Church of the Epiphany

Pentecost 2007
What is Pentecost?

Pentecost, also known as Shavuot, or the Feast of the Weeks, was (and is) the Jewish holiday celebrating the harvest season in Israel. Shavuot, which means “weeks”, refers to the timing of the festival which is held exactly 7 weeks, or fifty days, after Passover. Shavuot is known also as Yom Habikkurim, or “the Day of the First Fruits”, because it is the time the farmers of Israel would bring their first harvest to Jerusalem as a token of thanksgiving. ‘Pentecost’ is simply the Greek term for ‘fifty.’
Leviticus tells us that the priests of ancient Israel would offer a wave offering to God. In one hand would be bread and in the other two lambs which they would literally wave before God.

Since the first century, however, Shavuot also commemorates the anniversary of the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. It was a celebration to commemorate the nourishment of God in the Harvest and the nourishment of God in the Torah. The giving of the Law was 50 days after the crossing of the Red Sea.

Pentecost was a time to celebrate both the provision of God and the giving of his Law. But 2000 years ago it was a time for the followers of Jesus to come together and ‘wait to be clothed with power from on high’ as he had commanded them to do. The disciples, Jesus’ mother and 120 faithful followers of Jesus, waited for the promise of Jesus in an upper room in Jerusalem. There in the upper room, they were all together and “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of the wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed like tongues of fire that came to rest on them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” As a result, pilgrims from all over the world heard the praises of God in their own language.

Obviously, this was not an ordinary Pentecost. In fact, this Pentecost, rather than new harvest or first fruits, a new kind of provision was being provided. And rather than the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai, a new kind of law was given—one written on their hearts.

Pentecost was the birth of the church. But it was not the birth of an organization, but the birth of a movement. It was not the birth of a bureaucracy, but the birth of a people who would change the world.

Nothing fancy about what these early disciples were doing. The Holy Spirit showed up in a big way and the world will never be the same. What did the disciples do to make them the ground zero of God’s presence? Three things. They obeyed. They prayed. And they had a common mission.

They obeyed, they prayed, and they had a mission.

The early disciples, and this includes 120 of them obeyed. After the resurrection, the disciples might have been eager to get started on the proclamation. In fact, they were ready for Jesus to establish his kingdom right there and then. They were witnesses, they saw the risen Lord. They were ready to go to it. However, Jesus gave them a simple command, ‘stay in Jerusalem until you are empowered by the Holy Spirit, then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and the rest of the world.’

A simple command. No matter how antsy the disciples were, no matter how ready they thought they were, they were told to wait. They obeyed.

There is an interesting book on the story about Jesus walking on water by John Ortberg called If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get out of the Boat. Ortberg talks one of the reasons why Peter had his 8 seconds of water walking. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the sea he said, “Lord, if it is you command me to come to you.”

‘Command me.’ Peter said. That is a risky request. ‘tell me what you want me to do.’ I don’t know how many of you have heard that Tanya Sorge just got finished with her first semester of seminary. She is not going into the priesthood, but she has been hearing God tell her to make radical changes—to go from a secure livelihood to missions or something that he hasn’t quite revealed to her yet.

When Jesus tells us to do something, we do it. St. Benedict said ‘value nothing to the love of Christ.’ Value nothing to obedience in Christ. Our parish and every area of our lives need to be rooted and strengthened in obedience. When he tells us to wait, we wait, when he tells us to take action, we take action.

They obeyed and they prayed. The Scripture says they went to an upper room and ‘continued together in prayer and supplication…’ How do we obey? We start by reading the Scripture, listening and praying. The 120 disciples obeyed and then they prayed. And they prayed in order to obey. And the Holy Spirit came and rocked their world.

The disciples were given power to preach the gospel. They were anointed with the Holy Spirit for mission. What happens when followers of Jesus get together to pray?

One of the mistakes that communities make is that they look to certain externals for the evidence of the Holy Spirit. Tongues or waves of people or miracles or whatever. Now, I will admit that often when revival strikes, as it is in many parts of the two thirds world right now, there are often miracles and exorcisms and mass baptisms. Remember Fr. Daniel who went to the Sudan to plant churches among a tribe that was untouched by the gospel? He reported 104 baptisms.

But it is not the ‘what’ that we need to worry about it is the ‘who.’ Without the power of the Holy Spirit, the faith is then some kind of philosophical system. With the power of the Holy Spirit, the faith then becomes our personal faith. Jesus becomes real to us. This is what prayer does—it makes it real. For the apostles the resurrection was a truth to behold, but when they themselves were raised by the new life in the Holy Spirit, then the world changed. They prayed and he came. If then, why not now?

