Sermon delivered Sunday, April 24, 2016 (5th Sunday of Easter, Year C) at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA.
(Acts 11:1-18, Revelation 21:1-6, John 13:31-35)
“Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.”
We use that phrase to conclude the reading of the Scriptures in public worship at St. Cuthbert’s. This phrase comes from a liturgical resource called “Enriching Our Worship,” which was made available to the Episcopal Church in 1998 as a supplement to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. It offers alternative phrases and imagery to the more traditional wording in the prayer book.
The traditional phrase used after the reading of Scripture in the prayer book is, “The Word of the Lord.” But I much prefer “Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people,” for several reasons.
Although I do believe our scriptures to be “The Word of the Lord,” I think using that phrase so casually and without clarification can lead to a misunderstanding of how we are to engage with them. To me, when I hear “THE WORD OF THE LORD,” I imagine some big booming voice of authority sending down a message from on high. To me, that phrase has a sense of absolutism that does not encourage inquiry and exploration. This is the truth, the whole truth, the undeniable, indisputable truth, so help us God!
But “Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people” has an entirely different ring, at least to my ears. Rather than telling us to be passive recipients of something coming down from heaven, it invites us to discern what God is saying to us now in and through this text. It doesn’t imply that there is one meaning and all we have to do is accept it. When we are invited to “Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people,” we must do something in response to the scripture. We have to use our own faculties, our own God-given gifts for discernment, to figure out what God is saying to our church, to our community, to our country, to our world, through this passage of scripture.
This semantic distinction is important, I think, because it reminds us that God’s revelation to us is ongoing, not static. While maintaining and preserving tradition and passing it on to the next generation is important, if we focus only on that part of religion, we can end up knowing more about what God said to the ancient people than what God is saying to us today.
The letter to the Hebrews says that “the Word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12), and our brothers and sisters in the United Church of Christ remind us that “God is still speaking,” which has been their official slogan since 2004. Despite the fact that the scriptures include stories of God encouraging change in individuals and within communities, and of God saying outright, “I am doing a new thing!” – whether through the ancient prophet Isaiah or the futuristic book of Revelation – many people still tend to think of God – and therefore religion – as unchanging, unchangeable, set in stone, and church can be a place where “innovation” can be a dirty word.
But our scriptures on this Fifth Sunday of Easter, in this season of change and renewal, put innovation right up front and center. Beyond John’s vision of the heavenly king proclaiming “I am making all things new” in the passage from Revelation and Jesus giving a “new commandment” to the disciples in the passage from John, perhaps the most striking example of innovation is in our passage from Acts, when Peter receives a revelation from God that leads him to abandon the dietary laws that were central to Jewish tradition.
Now, it’s perhaps not possible to overstate how significant this change was for Peter and for the followers of Jesus. Although there is a common misperception that Jesus rejected Jewish tradition and ritual because of the many times he broke the Sabbath or challenged the authorities, Jesus actually was not really a religious innovator. He followed the traditional Jewish practices and he observed all the Jewish festivals. He told his followers, “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill.” In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, he has this to say about Jewish law:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)
Now, given that context, Peter’s vision telling him to “get up, kill and eat” animals that were forbidden by Jewish law to be eaten is extraordinarily radical!
Peter immediately protests, saying, “By no means, Lord, for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” He probably thought this vision was a test, to see if he’d do the right thing, to see if he’d be tempted to eat any of the “forbidden fruits” he was being shown on this sheet coming down from heaven. I imagine Peter might have been remembering Jesus’s words: “Whoever breaks one of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” “No way am I going to break the dietary laws,” Peter’s thinking, “I’ve already screwed up enough times; I’m not going to screw it up again! I know the right answer to this one – ‘By no means, Lord, I wouldn’t DREAM of disobeying the law!’”
But in the vision, God insists that he do so! “What God has made clean, you must not call profane,” says the voice from heaven.
I spent some time in evangelical non-denominational churches in college, and I remember a key part of their teaching was that no revelation could ever contradict scripture. So if you thought you had a vision from God, you had to go back and read the scriptures and see what they said, and if what you felt God was telling you to do was contrary to what the scripture said, it couldn’t be an authentic message from God. This line of reasoning was often used to explain to women who felt a call to ordained ministry why that couldn’t be an authentic message from God. Since women leading congregations would contradict scriptures that said, “Women should be silent in church,” or “I do not permit a woman to have authority over a man,” then obviously the woman must be confused or misunderstand what she’s really being called to do. God would never call a woman to ordained ministry, because that would contradict scripture!
