Church of the Epiphany

Proper 15
Luke 12
From the prophet Jeremiah, “Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? Says the LORD. Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”
Did we hear Jesus right this morning? What is this about bringing fire? And when he says, ‘Do you think that I have come to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!’ Matthew’s version is less soft, ‘not peace but a sword.’ What’s this about? Sounds like fire & brimstone. And he is just on the heels of a discussion of his second coming and judgment.

There is a common misconception that Jesus is a ‘nice guy.’ ‘What a friend we have in Jesus…’
Often when popular culture thinks of Jesus as the sage or wise prophet bringing warm fuzzies, they flat out have the wrong Jesus. Scott McKnight says this:

“A Jesus who went around saying wise and witty things would not have been threatening enough to have been crucified during Passover when he was surrounded by hundreds who liked him. A Jesus who was a religious genius who helped people in their relationship with God was kind, compassionate, and gentle would not have been crucified either…”

Of course Jesus is the manifestation of God’s unconditional love, but he is more. He is a threat to every social order and convention. Our gospel gives us two insights on the real Jesus. One, Jesus brings division. And two, Jesus brings fire. These do not fit in with the wise sage Jesus of popular religion, but we can’t get around Jesus’ words this morning.

First, Jesus brings division. Father against son. Mother against daughter. Mother-in-law against daughter-in-law. These are some of the most intimate relationships that we encounter in the human experience, and yet Jesus says that his presence can divide even the most intimate of relationships.

It is difficult for us to get the drift of what Jesus is saying. We have heard stories families of other religions that have disowned other family members who have become Christians. In radical cases around the world, converts to Christianity are killed on the spot, sometimes by close family members or friends. This has even been true in communist countries when converts to Christianity bring the new faith home. And whether it is family members or neighbors, the cost can be high.

For these Christians of the two thirds world and the early Christians, Jesus’ words make sense. Why do they not with us? Well, sometimes they do. But being a Christian is normally ok in our context. So long as you aren’t too much of one.

St. Francis of Assisi found out about family division firsthand. You recall his story. When he was in church one Sunday, he heard the words of Jesus to ‘sell everything, give it to the poor and follow me.’
Francis took those words to heart, went home and threw all of his possessions out of the window. His father was furious. Everything Francis had was given to him by his father, who had no desire to take the Bible literally. So, his father threw Francis in jail, then took him to court. Francis said, ‘No longer is Pierto Bernardone my father, for from now on, my Father is in heaven.’

Jesus sets father against son. Jesus brings division because he shares loyalty with no one, not even our closest family and friends.

Being a Christian is normally ok in our context. So long as you aren’t too much of one.
Jesus came to bring division.

Not only does Jesus bring division, but more dramatically, he says he brings ‘fire.’ ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!’

Sounds kind of ‘fire and brimstone.’ The metaphor of fire that Jesus refers to is the purging fire of judgment, brought about by the Holy Spirit. This is far from destructive fire, though, this fire is restorative, purging, or purgative fire; fire that refines and transforms, however painful it is to be within its heat.

Jesus is God’s love revealed. He is God’s unconditional love made flesh. But it is an inadequate portrait of Jesus and an inadequate portrait of love to characterize him only in terms of peace and sentimentalism.

Jesus is not only the love of God, he is the power of God and he brings the conviction of God. We ask for that power every time we ask him to be with us. We ask for that power whenever we gather as a church. I wonder if we ever expect that power to manifest itself.

Annie Dillard wrote these well-known words I’ve shared with you before in her work Teaching a Stone to Talk, she writes,

“On the whole I do not find Christians outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of the conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies straw hats and men’s velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping God may wake some day and take offense and call us out beyond our depth, beyond where we want to go…”

‘I have come to bring fire,’ says Jesus. He has come to bring his Holy Spirit among us to take us beyond our depth, to take us beyond where we want to go to change us, to transform us, to make us new. Are we aware of the power we so blithely invoke?

‘I have come to bring fire.’ The Lord wants us to be aflame, not only burning with desire for him, but also refined and transformed by his Holy Spirit. Love brings repentance, as our reading from Hebrews says, love brings discipline.

‘I have come to bring fire.’ What does that look like for you? What does the flame of the Holy Spirit bring to your life? How would you want the power of the Holy Spirit to transform you?

