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Michaelmas, The Rev. Joe Britton, September 27

9/28/2015

 
Of all the clips shown of the Pope shown during his visit to the United States this week, the one that most caught my eye was a short documentary piece by CNN on an unexplained gap in the pope’s early life as a Jesuit priest in Argentina.

As the story is told, the young Jorge Borgoglio was a real hard-ass: doctrinaire, demanding, and unforgiving. In fact, his fellow Jesuits got so tired of his heavy-handedness that from 1990 to 1992 they sent him off in virtual exile to the Argentinian city of Cordoba, where he lived an almost hermetic solitude.

But through those many months of private prayer and reflection, something apparently happened to the future pope: he emerged from the experience speaking more of mercy than of judgment, more of compassion than of dogmatic correctness. He emerged, in other words, as the man we have seen this week: a champion for the poor, a prophet for the earth, a defender of immigrants, holding out hope to everyone, even those condemned to die. You might say that during his exile Padre Borgoglio discovered the meaning of what Jesus tells us in today’s gospel: that Jesus came that we might have life, and have it abundantly—not fearfully and defensively, but abundantly, joyfully, and passionately.

   Back in New Haven, Connecticut, where I most recently served as a priest before coming to Albuquerque, I made a habit of walking from time to time around the corner from my parish office to the Yale Catholic Student Center to pay my colleagues there a visit. The facility is stunning: spacious, recently constructed, and designed to be a welcoming oasis for the whole university community. Particularly noticeable is that just after entering the main door, a visitor sees Jesus’s words inscribed in large letters across the entry hall: “I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10.”

If the visitor pays a bit more careful attention, he or she will perhaps also notice that underneath that inscription is an oil painting of the donor who made the center possible, a fellow named Thomas Golden. In the portrait, Golden is seated in front of a fireplace, and on the mantle of that fireplace, just over Golden’s left shoulder, is a clock with its hands set to—you guessed it, 10:10—a subtle resonance with the inscription of the biblical verse John 10:10 just above.

Now, you probably know that this verse has sometimes been used to justify a crude sort of prosperity gospel—that is, the notion that following Jesus somehow leads inevitably to material wealth. But that is not the sort of abundance Jesus means. In fact, some translations render the verse, “I came that you might have life, and have it in all its fullness,” which begins to get at quite a different meaning. And as we have seen that meaning enacted for us this past week by the Pope, it clearly has to do with something more than prosperity: it has instead to do with what the Pope—and I dare say we here at St. Michael’s—are committed to building as the Kingdom of God—a kingdom that I want to describe here this morning in three words: caritas, covenant, and community.

The first of those three words, caritas, is one of the New Testament words for love, as in that famous passage from I Corinthians 13: “three things endure, faith, hope and love (caritas), but the greatest of these is love.” This love is not of a romantic sort, nor is it of the familial kind (despite the fact that I Corinthians passage gets read at almost every wedding). Rather, caritas is the spirit of fraternal empathy that causes us to reach out in loving concern to each and every person, whoever and whatever they are. Caritas involves extending God’s unconditional love, acceptance and mercy uniformly, in a genuine embodiment of the “all are welcome” about which we sang in our opening hymn.

Covenant, then (the second of the three descriptors of God’s kingdom), is derived from the understanding that to support the love with which we wish to engage the world, we must first be bound together by certain common commitments that ground our identity in Christ. In short, covenant implies that we are committed to do, what Jesus asked us to do: to break bread together, to remain faithful in prayer and the reading of scripture, to be generous in the sharing of ourselves and our resources, and to live out the Golden Rule by treating others as we would have them to treat us (a principle about which Pope Francis not-so-subtly reminded the members of Congress this past week). These commitments bind us together in a pattern of relationship—the baptismal covenant—and they are what make the caritas (the loving concern) of God’s kingdom real and tangible.

Then the third of the descriptors of the kingdom—community—reminds us that we discover these other two dimensions (caritas and covenant), only when we recognize that we are all part of striving toward what Pope Francis repeatedly named this week as the common good. The Christian view of life is unequivocally convinced that life’s meaning ultimately comes from being committed to something larger than one’s self. This after all is the core of Jesus’ teaching, as he tells us over and over that only in losing our life do we gain it, only in giving up the priority of the self to make room for the Other (whether it is the stranger, the foreigner, or the person in need) do we find a true sense of purpose and joy.