But by that line of reasoning, Peter’s revelation in today’s passage from Acts would also be invalid! I’m sure some of the believers in Jerusalem rejected Peter’s message for the same reason: “What do you mean, God told you to eat unclean animals? That contradicts the scriptures! God would never tell you to do something that contradicts scripture!”
And yet, Christian tradition has held up this story as an example of how the Spirit moved among the believers in the early church, and the church would look very different today had Peter’s vision not been taken seriously – we would all still be keeping kosher and all the other commandments of the Jewish law as well. We would have essentially been required to convert to Judaism in order to become a follower of Jesus. But Peter’s contrary-to-scripture revelation acknowledged that God was bringing in the Gentiles even without their conversion to Judaism. Peter’s contrary-to-scripture revelation was central to the birth of the church and what it would become, and therefore central to our identity as Christians today. We now regard this example of breaking tradition as scripture!
The revelation Peter received wasn’t just a new interpretation of an old way of being; it was literally rejecting something that had been sacrosanct and endorsing something that had been forbidden! If this was possible, how could the church ever know for sure that they were following the right path? How could they be sure they were following God’s will, if God’s will could change with the next revelation to come along?
We still continue to struggle with these questions today. The debate over women’s ordination that raged in the 20th century in Protestant churches and of course continues today in the Roman Catholic Church, and the debate over same-sex marriage that has become the “hot button issue” of the 21st century, are just two obvious, high profile examples of the church wrestling with whether God can move us in a direction that “contradicts tradition” or “contradicts scripture,” but we can see this dynamic at play in any number of situations in the church, in issues large and small, any time we feel ourselves being called to move in a direction that somehow seems to be contrary to what is taught in the Bible or church tradition, and yet, we feel this call so strongly that we cannot deny that it is of God.
And although he valued the religious tradition of his birth and upheld it, Jesus himself also taught his followers that the action of God in this world is not always so easy to pin down. He compared the work of the Spirit to the wind. In John chapter 3, he answers Nicodemus’s inquiry about how to enter the kingdom of heaven by saying, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). The Spirit moves where it will, and our job is to be still long enough to listen for it and hear where it is moving, and to acknowledge it wherever we find it, even if it contradicts everything we’ve always known.
After the believers in Jerusalem hear about Peter’s vision showing that all foods had been made clean and then his story of the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit just as the Jewish followers of Jesus had, they acknowledge that it is possible that God is moving even in this unconventional way. “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” Peter asks, as he explains why he’s allowed Gentiles to join the community without keeping the Jewish law, and why he’s eaten with them despite their lack of adherence to the Jewish dietary laws. His listeners are silenced, for what satisfactory answer is there to that question? Who are we to hinder God? If God’s Spirit is behind something, good luck trying to stop it.
At another point in the book of Acts, the teacher Gamaliel, a wise elder on the Jewish council, defends the leaders of the church against calls for their execution by reasoning with his fellow councilmembers in this way:
“So in the present case,” Gamaliel says, “I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!’” (Acts 5:38-39)
As we begin the work of discernment about the future this congregation over the next weeks and months to come, let me remind you again about the key role of LISTENING in discernment. We are being invited to “hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people” at St. Cuthbert’s and in this part of Oakland. Our job is to listen for where God is already at work in the world around us, and to join in, to become his partners in creation, in bringing forth that “new thing” in our midst. Our job is to be open to the Spirit’s promptings and to follow them wherever they lead – even if they lead us to break tradition! Even if they lead us to do things that might contradict what we always thought we knew, or what we always thought we wanted for this church and for this community. Because no matter how noble and compassionate our ideas are, no matter how exciting or fun or promising they might seem, and no matter how much effort we put in to fulfilling them, they will never come to fruition if they are not in line with where God’s Spirit is already moving in the world. We can’t FORCE something to happen of our own will if it is not already of God.
So as we discern together, we must continue to ask ourselves “is this plan or this undertaking of human origin, or is it of God?” And we must be willing to accept the answer we receive, for if it is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, we will not be able to stop it, because who are we to hinder God?
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Sunday, April 10, 2016
When the people of God listen to God and trust God's word, amazing things are possible
Sermon delivered Sunday, April 10, 2016 (3rd Sunday of Easter, Year C), at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA.
(Acts 9:1-20, John 21:1-19)
On this third Sunday of Easter, we continue to hear stories of uncertainty, newness, change, and fear. The disciples are still reeling from the events of Jesus’s final week in Jerusalem – arrest, crucifixion, death, and now, these miraculous appearances! In our passage from John today we see Jesus appearing to the disciples while they are out doing what is familiar to them – fishing – and reminding them of their call to go beyond the familiar in order to bring in a successful “catch” for the kingdom. And in Acts, although the story is chronologically a bit later than the first post-Resurrection appearances, we have another powerful story of uncertainty, newness, change, and fear – when Jesus appears to Saul, an adamant persecutor of Christians, and Saul does a complete 180 – transforming from violent enemy to passionate leader in the church.