Yes, we need to pray that we can cover the basics–but we are here for a much greater purpose. Do we dare? Do we dare pray for the Holy Spirit to move in this place in radical way?

Lastly, the apostles had a mission, and they were together in that mission. 12 times the phrase, ‘with one accord’ occurs in the New Testament. 11 times it occurs in Acts. Luke is clear in his writing that the early Christians experienced a one-ness, an intimacy both with God and one another that was like nothing else. We have touched on some of that recently. Listen to how the end of Acts 2 describes it:

‘The continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many signs were done through the apostles…so continuing with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.’

They shared everything with each other. They had Eucharist together and their meals. Rich and poor. Young and old. On the day of Pentecost there were people from every tribe and nation becoming part of the church. Together they stayed. They became a royal priesthood and a holy nation.

But what kept them together? Was it the Barney song, “I love you, you love me…?” Well, we know that love was indispensable–sacrificial love that is, not our cultural imitation.

What kept them together? They had one passion, one purpose, one mission—to spread the gospel. They were given a command and a commission from Christ to make disciples of all nations, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, this is what kept them together.

They were consumed with the mission of Christ. And nothing, not torture, not sickness, not crucifixion, not the arena–nothing kept them from fulfilling this mission.

Looking at Acts on the surface, you might be thinking, ‘I don’t want to be a street preacher,’ because it appears that this was the apostles primary way of proclamation. But as the church began to develop, there were a variety of ways to fulfill the mission of the church. Someone had to take care of widows and orphans. Someone had to administer the sacraments. Someone had to preach. Someone had to teach. Someone had to handle the money. Someone had to open up their homes when the church was booted out of the Temple. Someone had to navigate Paul and his fellow missionaries. But the mission was the same. One passion, one purpose, one mission.

If we have a mission, what is it? Where is the mission field? And what is that mission field like?

In some ways, the mission field right outside our doors is more challenging than ever.

We live in a very distracted world. We are worried and depressed about many things, some of them valid, like the war in Iraq, or the secularism of our country, some of them not so valid, like our obsession with our schedules and calendars. Our world has forgotten God and has forgotten how to find him. Some, when they heard the tongues of Pentecost, said, ‘they are full of wine.’ As the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians, the apostles are the ‘smell of death’ to some and the fragrance of life to others.’ Our task has never been easy, but today we have unique challenges.

Did you happen to see or hear about the experiment the Washington Post did?

The article is called, “Pearls Before Breakfast.” The Post took one of the most famous violinists in the world, Joshua Bell, and dressed him in plain clothes and had him play in the L’Enfant Plaza in Washington D.C. 1097 people passed by and about 4 stopped to hear him play. He played 7 pieces on a 3.5 million dollar violin. Josh Bell packs venues and gets $100 per ticket. That day in the Plaza he got $32.57.

The people were distracted by the lottery line or by getting to work or by their calendars, cell phones, pagers and I pods. They missed out on an unforgettable experience. Some who were interviewed afterwards did not even know that there was a violinist there that morning.

Interestingly, though there were hundreds from many walks of life the one consistent element was the children. Every child that walked by wanted to stop and were forced by their parents to keep moving, despite their best efforts. The poet Billy Collins has said, ‘all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry. Then life slowly starts to choke the poetry from us.’

This is our mission field. This is what our world is like. We are worried and distracted and couldn’t see beauty if it was standing right in front of us. We couldn’t see God reaching out his hand to us.

It is not about belief, but surrender. The Holy Spirit is the one who helps us to follow Christ, he empowers us and commissions us, if we would only surrender.

As one writer has said, ‘the Spirit can bring life to anyone he chooses, provided that he or she is open to this enliving.’

The challenge for us? Obey. Pray. Listen. And go out.

Easter 6
Joel 2
Mother’s Day 2007/Martin baptism

I’m a little hooked on the Old Testament these days. In part, because it gives me a chance to re-familiarize myself with books like Leviticus and today, Joel.

Joel is the ‘Pentecostal’ book, because, as we will see in a couple of weeks, it is the book the apostle quoted from in depth on the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on Jesus followers in the upper room.

Joel is also a fascinating book that has many levels of meaning. It goes from a crisis, to a mysterious threat from the ‘north’ to a future hope in God’s promises.