Of course the power of God is not magic. The transforming fire of God often takes time and happens in a variety of circumstances. Jesus spoke of a ‘baptism’ he must undergo. He was referring to his death. Crucifying the Son of God on a bloody cross of wood is the primary event God has used to bring life and transform his people. This is no magic wand way of curing all ills. The cross is a reminder that it takes blood, grit, and the deepest kind of love to change us.

And why the image of baptism for the cross? Because not only is baptism a dying and rising to new life, it is a cleansing. The cross of Christ is a cleansing of the sins of the whole world.

‘I have come to bring fire on the earth.’

What would it look like to be ‘fire’ for God. Christ desires for us to be ‘fire’ for God. Think of what the burning bush was for Moses. Moses encountered a bush that burned but was not consumed. That bush was the conduit of God’s presence and God’s Words.

This is Christ’s desire for us, that we burn so brightly with the presence of the Holy Spirit that we are kindled, but aren’t consumed. We become a conduit of God’s presence and his words.

Last Wednesday was the Feast Day of St. Mary the Virgin, actually it is the commemoration of her dormition, or ‘falling asleep’ of Mary. Putting aside debates about the Virgin Mary, there is a tradition that her pious parents Joachim and Anna dedicated her to the Temple, like Hannah dedicated the prophet Samuel as a child. Mary, like Samuel, grew up sleeping near the 10 golden lamp stands, by the ‘bread of the presence’ just outside the holy of holies. There she was near the presence of God.

Eventually, as foretold by the angel Gabriel, that presence of God would envelop her and she would become in herself a sort of Temple. The presence of God was contained in her womb. Jesus, the Son of God, whom the early church fathers deemed like the sun in the sky, grew inside of Mary. She became the ultimate ‘fire-bearer.’

What would it look like for us to be God-bearers, or fire-bearers? What would it look like for us to be a fire for God, so much so that his presence envelops us? The ‘bread of the presence’ is contained in our own tabernacle, we will eat the bread of the presence in just a few moments. I wonder if we will catch fire.

When we talk of fire and revealing God it reminds us that we need a clear picture of what the mission of the church is. We are the light of the Epiphany, revealing Christ who asks for total loyalty or nothing at all. But before talking of our mission, we must also consider God’s mission.

God’s mission is to be in communion with us. He wants loyalty and total commitment not because he wants to ruin our lives, but because he wants to bring us life.

What happened to Yellowstone Park after the fires? New life and beauty.

Jesus wants communion with us, that is why loyalty and commitment are so important. He knows what kind of life is the best, abundant life.

John Burtness just got back from Little Portion Hermitage in Arkansas, where John Michael Talbot has his community and retreat center. John told us Friday that it is all about pursuing God, because God is at the same time pursuing us.

God does not bring the fire of the Holy Spirit to consume and destroy us, but he brings it to bring us to him. Why does the family bond potentially suffer? Because we get a new family.

I am often asked if I think all that is taking place around the world is the end of the world. I always give a Anglican (and actually biblical answer), which is, ‘I have no idea.’

But Jesus asks us to read the signs of the times. He asks us to discern God’s voice around us. What I would say is, simply, God is trying to get our attention. Not because he wants to wipe us off the planet, but because he wants to do with the world what we do every Sunday. He wants to have communion, deep relationship, table fellowship, a sharing of his presence, with every person on the planet—every person on the planet.

I read these words from an Anglican missionary who is following the situation in Iraq:
“Most of one Iraqi congregation in Baghdad has little food, electricity for about 1 hour a day, and many are getting threatening letters nailed on their doors advising them to leave, or die. I will never forget what a visiting chaplain told them. He said, ‘I couldn’t pretend for them that all was going to be all right. I couldn’t tell them that they wouldn’t die. I told them hat my only consolation, the only thing I could offer was that when they see Jesus they will be like Him. And so after a time, they were moved to praise God.” Even in the darkest of places, God wants communion with his people.

Nero used to light Christians on fire to decorate his garden. Jesus wants to light Christians like you and me with the fire of his Holy Spirit. Are you willing to let him do so?

Proper 14
Hebrews 11:1-16
A couple of nuns who worked with the infirm had gone out to the country to minister to an outpatient. On the way back they were a few miles from home when they ran out of gas. They were standing beside their car on the shoulder when a truck approached.

Seeing these nuns in full habits in distress, the driver stopped to offer his help. The nuns explained they needed some gas. The driver of the truck said he would gladly drain some from his tank, but he didnt have a bucket or can.

