…Stalin?… How about Pol Pot…or Putin?

It’s hard to swallow for people like that… It means forgiveness for monsters… And we don’t want to do that… We don’t want to eat the heavenly banquet sitting next to Hitler! But the point is… Hitler…even Hitler will be changed… He will be spend enough time knowing the prospect of love…but excluding himself from it…

That eventually he will genuinely repent… Genuinely change… When I was a young priest, an older nun who I was visiting and I got into a theological discussion… I asked her if she believed in Hell… She nodded solemnly: “Yes Father…I have to…it’s doctrine”… Then she added slyly: “But I don’t have to believe anyone goes there!”

Here’s the thing Sister knew… God is love…That’s the Gospel of John… And God created us to love… To love God…And each other. And if anyone is sentenced to suffering and hatred for eternity… Then God has been defeated…  

And that is not possible! In the end…God is love…. And all shall be love. But what of now? What of death?

Paul says: “Death has no dominion over us…” Very early on, the Church understood that when we die we “Pass over” into death as the people of Israel passed over the Red Sea into freedom … And in death those beloved dead are waiting for us… Now they are unseen…but sometimes they can be felt…felt as present…  A feeling that is part memory…but more that memory…   We are still connected…  Unseen…they are with us… Because God loves them… And created them… And created us…    To live and  To love.

So in a moment we will toll a bell…and light candles. And read the names of those beloved dead…. Knowing that their souls are in the hand of God, Knowing that they are unseen but here… Knowing that we shall be united….

And then we will celebrate that Holy Meal… Knowing that attending at that table… Surrounding us…filling this church… Redeemed in love as we are being redeemed The whole host … All the company of Heaven… Singing and blessing us…. Blessed be those who come in the name of the Lord!     

As the bell tolls… As we come to the Eucharist… The promise of the heavenly banquet… Let us know the love of God… And the love of all the Saints… And know that in Christ Jesus… Nothing and no one… shall be lost… Alleluia!