What was the crisis? The immediate crisis was a swarm of locusts that had destroyed the land and the crops, there was also a fire that followed this attack. Joel most likely prophesied when Uzziah was king, a time of relative prosperity, but his book has been used to point to the destruction of Israel in 722 BC and Judah with Jerusalem and the Temple being destroyed in 586 BC. Therefore, the locusts of the book are the literal locusts that caused the huge crisis in Uzziah’s day, but they also represent the foes of Assyria, Babylon, Tyre and Sidon who would harass and attack the children of Israel. There is also reason to see spiritual significance to the locusts–that is satanic evil.

Joel’s take on the locusts is that they are sent from the Lord as a scourge of the land and a purification of Israel.

When you live in an agrarian environment, one that is dependent on agriculture, what happens to your crops is as important as life itself. The land is your livelihood and survival. Rain, reaping a harvest and bearing fruit are the lifeblood of your existence. So, how do the people interpret events like a locust attack or a fire or both? How do they respond?

Mostly, what the Lord was concerned with was not how the children of Israel reacted to adversity and crisis–Joel called for a fasting, repentance and prayer. (In the time of crisis, more than likely the people responded.) What the Lord was concerned with was not how the people responded to adversity, but how they responded to blessing–before the crisis even occurred.

During this time, the ‘old time religion’ was the worship of Baal. Baal was the god of agriculture and the god of rainstorms. The Canaanites looked to appease him and gave him credit when things went well. The temptation of the children of Israel was to look at the prosperity and the harvest and to put credence in the god of the Canaanites. ‘Hey, maybe Baal is not such a bad guy after all. Let’s cover our bases and bow the knee to Baal as well.’ And that is what many did.

Needless to say the Lord was not pleased with the people. So he brought a ‘storm’ of his own–a swarm of locusts to remind the people who was in charge, who was the Lord. In fact, the name ‘Joel’ simply means ‘Yah(weh) is God.’ It’s as if the Lord said, ‘You think Baal can bring storms, what if I bring a storm that takes out everything?’ Here’s how the prophet describes it:

Hear this, you elders;
give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.

What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten.

Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.

What happened in ancient Israel is tantamount to a nation wide power outage or computer disaster in our time. Our Achilles heel as a nation is our reliance on technology. If it all went out all at once, we would take notice. Imagine a time without electricity in hospitals and homes–especially if it were winter time.

In the prophet’s mind, this kind of event in ancient Israel pointed to the end of all things–to the ‘Day of the Lord’ the judgment of God. Beyond that, though, as is common with the prophets, they have eyes that can see beyond the destruction to the promises, blessings and restoration of God. Today’s passage is just that kind of passage.
Previous to it, Joel says,

Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.

Then he goes on to say that the Lord will restore the soil, the livestock, the fig trees; that he will send rain and that the threshing floors will be filled with grain. Then he says,

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.

What does this say to us? Much. What the Lord says to ancient Israel he says to us. We may not be worshipers of the fertility god Baal, but we are surrounded by and participate in idolatry every day.

We can call our idolatry money or food or possessions or entertainment or whatever. But we have really gone back to the basics in our day. Rather than worshiping other gods we’ve narrowed it down to one—the person we see in the mirror every day. As our bishop remarked once, ‘sin’s face is always the most familiar.’ Most of us don’t have tiki dolls in our house or Ouji boards, but all of us struggle with our culture’s way of pampering us and singing us to sleep until we have no concept of God or his ways. We ignore him and put ourselves first. We take our eyes off of God.

When we speak of Mother’s, my mom had and still has, a way of keeping us kids on Jesus. When I was a teenager, I listened to music that I knew was inappropriate–not just lyrics with innuendo but outright bad stuff. One time my mom said, ‘OK Stacey, let’s listen to this together.’ Of course when the music started and we were both listening to the words, I cringed and turn all shades of red. Now she didn’t make me get rid of it. But the experience of listening to bad music with my mother cured me. Eventually, I got rid of it on my own.

Our idolatry is more sophisticated perhaps as adults, but when we put anything before God, most especially when it is ourselves, we get into trouble. God may not pull the plug on all the things we rely on to survive, but he might. ‘I am the Lord’, he says, ‘and there is no other.’

In our baptism, we renounce all evil and idolatry and turn to Jesus. We acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, and there is no other Lord.

An addendum to this point. Israel got in trouble for its idolatry, but also for not giving credit to God for the blessings of life. For not saying that ‘all things come from thee, o Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.’

We often do not give credit where credit is due. Our mind-set is secular. Since, I earned this degree or this money, I should get all the credit. Rather than saying, thank you God, for this blessing. Ingratitude is its own kind of idolatry.