One of the nuns dug out a clean bedpan and asked the driver if he could use it. He said yes, and proceeded to drain a couple of quarts of gas into the pan. He waved goodbye to the nuns and left.

The nuns were carefully pouring the precious fluid into their gas tank when the highway patrol came by.

The trooper stopped and watched for a minute, then he said: “Sisters, I don’t think it will work, but I sure do admire your faith!”

What is faith?  Hebrews describes Abraham and the other company of believers as those who ‘lived by faith.’  They shined as lights in the world because they had faith.  ‘Faith’ is a million dollar word, what does is mean?  We use the word as either intellectual assent to doctrine or belief, or in more recent times, anti-intellectual assent to doctrine or belief.  So someone might say, ‘Science (or history, or social-science, or anthropology) deals with the facts, but God and religion deal with faith.’

The biblical writers don’t bother with that kind of discussion.  For the biblical writers, faith is all encompassing, faith is what you put your stock into.  Faith is life.  The author of Hebrews puts it this way, ‘Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.’  The word ‘faith’ not only means to believe some kind of content, it assumes a trust, a resolute confidence, a calm courage.

For our purpose this morning we’ll look at three aspects of faith from our Scripture readings.  You can use a sign that Christians have used for centuries, the sign of the cross.  When you sign yourself with the cross, you are taking God into your mind, into your heart, and into your strength or will.  Think of these as aspects of faith that includes your mind, your heart and your strength.

First, your mind.  Now I must say at the outset that there is no ‘order’ to faith, that it starts with the intellect.  When God called Abraham, it was the God who created the heavens and the earth.  God was not the God that Abraham was familiar with, but the introductions had to take place.  This was the God of the universe not just ‘a god’ from Abraham’s pantheon.

Our faith is not without content.  We do have doctrine and when we say, ‘We Believe’ on Sunday morning, what we are affirming is a matter of life or death.  This is what we believe and it is indispensable for the Christian faith and life.

A couple of years ago, a certain denomination voted at its general assembly to explore other possibilities for the naming of the Trinity that was more gender neutral like ‘mother, child, womb’ or ‘creator, redeemer, and sanctifier,’ etc.   We are not free to do such things.  There is definite content to our faith.
One humorous blogger said this:
Why all the fuss? Those three are only some of the possible alternative names. If they don’t appeal to you, there are plenty of others to choose from. Here are some others that the committee proposed:

1. Doctor, Lawyer, and Indian Chief
2. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva
3. Tinker, Evers, and Chance
4. Butcher, Baker, and Candlestick Maker
5. Lucifer, Satan, and Beelzebub
6. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
7. Executive, Legislative, and Judicial
8. Gippetto, Pinocchio, and Jiminy Cricket

Two other proposed alternatives, “Peter, Paul, and Mary” and “Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria” were both rejected based on fears that they might constitute idolatry.

To have faith we must look at the content, we must use our minds.  We believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  We believe that Christ really did enter human history to change the world and to save us.

But we cannot stop with the mind.  To have faith also is to bring God into our hearts.  It is to believe with conviction.  It is also to have our eyes on an unseen reality.  ‘The conviction of things not seen’ as the author of Hebrews puts it.  God told Abraham he would be blessed and Abraham believed with all his heart.  The heroes of the faith left what they knew because they believed that God would bring, and is bringing a heavenly country where he reigns in peace and majesty.  Don’t forget, most of Jesus’ preaching emphasized that the ‘kingdom of heaven is at hand.’  The faith of the heart is the faith that can look beyond this world to God’s work in the world.  It is to see what previously could not be seen.

Last week was the feast day of the Transfiguration, commemorating when Jesus took Peter James and John to Mount Horeb and was Transfigured in their sight.  His clothes became dazzling white and his glory shone throughout the place they were standing.  They heard the voice of the Father and Moses and Elijah were there talking to Jesus.  The Eastern Orthodox tradition has a unique insight about this event.  They say that rather than Jesus being transformed, it was the vision of the apostles that was transformed.  They were given a glimpse of who Jesus was and is–they were given a glimpse of reality.  For a moment, the scales from their eyes were removed they could see the unseen.  They could see things as they really were.  ‘For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal’ said the apostle Paul.