I am relatively new here at St. Michael’s—obviously. But from the day that I first arrived, I couldn’t help noticing that there seems to be a phrase almost hanging in the air around here, which is “open hands, open hearts, open minds.” (There is, for example, a sculpture in the front office called “open mind,” as if to remind us of this theme each time we come and go.) I heard vestry members use the phrase; I saw the open hands and hearts of volunteers in the food pantry, St. Martin’s shelter, and community connections; I heard staff members use the phrase; I came across it in parish publications. So it seemed natural that in setting up today’s celebration, we should claimed the obvious by adopting “open hands, open hearts, open minds” as a unifying theme for going forward together as we make this common act of renewal of ministry in this place.

Because the abundant life—the fullness of life—to which Jesus calls us is just that: a life lived in openness, openness both to the blessings that God so freely gives us, but also to the commitments to which God calls us. The abundant life is one that has such a strength of character, a generosity of spirit, and a curiosity of mind that it opens us to engage the world as it is (neither minimizing its sorrows and pains, nor overlooking its beauty); the abundant life opens us to a sense of the generosity of God’s grace and mercy (neither turning a blind eye to injustice, nor failing to do good for those who are in need); the abundant life results in an awareness of the rich complexity of life that opens us to new insight and understanding (neither forgetting the wisdom of our forbears, nor resisting the changing perspectives which experience urges upon us).

Open hands, open hearts, open minds. These are the markers of the true abundance, the true fullness, to which Jesus calls us, and which Jesus offers us. This is the life that once desolate Padre Borgoglio discovered in his dark night of the soul, and he has never been the same. And the same Spirit that worked such a miracle in him, is working it in us as well. Just look around you: the signs are there, in the open hands, hearts and minds that are the true heart and soul of St. Michael’s parish. Thanks be to God!

(And by the way, as you leave church today … check what time it is on the new clock in the entry hall. I’ll give you one guess.)

Sermon, The Rev. Kristin Schultz, September 20

9/21/2015

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Sermon, The Rev. Kristin Schultz, September 13

9/13/2015

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Each week in our Thursday morning service we focus on a saint from the Christian tradition – ancient and contemporary, Catholic and Anglican and other forms of Christian, from all around the world.

It’s been wonderful exploration for me these past four years – 

learning more about the ancient traditions of the saints, and hearing stories of faithful people I’d never heard of before.

This past week we heard the story of Sister Constance and her companions.

Late in the summer of 1878 yellow fever struck Memphis, Tennessee, killing thousands. The Episcopal cathedral, St. Mary's, and its adjacent Church Home were in the center of the most infected area and became shelters for victims. The cathedral staff and the Sisters of St. Mary, who operated the Church Home, faced enormous burdens in caring for the sick and dying. Sisters on retreat in Peekskill, New York, when the epidemic broke out, instead of keeping a safe distance, rushed back to Memphis.

Sister Constance was the first of the nuns to be stricken. As she died on September 9, her last words were "Alleluia, Hosanna," simple words of praise remembered and inscribed on the cathedral's high altar. Sister Constance's companions in service to the sick and dying, Sisters Thecla and Ruth, soon followed her to the grave, as did Sister Frances, headmistress of the Church Home. She had nursed some thirty children at one time and had watched twenty-two die. The Rev. Louis Schuyler, a chaplain to the Sisters of St. Mary, also died of the fever, as did Canon Charles Parsons. Parsons was blessed with a vision of heaven as he lay dying and his last words were, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

http://prayer.forwardmovement.org/

What kept Sister Constance and her companions in Memphis,

willing to face sickness and death,

when so many around them had fled – leaving only the poor and sick behind?

The simple answer is to say that they were following Jesus,

carrying their own crosses in his wake.

The collect for Constance and her companions says,

We give you thanks and praise, O God of compassion, for the heroic witness of Constance and her companions, who, in a time of plague and pestilence, were steadfast in their care for the sick and dying, and loved not their own lives, even unto death: Inspire in us a like love and commitment to those in need, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. 

http://www.lectionarypage.net/LesserFF/Sep/Constance.html

Do we truly want to pray for love and commitment like that of Sister Constance and her companions?