Lastly, though we need to walk away from our idolatry, God doesn’t hold a grudge. He doesn’t play like we do. The book of Joel is a wonderful reminder of God’s blessing and his restoration. Yes, we are selfish people, but God’s purpose is that we come to him and receive forgiveness and blessings at his hands. We have locusts in our lives that destroy us-sin within and sin without, things done and left undone, but God’s purpose is that we would walk in wholeness and peace.

‘Peace I give to you, my own peace I leave with you…’ As we know, Jesus was repeating the Jewish phrase, ‘Shalom Aleichem’ which is really a prayer that asks for more than lack of conflict–it is a prayer that God would bring wholeness and restoration to your life.

In John, Jesus says he is the source of that peace and that the coming Holy Spirit would be a ‘comforter’ and would also be a part of God’s restoration and salvation. When the New Testament writers and the early followers of Jesus reflected on the book of Joel and its promises, they saw all of the promises of rain, harvest and abundance as not only God’s blessing of the land, but of the living water of Jesus and the blessing of baptism and of the Holy Spirit. As we’ll see in a couple of weeks, Peter saw Joel’s prophecies fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost.

Without Jesus in our lives, it’s like being ruled by dryness and locusts. With Jesus, we have life abundant. I love what Joel says, I’ll repeat it,

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.

Being followers of Jesus is never meant to be a dull drag. Nor is it a life of guilt and shame. The faith that we proclaim is joyous and full.

The other mom that I have observed is my wife Sarah. One of the most wonderful things for me to see is how she is with my kids.

Many nights before bed we’ll gather on the couch and the kids will pull out the hymnals and pick their favorites or Sarah will teach them a new one and we’ll sing. Talk about blessing and joy and the peace of Christ. When my girls can learn to sing ‘Abide with me fast falls the eventide…’ it is amazing to watch.

I’ll bet you don’t know what the most oft repeated command in Scripture is. It is not to be righteous or to avoid certain things, though that is important. The command in Scripture most often repeated is the command to ‘fear not.’

When Jesus says ‘have peace, do not let your hearts be troubled…’ he is repeating the biblical command to ‘fear not.’

Do not be afraid of the locusts, or ‘the arrow that flies by day or the fire that falls at night.’ Do not fear.

When I was about 8, I had a terrible time with fear. It was a bit more than just childhood stuff and I think it was my first introduction to the evil one. One night I was having difficulty sleepng and my mom taught me a very simple verse–the first verse I ever memorized. 2 Timothy 1:7. ‘For God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.’ I would say that out-loud in my bed at night and it was a great comfort to me.

You see, in Christ there is comfort and joy, peace and forgiveness–never fear.

Today a mother is being baptized with both of her grown children. What a wonderful picture for us on Mother’s Day. I know that this family has seen some adversity and the ability for Sandra to bring her kids and say–‘The Lord is still worthy to be served–do not fear.’ Is amazing to me.

As Joel reminded us, the Lord is God and there is no other. He blesses us beyond our comprehension. Have peace, do not fear.

Easter 5
Leviticus 19
John 13

One rarely hears a sermon on Leviticus and usually when someone tries to read the whole Bible they can get through Genesis fine–they hit Exodus and Moses keeps them interested, but when someone gets to Leviticus, then they bog down and the Bible goes back on the shelf.

Leviticus is an important book. It is an instruction for the children of Israel on how to live in relationship to God and how to live in relationship to each other. People get bogged down with the lists and lists of moral codes and the capital punishment proscribed when many of the moral codes are not followed.

I don’t want to dismiss the many questions that this book poses, but I suggest we look at Leviticus with an eye toward the many important spiritual principles found there.

Leviticus 19:1-2 are actually verses that summarize both the Torah and Leviticus. The LORD tells Moses to tell the entire congregation of Israel with a simple message: “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God is holy.”

So what is that all about? What does it mean to‘Be holy.’ The word ‘holy’ is the Hebrew word Kedushah. The meaning of this word really has two levels. The first level has a moral quality. God is good, righteous, pure, just and he expects his people to be good, righteous, pure, and just. This is one way of being holy. The second level of meaning simply means ‘consecrated or set apart.’ The LORD is a different level of Being he is a category unto himself. The people of God then, are also to be consecrated, set apart–to be a different kind of people. A different category of people.

This is what Leviticus is about–being holy and reflecting to the world the character of God and the holiness of God. By living lives of holiness, then, the people of God not only show the character of God, but also draw closer to his presence. They are truly an ‘assembly of God.’