I love the way the author of Hebrews describes those who have faith:
All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Strangers, foreigners, seeking a homeland.  There hearts were so full of God that they knew there was something better, something they could only grasp with their hearts.  And therefore, ‘God is not ashamed to be called their God.’  Have you ever seen that verse before?  Those who are not at home here, those who are life refugees in their own land, those who cannot get comfortable, who are antsy with the things of the earth.  Those who look beyond to the heavenly city.

We have faith with all our minds, hearts and lastly, our strength. To have faith, we believe the promises of God, so much that it changes our lives.  It is life altering faith.  It is risk taking faith. The book of Hebrews says that by faith Abraham left all that he knew and all that he was in response to God’s command for him to begin a new nation.  Later in the chapter Abraham is commended again for his willingness to sacrifice his own son because of what he heard God say.

God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, and Abraham believed him, so much so that he left everything he knew behind to go to a land he did not know to live among people who were not his own.   He had to take a risk.

In Genesis 12, the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

When God called Abraham, Abraham was far from perfect.  Even on his journey to Canaan, Abraham lied and was deceptive.  But there was something about Abraham’s heart that drew God’s attention, and the attention of all of us who have inherited his faith.  When God called him, Abraham was compelled to follow.  He could not help but follow.  He did not know where he was going and only a promise told him why he was going.  He had to take a risk.

This is life-altering faith.  Faith that makes a difference.  As one author has said, “to leave the certainties one knows and go out into what is quite unknown–relying on nothing other than the Word of God—is the essence of faith.”

God drove Abraham and gave him purpose and meaning.  God changed the way Abraham lived.
Mind, heart and strength.

On more than one occasion in the gospels Jesus asks his followers to leave what they know for the life altering experience of following him.  What does that look like for us?  You can see the sense of urgency in the words of Jesus this morning.

Think of our own Anglican experience.  By faith St. Patrick returned to barbarians who enslaved him to preach the gospel to Ireland.  By faith he planted holy places, places of refuge from the violence of Irish life.  By faith John Wesley and George Whitfield preached the gospel on horseback traveling through the perilous frontier of the new world.

By faith Jackson Kemper, risked the dangers of the American wilderness and established holy places of sacramental worship (much like Patrick) like Nashotah House in Wisconsin, which to this day faithfully preaches and teaches the Catholic Faith.

By faith a non-assuming woman named Ella Robinson, member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Denver, who started a Sunday School in her house over a hundred years ago.  It was soon thereafter called Epiphany mission.

To have faith with all of our strength is to have life altering faith.  It is to God where God leads.
It is not something to muster up, it is something to discern and then act upon.  It is to take a risk.

Sarah and I have been helping a Sudanese boy named Emmanuel learn English this summer. Through God’s grace, we have decided to take him in for the school year, Monday through Friday.  Amazingly, we were able to get him into a charter school and we are excited to be helping him with English.  The way these events have taken place have blown me away.

What is more interesting, though, is the people that are now in our lives because of this one relationship.  Do you think God had anything to do with this?

Sarah knows me well and she knows that I am not a risk taker.  I drive under the speed limit when the kids are in the car.  But God has taken steps way in front of me, and I must follow.

As followers of Christ, we must take chances, wise, informed, discerning chances of course, but the life of faith changes us or it does not.  It alters us or it does not.

We saw the movie Evan Almighty last Friday and I heartily recommend it to you.  It is funny and entertaining and not always theologically precise, but it has some great elements in it.  Steve Carroll plays a congressman who is told by God (Morgan Freeman) to built an Ark, a big boat because a flood is coming.  They go back and forth through several scenes until the modern day Noah finally gives in.  The congressman’s campaign slogan was ‘Change the World’ and he had already made all the plans to get there.  He had also put his life neatly together with a new house and a new Hummer.

When he was talking to God he said, ‘I’ll build your Ark but this is going to mess me up.  What about my plans!?’

To which God replies, ‘Your plans?’ and then he breaks out in laughter.

This is often how things work and often why people hold back, but don’t hold back.  Your mind, your heart, your plans, God wants them all!

Proper 13
Colossians 3:5-17
We are coming to an end of our series on the book of Colossians. It is fitting that our study of Colossians would culminate in a baptism this morning. Paul’s word, and God’s words to us could not be more fitting. Remember the issue in Colossians is putting of the old and putting on the new. Paul says in chapter one of Colossians that God has ‘rescued us from darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his Son…’ What better picture of going from darkness to light than a baptism?