Are we sure we want to follow where Jesus is leading?

When Peter first heard where Jesus was going,
he wasn’t at all sure it was the journey he’d signed up for.

When he proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah,

Peter had a whole suitcase of expectations associated with that word.

The Messiah would sweep away the enemies –the Roman oppressors – and free God’s people.

The Messiah would right all the wrongs that have been done during occupation.

The Messiah would be the righteous king – descendant of the revered King David – who would bring in a new era of peace and justice.

But immediately – as if Jesus can read Peter’s excitement and expectation – Jesus begins to tell him it won’t be that way.

Yes, I am the Messiah, he says.

And my role will be to suffer and die.

I will be rejected by the religious leaders, condemned by Rome, and killed.

But that will not be the end.

After three days I will rise from death.

Peter is having none of it.

Surely, you can’t mean it, Jesus!

Surely if you are the Messiah – the chosen one of God –  God will keep you safe and raise you up to glory! And Jesus tells him – get behind me, Satan.

You are trying to stand in the way.

You are not listening.

You think you understand how God works in the world, but you don’t.

Then Jesus turns to the crowds gathered around, and says,

If any want to become my followers,  
 let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.


Jesus knows he will suffer and die,
and he invites his followers to take up a cross and join him on the journey.

But not because it is good to suffer.

Not because suffering makes us more holy.

Not because it is somehow un-Christian to enjoy life too much,
and super-Christian to suffer.

Taking up a cross does not mean that God sends us trials to test us
and let us experience suffering so that we might be more like Jesus.

Taking up a cross doesn’t mean being mistreated or abused,
and enduring it so that we might be more like Jesus.

Taking up a cross means
giving away one’s life for the sake of God’s kingdom,
giving what one has for the needs of others,
giving love and kindness freely and unreservedly.

And that is just what following Jesus is all about.

That, to be more like Jesus, we love one another, as he loves us.

In his blog this week, seminary professor David Lose asks readers:

What gives you the greatest joy in life?

What creates for you the deepest sense of purpose?

. . . in the Meantime, www.davidlose.net

Think about those questions for just a moment.
. . .

My guess is that what you are thinking of is not a think you can buy or earn.

My guess is that you are thinking of a relationship with someone you love.

Perhaps you are thinking of giving yourself in your vocation – 
teaching, creating art, serving others in a ministry or volunteer role.

These are the things that give meaning and joy to life –
the moments when we give ourselves to others.

Sometimes we, like Peter, think we want a Superman God who serves all our needs.

A big, strong God who saves us from all ills, gives us prosperity,
supports our nation and our sports teams.

A God who sets us apart as God’s chosen and works miracles for us.

Instead, we get Jesus – a Messiah who walks among the poor and sick,
and spends time with outcasts and sinners.

A Messiah who tries to show us that the kingdom of God is not about dominion and power and might makes right,
but about service and love and justice for all.

A Messiah who is willing to die for the sake of his radical, unswerving love
for all the wrong people. 

We get Jesus - who washes our feet, and asks us to do the same for one another.

In his blog, Lose wrote:

I think Jesus is suggesting that the ‘life’ that has been packaged and sold to us isn’t real life and we need to die to those illusions to be born into the abundant life God wants for us. Here’s the thing: we tend to think that life is something you go out and get, or earn, or buy, or win. But it turns out that life is like love, it can’t be won or earned or bought, only given away. And the more you give it away, the more you have.

Life – like love, forgiveness, mercy, grace – can not be earned or bought.

It can only be received as gift, and given away again.

So it turns out that self-denial and bearing a cross is not about being less happy,
but about discovering what real joy and abundant life are all about.

Jesus shows us, in his life and death and the invitation to follow him,
what it means to live abundantly,
by giving ourselves for others.

Most of us are never asked to make the commitment and sacrifice Constance and her companions made, literally giving their lives to care for others.

But we can learn from them, nonetheless.

They died praising God, because the last days of their lives were full of meaning,
lived in love and compassion.

They gave of themselves, and met Jesus face to face in the poor, the sick, the orphaned children – the very people among whom Jesus himself chose to live.

So we do pray, boldly and with hope, that God may inspire in us a like love and commitment to those in need, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen

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Sermon, The Rev. Joe Britton, September 6

9/8/2015

 

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