Why did God want a people set apart, consecrated, different? Rabbi Yoel Spotts translates Leviticus 20:23-24 this way:
“Do not follow the traditions of the nation that I expel from before you, for they did all of these things [that is sexual sin, child sacrifice and idolatry] and I was disgusted with them. I said to you: You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to posses it, a land flowing with milk and honey – I am Hashem your G-d, who has set you apart from the nations” (ibid. 20:23,24).

The Lord looked at the immorality of the land and wanted the children of Israel, his people, to be markedly different. It wasn’t so much that they were better, but that the nations of the world were so bad. The nations indulged in sexual immorality, witchcraft, child sacrifice, idolatry. The people of God were to be different–they were to be a light to the nations.

Chapter 19 of Leviticus give the children of Israel clear and practical ways to be holy. What is interesting about Leviticus, and this chapter is no exception, is that holiness encompasses not only individual commands not to indulge in sexual immorality or idolatry but also, and equally as important, interpersonal relationships. And relationships to the poor and the sojourner.

Let’s go through these injunctions. What we will see is that principles emerge for the people of God at all times–that includes us. The injunction to be holy stays the same.
Leviticus 19 says that when the people collect the harvest, not to ‘reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after the harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard.’ Why? ‘You shall leave them for the poor and the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.’

There were those in the ancient world who were homeless and who were ‘wanderers’ or ‘aliens’ which is what ‘sojourners’ were. They were not a part of the community in an official sense, but the LORD commanded the people to make the sojourners sharers of the blessings that God had provided. They were very literally on the margins, and the people of God were to allow them to share in the harvest–no questions asked, no circumcision check, no green card required. They could reap part of the harvest and eat the grapes of the vineyard.

The vineyard always means more than just a literal place where grapes were gathered. It is a symbol of the people of God and of God’s covenant with Israel. So the poor and the sojourner, the foreigners, were to at least touch the promises–to share even briefly in the blessings of Israel.

In our world, there are always those who are need. We know those needs in our world are legion. But we are not just supposed to be ‘givers’ we are supposed to be ‘sharers.’ God has blessed all of us and we are to see those in need in our parish and on the outskirts as sharers in the blessing. Even those who are just passing through. Even those who have no desire to follow Jesus. Perhaps by the love of God’s people they will desire to follow him.

One tendency of religious folk is to fall into the trap of isolation. We would love to simply avoid those who make us uncomfortable–perhaps those who smell of the streets. Or those in notorious sin. John Ortberg, a Willow Creek teaching pastor says, “Throughout history religious people have been attracted to the strategy of isolation: avoid [certain] people and live in religious quarantine…[then] the quarantine becomes a greenhouse for the most destructive sins: pride, exclusivism, self-righteousness. In isolation love dies; humility and compassion and generosity of spirit all suffocate.” As the people of God we are called not only to be givers but sharers with those who are hurting and broken in the world. We must never isolate ourselves.

But more than dealing with others on the outside of the community, Leviticus 19, as I mentioned, also deals with how the people of God relate to each other. Very simple and practical advice. To deal honestly and fairly with each other. To pay someone for their work in a timely manner. To not lie. To not ‘curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind,’ that is, to not take advantage of those who are weaker.

Then, there is the verse that Jesus repeated, ‘You shall not hate your brother [or sister] in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor…You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.’

To live justly with each other, to deal fairly, to be honest, to love your neighbor as yourself. These were all actions that God defines as holy. Why? To love’s ones neighbor is to reflect God’s heart and character to the rest of the world. This action is a way that God’s people consecrates themselves–sets themselves apart. The moral code was important but loving neighbor as yourself was even more important.

Love your neighbor. Sounds so idealistic and right. It is simple but difficult. If, when you are in the process of seeking holiness, what if your neighbor is a jerk? What if another person among the people of God is a jerk?

I love the way Rabbi Spotts comments on this text. He says, “As often occurs, we have been preceded by many generations, as the rabbis of the Jerusalem Talmud (Tractate Nedarim 9:4) posed the question [of loving your neighbor as yourself, even when he doesn’t deserve it]. Their answer provides a startling new perspective on the nature of the Jewish nation, one which must be taken very seriously. The rabbis respond with a parable: Imagine a butcher chopping meat. Accidentally, the butcher lands the knife on his left hand, severely damaging that limb. Would it then make sense for the wounded left hand to return the favor and intentionally injure his right hand which held the knife? [no!]”

And then he goes on to say, “The parable is illuminating. The Jewish nation is like a body. Each Jew plays a role in keeping this body healthy. While each Jew has his own individual responsibility, the Jewish people as a whole have a mission, and thus every Jew must work in total cooperation and harmony to achieve that goal…Only by seeing ourselves as part of the whole and appreciating that we are but a finger or an eye in the body of the Jewish nation can we hope to attain holiness.”