In both stories, the people of God are asked to trust God’s word, God’s direction, God’s movement in their lives, even when that leads them to do things that are unknown, unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and scary. When Jesus appears to the disciples on the beach and offers them some advice on getting better results with their fishing excursion, they have to trust that he knows what he’s talking about, even though they have been casting their nets all night and catching nothing.
“Cast the net to the right side of the boat,” Jesus says. “Oh, gee, thanks,” the disciples might have thought, “You think we haven’t thought of that one? What difference is casting the net on a different side of the boat going to make? If there aren’t any fish on this side, there aren’t going to be any just a few feet away on the other side! There are no fish! We know; we’ve been out here all night!” So they have, but perhaps they’ve only been casting the net on the left side of the boat because it was easier for them to do it that way. If they were right-handed, casting on the left side would make hauling the fish in easier, since they could use their dominant right arm to lift the heavy loads. They were professional fishermen; they’d probably perfected their technique to where it taxed the body the least so they could sustain longer working hours. They’d always done it this way and it had always worked for them in the past. But Jesus comes along after the Resurrection and asks them to do something slightly different, something that wasn’t the way they’d always done it, something that might have felt uncomfortable and unfamiliar. They’d have to use muscles they weren’t used to using. They’d have to call upon strengths they didn’t know they had. They’d have to modify their actions to adapt to the situation at hand.
And when they did – when they trusted Jesus’s advice and tried something different, they were overwhelmed with an enormous haul of fish – 153, to be exact, the same number as the number of nations known to exist at that particular time. A catch of 153 fish was symbolic of a “catch” of all the nations, foreshadowing the evangelism they would do as they spread the Gospel throughout the world.
And what about Ananias, in our passage from Acts today? Can you imagine God asking you to go voluntarily to meet with one of the chief persecutors of the church, someone who had sworn to kill anyone who was a follower of Jesus?
“Um, are you SURE that’s who you want me to go see?” Ananias asks. “I’ve heard lots of stories about this guy, and none of them are good. Do you KNOW how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem? And you want me to go heal HIM?”
But the Lord answers, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.”
Imagine the kind of trust it had to take for Ananias to follow through on that command! In our Gospel passage, the disciples had to trust just enough to try a slight change in their professional working habits, but still operating in the realm of something they were used to doing and that wasn’t threatening to them in any way. But Ananias is essentially being asked to walk right into the lion’s den! He has to trust God’s word that Saul is “an instrument God has chosen” – although every self-preservation instinct – and all of his friends who cared about him – would have urged him to stay as far away from Saul as possible.
But somehow, Ananias does it. He takes God at God’s word and does what he is being asked to do. And Saul is converted to the faith and becomes one of its strongest leaders.
When the people of God listen to God and trust God's word, amazing things are possible. Miraculous things are possible. When the people of God listen to God and trust God's word, lives are changed.
What is God asking you, the people of St. Cuthbert’s, to do that might be unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and scary? Fr. John Rawlinson’s sermon last week invited you to consider what the “resurrection” of this congregation might look like. “Resurrection is not the same old, same old,” he said. “Resurrection is not a repeat of what has been. Resurrection is the unknown and new life, but in likely a very different way.” This is the message of our scriptures for today as well. Resurrection means change – subtle change in some cases, radical change in others, but all cases, change.
St. Cuthbert’s is at a crucial moment in its history. In this “liminal space,” as Deacon Pam put it in her sermon the week after the retirement of your previous priest, in this in between time, you are being invited to consider what the future of this community will be. Your task is to listen for where the Holy Spirit is moving in this place – this congregation, this neighborhood, this city – and how God is calling you to respond.
In the short amount of time I have been here, I have seen and felt God’s spirit moving in a number of ways at St. Cuthbert’s. I’ll share a few of my thoughts, which I hope will be the start of a conversation that will engage the whole congregation over the next few weeks and months.
I see the Spirit moving in the passionate and beautiful music we make with one another each week. Quality music can be difficult to come by in small congregations, and St. Cuthbert’s is very fortunate to have the wonderful musicians it has to lead us in our praise of God.
