Fr. Tommy's Sermons

The Ordination of a Prophet: John the Baptist

2011-12-05T19:44:00.003-05:00

St. Philip's Episcopal Church

Annapolis, Maryland

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,: who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:: `Prepare the way of the Lord,; make his paths straight,'"

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

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You can pick your friends, but not your relatives. I’m sure that’s a statement many of us have heard in our lives. Many of us know the truth of that statement. You only have to go to one or two family reunions to realize if you could pick your relatives there’s one or two folks who would get voted off the island and wouldn’t be in your family. Just remember the people you spent Thanksgiving with a few days ago!

I wonder if Jesus felt that way about his cousin John the Baptist. John has actually been quite polite this Advent season and didn’t poke his head in on Advent 1 like he normally does. This year we encounter him – smells and all – on Advent 2. So this morning I want to think with you about this person whom we sometimes write off, or at least I know I do.

As you’ll recall from the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptist was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah was a priest at the Temple in Jerusalem and lived to an advanced age. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth weren’t able to have children – until an angel comes and tells Elizabeth that she will bear a child. Zechariah finds this all rather funny – much like Abraham and Sarah do when an angel tells them they’ll have a child named Isaac.

So how does John the Baptist end up being such a crazy character – a character that probably none of us would want to have over for dinner – especially given such a good background, the son of a priest.

Scholars have struggled with this question. The best theory is that because Elizabeth and Zechariah were so old that they died and John ended up an orphan. Now because John was the son of a priest, that meant he could be a priest as well.

More than likely John fell into the wrong crowd. At least according to first century Jewish standards. He probably joined a sect within Judaism called the Essenes. This group was distinctive from the rest of Judaism because they had a number of ascetic practices and lived in the wilderness. Why the wilderness? Because of the way they were shunned by their Jewish brothers and sisters and probably by choice. Think about it for a minute. Think about how clear the night sky and the stars are out in the wilderness. What better place to hear God than alone in a wilderness or a desert. Those of us making this Advent pilgrimage to the manger must also travel through the wilderness to get there. It’s hard with all the “Joy to the World” playing in malls and shopping centers long before the 12 days of Christmas.

John the Baptist, I imagine was consumed by God because of spending all the time alone in the wilderness with God. He could probably hear God clearer than any one of us who live such busy lives with our iPhones, iPads, or whatever smart phone or tablet computer you have begging for your attention.

All of a sudden one day John began to preach. It was his vocation after all since his father was a priest. And people came to hear him. At first 20 or so, then a hundred or so, then they came by the thousands. Some walked 10, 20, and maybe even 30 miles which was a great distance in those days. The people were hungry to hear an authentic word from God. They hadn’t heard from a prophet in years.

So what do we see this morning from our Gospel reading? Nothing more than the ordination of a prophet. While John might not have lived up to his father’s dream of being a priest in the Temple, he did something far better. He became a prophet preparing the way for the Messiah. To be sure the ordination of a prophet looks far different than that of a priest.

I believe that each and every one of us in this room also share in John the Baptist’s ordination as a prophet by virtue of our baptism. When you were baptized, you made five vows – or someone made them for you if you were baptized as an infant. The last two in particular ordain each and every one of us as prophets: 1.) to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves and 2.) to strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being. Wrapped within these two vows are the call of the prophet: to speak truth to power, to see every human being as an infinitely loved child of God, and to not be afraid to take risks.

Who are some of the prophets among us or that we have known? Perhaps Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.? Ghandi? Archbishop Desmond Tutu?

Are you a prophet? Do you stand up for justice wherever you are?

As we continue our Advent pilgrimage to the manger I invite you to take seriously your baptismal vows and to follow in the footsteps of John the Baptist and to be a prophet. Amen.

Does Jonah have anything to say to us in the 21st century?

2011-09-19T13:58:00.003-04:00

St. Philip's Episcopal Church Annapolis, Maryland

September 18, 2011

Jonah 3:10-4:11

When God saw what the people of Nineveh did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." And the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.

The LORD God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live."

But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said, "Yes, angry enough to die." Then the LORD said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?"

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When I was a kid, I didn't’ like the story of Jonah because I had a fear of drowning and reading or hearing a story about someone being thrown overboard in rough seas wasn’t exactly comforting.

What’s interesting about this story is in many ways it’s been relegated to children’s books and it seems that adults don’t spend much time with it. Which I think is unfortunate because it has many things to say to us. Our Jewish brothers and sisters read this book on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.