Sound familiar? Rabbi Spotts sounds like another rabbi named Paul and our chief rabbi, Jesus.

A body. A people set apart for holiness. Serving the poor, dealing justly with others, loving our neighbor as ourselves. Maybe Leviticus is not so far fetched after all.

What did Jesus say? ‘Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect…Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself,’ and ‘a new command I leave you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another.’

We live in interesting times both as a church and as people in the West. There is a disdain for absolutes, for clear statements of morality, for truth with a capital ‘T.’

Now, more than ever before we need a clear, definitive strategy for evangelism and apologetics. By ‘apologetic’ I mean not to say we’re sorry, but I use the word in the sense of the Latin apologia, that is, ‘to give a defense.’

‘By this, all people will know you are my disciples…’ that you are obnoxious. ‘By this all people will know you are my disciples…’ when you can win an argument. John Ortberg says that among Christians who are fighting for the truth, our opponents do not often qualify for love. ‘An old saying suggests that the first casualty of war is truth,’ he writes, ‘This is not quite true. The first casualty of war is love.’

Now love, again as Scripture and Christ himself describe it is not namby-pamby warm and fuzzy. It is self-sacrifice, sharing and loving with whom we may have no desire to share or love. When Jesus washed the disciples feet, he washed Judas’ feet, too. I want you to always remember that.

The best apologetic for our faith is found in the way we love, our neighbor and each other. In the 2nd century Christian apologist Tertullian wrote. “It is mainly the deeds of love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us! ‘See,’ they say, ‘how they love one another..see how they are ready to die for one another.”

The greatest apologetic for our faith is when we leave our selfishness at the font and live for God and one another, when we put aside our own agendas. When we love as Christ loved. Writing on John 13 scholar Donald Guthrie writes a story about Dr. Robertson McQuilkin who was, for many years the president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina.

Dr. McQuilkin’s wife, Muriel, also had an illustrious career in speaking and did many radio and television appearances. In the mid ‘80s, Muriel was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and began to deteriorate. It got to the point where Dr. McQuikin found it more difficult to do his job. Some Christian friends said that Columbia was becoming very successful and that he should give Muriel over to professional (nursing home) care and that he should continue doing great work.

But he could not bear the thought. He resigned from Columbia to care for his wife full time. ‘It was a choice between two loves,’ he said. But it was really no choice at all. In the face of love, sacrifice, career, all of that falls by the wayside.

As he cared for her in her last days he wrote, “It is more than keeping promises and being fair. As I watch her brave descent into oblivion, Muriel is the joy of my life. Daily I discern new manifestations of the kind of person she is, the wife I always loved. I also see fresh manifestations of God’s love–the God I long to love more fully.”

In a day of selfishness we need this kind of picture of love. What God wants from his people is a holiness that looks like this. A love that thinks of the other person before ourselves. A love that puts our needs lower than our spouses, and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

God wants a holy people, set apart for his work in the world. If we want to show the world we are his disciples, we will love each other. We will love those who deserve it and we will wash the feet of the Judas’ even among God’s people. ‘Be holy,’ says the Lord. ‘As I am holy.’

Easter 4
Good Shepherd

“The word of the LORD came to me: Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them– to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.”
Have you heard of the book The 48 Laws of Power? It is really quite fascinating, a kind of historical study on how to get your way. Among the 48 laws are: ‘Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit,’ ‘Learn to keep people dependent on you,’ ‘Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim,’ and ‘Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability.’
Today has become known as ‘Good Shepherd Sunday,’ because we focus on Christ our Good Shepherd. I wonder if you can detect the contrast in our world’s way of leading and Christ’s; strike terror, or be a good shepherd?
Jesus used this image of a good shepherd to describe himself. A shepherd was and is no easy vocation. In the first century, a shepherd had many things to be wary of in watching and protecting sheep. First, there was the desert. We often think of green pastures and cool water when we think of a shepherd’s environment and that is definitely where the shepherd would lead his flock. But you have to understand that just over the Mt. of Olives, a 45 minute walk from Jerusalem, begins a 1000 mile stretch of desert across the Jordan River, into the eastern plateaus, and on through modern day Saudi Arabia and Iraq. There were areas of refreshment to be sure. But they were few and far between. The shepherd had to deal with many dangers and physical challenges that accompanied him in the desert.
It was winter when Jesus was speaking here in John 10 and during the cool winter months, sheep were kept in a pen at night. The pen was usually surrounded by a stone wall, which had briers on top of it, kind of like a barbed wire protection.
In the desert, the shepherd had to watch out for thieves and wolves. A thief would jump into the sheep pen and steal sheep for financial gain and the wolf, well the wolf was there for bar-b-q lamb chops.
In the desert, the shepherd even had to worry about his own workers. The hirelings, or helpers who were paid a wage, would take off at any and all signs of danger where as the shepherd would stand his ground at any cost. The hirelings were only in it for the cash.
How would a shepherd keep the flock safe? A four or five foot wooden staff that served chiefly as a defense weapon. Shepherds were also skilled with a sling and stones. When the flock was attacked, a ‘good’ shepherd will never throw a lamb to the attacking animals in order to save the flock. He tried to find a sheep pen, or a cave, and then stood between the flock and danger.” Often the shepherd would sleep at the entrance of the sheep pen and act literally as the pen’s gate.