I see the Spirit in the re-engagement of Lydia Pierce Chong with the congregation. Lydia is a young woman who had been loosely connected to St. Cuthbert’s in the past but now has a fire lit in her to reach out to the neighborhood surrounding the church and find ways we can minister to young parents and families in the area. Deacon Pam told me that after seeing the nursery room in the narthex used on Easter Sunday for the first time in a long time, she felt a nudge from the Spirit for us to do some kind of a blessing for that space, to put the energy out there in the universe that we are setting aside and dedicating that space for the nurture of children whom we have not yet met, but who God intends to bring to us.
I see the Spirit moving in the determination of BJ Gerton and her crew to keep the produce market going, despite the loss of funding from Episcopal Senior Communities, to provide a source of fresh produce in this neighborhood that in many ways is a “food desert,” an urban area where it is difficult to buy affordable or good quality fresh food.
And speaking of produce, I feel a nudge from the Spirit every time I see the farmers standing on the street corner in front of St. Cuthbert’s selling their produce during the week. This parish is blessed in terms of location to be perched on such a busy intersection. These guys wouldn’t choose this spot to sell their produce if it wasn’t a high traffic area with potential to net them good business. We could harness that energy to draw attention to St. Cuthbert’s. I’ve had visions of standing on the corner with them during the week, wearing my collar, holding up signs that say – “Pull over for free prayers” or “God loves you - join us on Sundays” – or whatever other creative ideas you all can come up with! Or, doing something as simple as holding a service outside one Sunday under the big trees in front of the church would make us more visible and show that there is life and energy in this place.
Where do YOU see or feel the Spirit moving at St. Cuthbert’s? What do you feel the Spirit nudging you to do around here? Now is a time for dreaming, for visioning, for considering what might be. No idea is too grandiose or too impractical – let your minds go wild, and share your ideas with Milene Rawlinson, our senior warden, BJ Gerton, our junior warden, or anyone else on the Bishop’s Committee. Diocesan leaders will be coming to St. Cuthbert’s within the next few weeks to begin a conversation about the future of St. Cuthbert’s. If you feel the Spirit moving us toward resurrection, listen. Listen and make it known to the rest of us, because we discern God’s will in community, through hearing and listening to one another. Listen and act on it, because when the people of God listen to God and trust God's word, amazing things are possible.
(Acts 9:1-20, John 21:1-19)
On this third Sunday of Easter, we continue to hear stories of uncertainty, newness, change, and fear. The disciples are still reeling from the events of Jesus’s final week in Jerusalem – arrest, crucifixion, death, and now, these miraculous appearances! In our passage from John today we see Jesus appearing to the disciples while they are out doing what is familiar to them – fishing – and reminding them of their call to go beyond the familiar in order to bring in a successful “catch” for the kingdom. And in Acts, although the story is chronologically a bit later than the first post-Resurrection appearances, we have another powerful story of uncertainty, newness, change, and fear – when Jesus appears to Saul, an adamant persecutor of Christians, and Saul does a complete 180 – transforming from violent enemy to passionate leader in the church.
In both stories, the people of God are asked to trust God’s word, God’s direction, God’s movement in their lives, even when that leads them to do things that are unknown, unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and scary. When Jesus appears to the disciples on the beach and offers them some advice on getting better results with their fishing excursion, they have to trust that he knows what he’s talking about, even though they have been casting their nets all night and catching nothing.
“Cast the net to the right side of the boat,” Jesus says. “Oh, gee, thanks,” the disciples might have thought, “You think we haven’t thought of that one? What difference is casting the net on a different side of the boat going to make? If there aren’t any fish on this side, there aren’t going to be any just a few feet away on the other side! There are no fish! We know; we’ve been out here all night!” So they have, but perhaps they’ve only been casting the net on the left side of the boat because it was easier for them to do it that way. If they were right-handed, casting on the left side would make hauling the fish in easier, since they could use their dominant right arm to lift the heavy loads. They were professional fishermen; they’d probably perfected their technique to where it taxed the body the least so they could sustain longer working hours. They’d always done it this way and it had always worked for them in the past. But Jesus comes along after the Resurrection and asks them to do something slightly different, something that wasn’t the way they’d always done it, something that might have felt uncomfortable and unfamiliar. They’d have to use muscles they weren’t used to using. They’d have to call upon strengths they didn’t know they had. They’d have to modify their actions to adapt to the situation at hand.
And when they did – when they trusted Jesus’s advice and tried something different, they were overwhelmed with an enormous haul of fish – 153, to be exact, the same number as the number of nations known to exist at that particular time. A catch of 153 fish was symbolic of a “catch” of all the nations, foreshadowing the evangelism they would do as they spread the Gospel throughout the world.
And what about Ananias, in our passage from Acts today? Can you imagine God asking you to go voluntarily to meet with one of the chief persecutors of the church, someone who had sworn to kill anyone who was a follower of Jesus?