Normally, I would say a few words about the vows and the baptismal covenant, but Paul actually does the work for me. The first verses of chapter three are actually pretty important. He says,
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Then Paul shows us explicitly how to go from darkness to light. Put off, put to death the old person and, since you have been raised with Christ, ‘clothe yourself’ with the characteristics of Jesus. Literally, clothe yourself with Christ. Paul says Christians are ‘in Christ’ and ‘with Christ,’ and the catalog of virtues he mentions reflect that fact.

What was happening in the church of Colossae, as we know, was that they were confused as to how to live in Christ, how to live that new kingdom life. They were vexed as to how to get away from the indulgent and permissive culture they lived in. And so some came up with a whole list of ‘don’t dos.’

Some thought that they should live according to the law. Some thought they should reflect the dualism of the philosophers. Paul says in Colossians 2, 20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings. 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.”

When faced with the sexual immorality and the indulgence of the culture, the Colossians thought that return to a tighter system would work. Paul, says, though, that creating lists of ‘don’t dos’ are actually ineffective against vice and indulgence. His solution is simple but deeper than might seem on the surface.

What Paul says, is basically, put to death what is earthly and clothe yourself with the character of Jesus. Put off the clothes of earth, and put on the clothes of Eden, of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Our baptismal liturgy says to renounce evil and turn to Christ.

How is that done?

Paul is clear that there are two levels to the earthly nature. He says to: Put off, put to death what is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry)… anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another…

The first list of vices are the obvious ones, fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). These reflect the baseness of sin, the craving of what one does not have. This is the rockstar list, desires out of control. Greed for what others have and envy that what they have is not ours. Like the celebrity who tried to explain away his affair with his stepdaughter by saying, “The heart wants what it wants.” Or like the composer Wagner who said, “The world owes me what I need.”

But Paul has another list, he says also to put to death anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another…

Paul’s earlier point is that external rules and regulations can help some things, but that the real issue is the condition of the heart. Fornication, impurity and passion–rules might help here, but evil desire, greed, anger, malice…these things are much more difficult to avoid and to put off, or put to death. Did you know there was“A rabbinic tradition taught that if a man wants to keep his mind on the Law, he should not walk on a road behind a woman, even if she is his own wife.” One writer comments on this, “This advice ignores the fact that walking alone on the moon or making everyone wear floor length gunny sacks will not solve the problem of lust that lies buried within our hearts.”

We all know the 10 commandments. These are somewhat easy to pull of aren’t they? But Jesus first and then Paul say that it is the heart that is the true source of the problem. Jesus says in Matthew 5, 21“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23

Not too tough to refrain from killing. But to refrain from hatred and anger and malice?

Paul says that the list of vices (which certainly is not exhaustive) is part of the earthly nature. We are to put that nature off like a pile of rags–or to put it another way, we are to kill it.

Jesus words again, Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

For Paul and for Jesus, the sinful nature, the earthly, what in us which is of the kingdom of darkness needs to be cast aside and eliminated. This is serious business. This is why baptism and becoming a Christian is serious business. It is a serious choice and like what the Prayer Book says about marriage, Therefore marriage is
not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently,
deliberately, and in accordance with the purposes for which it
was instituted by God.

Ann Lamott says it well this way,
“…when you ask God into your life, you think he…is going to come into your psychic house, look around, and see that you just need a little cleaning–and so you go along for the first six months thinking how nice life is now that God is there. Then you look out the window one day and see that there’s a wrecking ball outside. It turns out that God actually thinks your whole foundation is shot an you’re going to have to start over from scratch.”

What Elizabeth is doing this morning is entering into a lifestyle of constant putting to death and constant clothing oneself with Jesus. Baptism is a one time thing, but the baptismal life, the Christian life, is a lifestyle that is taken on daily.

How do you put something to death? Only by bringing life and healing.
Paul says putting off is not enough but that since we are raised with Christ, Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love…Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

You see the pattern–put off, put to death; clothe yourself, put on Christ.

If the life of the Christian was all mortification and no life we would be people most to be pitied. But Christ is risen and those who are Christ-followers are risen to life abundant. A life of forgiveness, compassion, humility, meekness, patience and love. And we are also a people of truth and wisdom and a people of worship.