Jesus’ words in John take place at the ‘Feast of Dedication’ also known as Hanukkah, commemorating Judas Maccabeus rededication of the Temple after reclaiming it from the Greeks, who had offered a pig to Zeus inside it. It was a time when the people remembered the significance of the Temple and the shepherds and priests who led worship there.
The ministry that Jesus was claiming for himself was that he was and is the Good Shepherd. He is the gate–that is the way, and he is the shepherd himself. He literally threw himself to the wolves to be killed on our behalf–to save us in every sense. Jesus was contrasting himself to the wolves, the false christs and false prophets, many of whom exist today. We are to learn to hear his voice above others. Often shepherds in Palestine would name each and every sheep, and the sheep knew when he was calling and when he was not. The shepherd would even sing to his sheep so that his voice would always be familiar. You know he knows each and every one of us by name and that we must learn to hear his voice. All this imagery perhaps we know well.
What John the evangelist and Jesus do, though, is throw us a curve ball. You have to be familiar with the whole book to know what I mean. Someone read for me John 21:15-19. Readers of John’s gospel would see what Jesus is doing here. This is a post-resurrection scene. Not only is he restoring Peter after Peter’s denial of Jesus, Jesus is doing something pretty crazy. He is leaving the shepherding to Peter. He is giving Peter the staff to feed, protect and care for the flock of Christ.
It may shock you to know that I really have no problem saying that Peter was given the mantle of Christ’s authority and given primacy as chief of the apostles. I also have no problem saying that the Pope of Rome represents Peter’s spiritual authority. Pretty Catholic eh?
But I also believe that authority that Jesus gave to Peter, the staff of the Good Shepherd, was given to all the apostles. In the Anglican Tradition we value apostolic succession–that the apostles literally laid hands on their successors all the way down to our bishops priests and deacons of our day. This is why our bishops carry staffs. They are supposed to be guardians of the sheep and the faith and to protect and pass on the message of the gospels.
Peter the first bishop of Rome wrote 2 letters that bear his name. What did the first bishop of Rome tell his readers? That the Church itself is a royal priesthood and a holy nation. This was one of Luther’s axes to grind in the Protestant Reformation. All Christians, he said, carried the mantle of priesthood in the world and in the Church. Guess what? John Paul II himself said, about 15 years ago, that Luther was right. This is not to diminish apostolic succession, but it is to enhance the priesthood of all believers.
Why do I say all this in a sermon about the Good Shepherd? Because my calling is to carry that mantle of priesthood in this place. It is my vocation and calling to protect and love you and to be a guardian and preserver of the faith.
But guess what? You who are baptized in an apostolic way (that is simply in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit), you all share in Christ’s eternal priesthood. We are all shepherds like Christ. We are all to be protectors of the sheep and guardians of the faith. The message to Peter to ‘Feed my Lambs’ applies not only to the apostles or the clergy, it applies to all of us. Everything that Jesus is as a shepherd is what we are called to be to one another and to the world. Did you know that St. Anthony the Great, St. John Climacus and St. Benedict were never ordained? The charge to ‘Feed my Lambs’ applies to all of us. That may sound different to you, but it is what the calling of all of us in this place is.
What does that mean for us? What does that mean to be a shepherd in the Church and the world?
Look at the image that Jesus talks about–protecting and laying down his life for his sheep. This is something he did. He stood between evil and us and died for our salvation. While a hireling may sacrifice a sheep to save his skin, Jesus spared nothing to save our skin. This is love of the radical sort. This is a love that loves whether the other deserves it or not, like we talked about on Maundy Thursday when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples who abandoned him in the time of need. This is love of the most radical sort.
What would it look like for us to love like this? What would it be like to be in an environment where we give up our lives for each other? Where the staff of Christ is carried in love by all of us?
The monks of the desert in the early centuries of the church were elder-focused. That is, the spiritual father or mother were those who were filled with the Holy Spirit and who carried the wisdom of love and prayer to their spiritual children. These spiritual fathers and mothers were the centers of the monastic communities. What was amazing about this desert spirituality was that these fathers and mothers loved their disciples so much that they would intercede to God on their behalf. For example, St. Symeon said to one of his disciples, ‘I will die if God overlooks you [my child]. I will hand myself over to the eternal fire in your place if God deserts you.’