“Um, are you SURE that’s who you want me to go see?” Ananias asks. “I’ve heard lots of stories about this guy, and none of them are good. Do you KNOW how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem? And you want me to go heal HIM?”
But the Lord answers, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.”
Imagine the kind of trust it had to take for Ananias to follow through on that command! In our Gospel passage, the disciples had to trust just enough to try a slight change in their professional working habits, but still operating in the realm of something they were used to doing and that wasn’t threatening to them in any way. But Ananias is essentially being asked to walk right into the lion’s den! He has to trust God’s word that Saul is “an instrument God has chosen” – although every self-preservation instinct – and all of his friends who cared about him – would have urged him to stay as far away from Saul as possible.
But somehow, Ananias does it. He takes God at God’s word and does what he is being asked to do. And Saul is converted to the faith and becomes one of its strongest leaders.
When the people of God listen to God and trust God's word, amazing things are possible. Miraculous things are possible. When the people of God listen to God and trust God's word, lives are changed.
What is God asking you, the people of St. Cuthbert’s, to do that might be unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and scary? Fr. John Rawlinson’s sermon last week invited you to consider what the “resurrection” of this congregation might look like. “Resurrection is not the same old, same old,” he said. “Resurrection is not a repeat of what has been. Resurrection is the unknown and new life, but in likely a very different way.” This is the message of our scriptures for today as well. Resurrection means change – subtle change in some cases, radical change in others, but all cases, change.
St. Cuthbert’s is at a crucial moment in its history. In this “liminal space,” as Deacon Pam put it in her sermon the week after the retirement of your previous priest, in this in between time, you are being invited to consider what the future of this community will be. Your task is to listen for where the Holy Spirit is moving in this place – this congregation, this neighborhood, this city – and how God is calling you to respond.
In the short amount of time I have been here, I have seen and felt God’s spirit moving in a number of ways at St. Cuthbert’s. I’ll share a few of my thoughts, which I hope will be the start of a conversation that will engage the whole congregation over the next few weeks and months.
I see the Spirit moving in the passionate and beautiful music we make with one another each week. Quality music can be difficult to come by in small congregations, and St. Cuthbert’s is very fortunate to have the wonderful musicians it has to lead us in our praise of God.
I see the Spirit in the re-engagement of Lydia Pierce Chong with the congregation. Lydia is a young woman who had been loosely connected to St. Cuthbert’s in the past but now has a fire lit in her to reach out to the neighborhood surrounding the church and find ways we can minister to young parents and families in the area. Deacon Pam told me that after seeing the nursery room in the narthex used on Easter Sunday for the first time in a long time, she felt a nudge from the Spirit for us to do some kind of a blessing for that space, to put the energy out there in the universe that we are setting aside and dedicating that space for the nurture of children whom we have not yet met, but who God intends to bring to us.
I see the Spirit moving in the determination of BJ Gerton and her crew to keep the produce market going, despite the loss of funding from Episcopal Senior Communities, to provide a source of fresh produce in this neighborhood that in many ways is a “food desert,” an urban area where it is difficult to buy affordable or good quality fresh food.
And speaking of produce, I feel a nudge from the Spirit every time I see the farmers standing on the street corner in front of St. Cuthbert’s selling their produce during the week. This parish is blessed in terms of location to be perched on such a busy intersection. These guys wouldn’t choose this spot to sell their produce if it wasn’t a high traffic area with potential to net them good business. We could harness that energy to draw attention to St. Cuthbert’s. I’ve had visions of standing on the corner with them during the week, wearing my collar, holding up signs that say – “Pull over for free prayers” or “God loves you - join us on Sundays” – or whatever other creative ideas you all can come up with! Or, doing something as simple as holding a service outside one Sunday under the big trees in front of the church would make us more visible and show that there is life and energy in this place.
Where do YOU see or feel the Spirit moving at St. Cuthbert’s? What do you feel the Spirit nudging you to do around here? Now is a time for dreaming, for visioning, for considering what might be. No idea is too grandiose or too impractical – let your minds go wild, and share your ideas with Milene Rawlinson, our senior warden, BJ Gerton, our junior warden, or anyone else on the Bishop’s Committee. Diocesan leaders will be coming to St. Cuthbert’s within the next few weeks to begin a conversation about the future of St. Cuthbert’s. If you feel the Spirit moving us toward resurrection, listen. Listen and make it known to the rest of us, because we discern God’s will in community, through hearing and listening to one another. Listen and act on it, because when the people of God listen to God and trust God's word, amazing things are possible.
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