One of my favorite comics is Calvin and Hobbes, about a 6 year old boy and his stuffed Tiger Hobbes, who is real to Calvin. One cartoon is particularly funny. One panel has Hobbes asking Calvin about his New Year’s resolutions. Calvin says he didn’t make any and then says, “See in order to improve oneself, one must have some idea of what’s ‘good.’ That implies certain values. But as we know, values are relative. Every system of belief is equally valid and we need to tolerate diversity. Virtue isn’t ‘better’ than vice. It’s just different.” Hobbes then says, “I don’t think I can tolerate so much tolerance.” To which Calvin replies, “I refuse to be victimized by notions of virtuous behavior.”

Paul gives us a list of virtues that is not just a list of good things, but reflective of the nature of Christ himself. If we are to put off the old we are to put on Christ. We are to reflect his very nature, a life of forgiveness, compassion, humility, meekness, patience and love.

One writer says, ‘These teachings [from Paul] constitute an inescapable call to make the ethics of the Savior the ethics of the saved.’

How do we get there? Episcopalians, especially the old school ones like us, like duty. We like to do things because it is the right thing to do. But it is almost impossible to make Paul’s list duties. Think about it, you don’t wake up and say, ‘I’m going to be humble, meek, compassionate and patient today.’ You can only get there by total transformation.

It cannot be done without the power of the Holy Spirit and it cannot be done in isolation.
We cannot be Christlike without the power of God doing a work in our lives. And we cannot do it alone.

If we were to baptize Elizabeth (or anyone) and tell them to be on their way and thanks for being a part of this we would be selling her short. The call of Christ is a communal people. Elizabeth is called to the church just as much as she’s called to Jesus. Listen to Paul:

Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Forgiveness and bearing each other’s burdens. Forgiving as Christ has forgiven us. Teaching the truth in wisdom and worshiping. Those things can only be done in a body, which is the church. One writer has said, ‘[salvation] is a joining together of this person and that person, of the near and the far, of the good and the bad, of the high church and low church, of the liberal and fundamentalist. It is a social [public] event. No one is joined to Christ except together with a neighbor.’ We never do private baptisms at Epiphany because to be baptized into Christ is to be baptized into his body.

To be in the body then, we learn what forgiveness and compassion and love are all about. We also learn the truth and we seek to gain wisdom on the way. In a body we also worship. Paul says, with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

To be a Christian is to have a life of gratitude and praise. Sometimes we lose sight of this. Duty says, ‘get your butt to church!’ But a transformed life is a life of worship every day, with gratitude.

Put off the old, put on the new.

I read a book recently called God Grew Tired of Us about the lost boys of the Sudan. If you don’t know about the chaos in Sudan it is really basic, the Muslim government of the north went on a killing spree in the early 90s of all who were not Arab. Thousands of ‘lost boys,’ that is little boys, escaped, many of then naked, because the attacks occurred in the middle of the night.

The author of the book, John Dau, tells his story as one of those lost boys. He talks of being so thirsty that the boys would beg other boys to pee in a cup for them. He describes being so hungry that they would eat mud. He describes being beaten on several occasions by government soldiers who he would unfortunately meet on the road. He describes traveling 500 miles to find safety in Kenya.

In the Kenyan refugee camp John met a white Episcopal priest named Fr. Jphn. Fr. John gifted the refugees with a church service that he called synagogue, because they were like the children of Israel passing through without a permanent home. It was worship under a tent. But John Dau describes these worship services this way:

‘I belonged to a group of about 75 boys, who gathered for two hours every evening. We sang in Dinka. Sometimes we knelt and prayed, sometimes we felt the Spirit moving us to prophesy, and sometimes we just held each other. We jumped and clapped hands. And we danced. Ours was a demonstrative, emotional synagogue. It was the sweetest thing when I felt the Spirit of the Lord moving through me. It was like drinking cold water on a hot day. I knew the Lord had kept me alive in the desert and in the forest, and I was sure he must have a plan for me to do something good with my life.’

This is what it is to worship and to celebrate and to live together in love.
The contrast of what he experienced is also not so different from going from darkness to light, putting off the old–the desert, the forest, the danger, the hunger the despair; and putting on the new–the singing, the clapping, the dancing, the Spirit of the Lord–like drinking cold water on a hot day. There’s was an experience of freedom, worship and transformation.

Wherever we find ourselves today–maybe we’re trying to build the biggest barn like the man in Jesus’ parable, maybe we have wandered the desert and filled ourselves with the stuff that Paul mentions. We know there is something else. We can see a life that is worth living.

My invitation is to take that life, the life that Jesus offers. The living water, the abundant life. Ask the Lord to come in and to take his wrecking ball if necessary and to change us.

Let us pray.