That sounds funny to us, but Paul said something similar in Romans 9–he said he would rather be accursed, that is ‘eternally condemned’ for his own people than to have them perish. And don’t forget the story of Moses. After Moses brought the 10 Commandments down from Mt. Sinai, the people were doing what? Worshiping the golden calf! Needless to say the Lord was angry. The first 2 commandments were violated while the ink was still wet! The Lord was ready to bring judgment. But what does Moses say to the Lord? “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of the book which you have written.”
What is the point here? These words represent a love that is so radical that is willing to take punishment for someone else’s sin. A love that not only overlooks the other’s sin, but takes responsibility for it!!
Do we not live in a culture of blame? Whenever there are tragedies like we witnessed a couple of weeks ago, someone always wants to find blame. Perhaps that’s human nature, but what happens when we want to bring the culture of blame into our church, into our marriages, into our families?
We are called to a higher love. We are called to carry the staff of Christ into our relationships. We are to love not only the undeserving among us, but we are to love so deeply that we would take punishment in their place!
This is a tall order. What would it look like if we could pull it off? Here are a couple of small examples.
I believe that healing is one of our vocations as a parish–the healing of Jesus through worship and prayer. Healing that comes in a variety of ways in and through Jesus. One of the reasons why we emphasize healing is because we’ve been beat up so much. But listen to this wonderful quote from Fr. John Chryssavgis, “Healing comes only when one learns to love and to be loved, when one is willing to bear the burdens of others and assume responsibility for them.”
Healing comes “when one is willing to bear the burdens of others and assume responsibility for them.” What an amazing statement! We are called to something radically different. Radical love like our Good Shepherd.
What about church-goers? In churches (and ours is no exception) I would say it is the tendency to think only of our own interests and our own areas of ministry. We have a myopic view of what church life should be. Since we don’t have children, we don’t think about the children. Since we are not elderly, we don’t think of the elderly. So and so should do that! Such and such is not my problem! What is on our own plate is so much that we won’t go beyond it. This is a very typical challenge for churches.
The challenge for us is to see this parish as the Lord’s. It is not mine it is not yours–it is ours led by the Lord. Therefore, we must see each ministry in the church and each person as something or someone we are all responsible for. We are to love whether the love is deserved or returned.
The more we can move in this direction as a parish, the closer we can get to the radical call of Christ to love as he loved. The more we are willing to take responsibility, not just for our own needs, but for those of others, the greater this place will be. And, that healing of Christ that we long for will be more and more of a reality.
Here’s my challenge. Here’s the ideal: To be like the Good Shepherd.
To lay down your life for these your brothers and sisters in this place. To love so much that we take responsibility for others. We can talk about loving the world ‘out there,’ which is another sermon, but we are called to be good shepherd’s here and love one another radically.
One last challenge. If we are to be like the Good Shepherd, then we will also feel a responsibility for the world around us. We will also have a sense of mission for the gospel to reach the world. We have some great outreach opportunities that our parish is a part of to do some of that mission work and there are new ones brought to our attention all the time.
One of those is developing a very close relationship to the Sudanese Anglicans here in Denver. I have grown close to the priest of the Sudanese priest whose congregation meets at the Cathedral. His name is Fr. Anderia Arok and he is now in the Sudan checking up on his mother and other family members. This relationship could be an opportunity for us to be involved in a local mission here and to also be involved in what is happening in the Sudan even now.
We need to hear God’s voice for these kinds of opportunity. As rough of times as we have had in our church, we have walked through adversity and now it is time to look outside of ourselves and look seriously at what impact Epiphany can have. Continue to hear the shepherds voice!
Follow the Good Shepherd. Hear his voice. Carry his cross, but also his staff, and love. Listen to that quote again:
“Healing comes only when one learns to love and to be loved, when one is willing to bear the burdens of others and assume responsibility for them.”