The Book of Jonah opens with God telling Jonah to go and prophesy to the people of Nineveh. In the opening lines, it appears that Jonah is going to get up and do exactly that. He gets up out of bed and heads to the dock to get on a boat. It’s only later that we find out that this boat is headed in the exact opposite direction – to Tarshish which would be modern-day Spain. So Jonah has in his head a nice vacation on the coast of Spain rather than going to the difficult place that God has called him to. That part’s at least clear.

Jonah is like many folks who tell God yes, but mean no.

So Jonah gets on the boat and as they are at sea a great storm arises and everyone is fearful for their lives. All the sailors are pagans and pray to their gods to no avail. The captain finds Jonah asleep in the middle of the ship. He tells Jonah to wake up and begin praying. Jonah doesn’t pray. Finally the sailors draw straws to see who is the culprit. Who has angered God so much. Jonah gets the short straw. Finally he confesses. It’s his fault. God sent him on a journey and he headed in the exact opposite direction. He tells the men to throw him overboard and everything will be okay. These pagans act better than Jonah does. They try everything in their power to prevent throwing him overboard. They try to row back to the shore. They throw things overboard. Finally, when nothing works they decide to do what Jonah asks and throw him overboard. And God has a big fish come alongside the boat and swallow him. End of part one of Jonah and end of most children’s books.

Part two opens with God once again calling Jonah to go to the people of Nineveh and to preach to them. This time Jonah obeys. But what’s interesting is he only utters five Hebrew words. “In forty days Nineveh will be smashed.” That’s it. Jonah obeys the letter of the law, but not necessarily the spirit. Jonah assumed that this wouldn’t be enough for the people of Nineveh to turn to God. The king, the entire nation, do a 180. They put on the clothes of mourning – sackcloth and ashes and repent. We’re told that even animals put on sackcloth.

Jonah sees that the city has repented and God decides to spare the city. He gets angry. Really angry at God. He challenges God – God I knew that if I went and did what you told me to do that you would be merciful and not destroy the city. Then he asks God to kill him. That he’s better of dead. God challenges Jonah. “What do you have to be angry about?” Jonah then goes off to sulk and builds himself a booth to see what happens to Nineveh firsthand. I think Jonah thinks he can change God’s mind again so that God will in fact destroy the city and he wants a front row seat. This is probably the first Reality TV show long before it’s time.

God has a tree suddenly grow up next to the booth Jonah built to give him shade. Jonah was pleased with the shade. Life was looking up. But then the next day God sent a worm to eat the tree. The next day the sun was shining brightly and there was a hot wind blowing like opening an oven set on 425 degrees. Jonah thought he was going to faint and Jonah again wants to die. God asks Jonah what right he has to be mad. Jonah is more concerned about a plant than 120,000 people that live in a city. And so ends the Book of Jonah.

I think the reason we get mad when we hear the story of Jonah is our innate sense of justice. Bishop N. T. Wright in his book Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense argues that within each of us is a longing for justice. We want people to be treated fairly and justly. Deep inside of us we know when someone has been wronged. We know that Jonah is shortchanging the people of Nineveh by not treating them fairly and seeing them as God sees them – as deeply loved Children of God.

When we see someone treated differently because of the color of their skin, because of their religion, because of their sexual orientation, or because of their socioeconomic status we KNOW it’s wrong. We KNOW it’s wrong when Jonah treats the Ninevites badly simply because they’re Gentiles and not Jews.

One of my favorite theologians is Dr. James Cone a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Cone speak back in January 2008 and someone asked him about the present crisis in the Anglican Communion. Dr. Cone is an African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor, so he didn’t have anything to lose by answering the question honestly and truthfully. The questioner asked “Will there ever be reconciliation in the Anglican Communion over issues of human sexuality?” Dr. Cone responded that reconciliation can never happen until there’s justice. Until gay and lesbian Christians are treated with dignity and respect and treated equally as straight Christians. Archbishop Desmond Tutu who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa would probably respond in the same way. Reconciliation couldn’t happen in South Africa until justice had won the day and blacks were treated with the same dignity and respect as whites.

So today I wonder where God might be calling us to work for justice today. I wonder what lessons Jonah might have to teach us. About treating everyone with dignity and respect and loving our fellow human beings as ourselves. Of walking in the ways of Micah 6:8 – of doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. Amen.

Final Sermon at All Saints' Frederick

2011-07-30T13:35:00.002-04:00

The Rev’d Thomas S. Rogers, III

Associate Rector

All Saints’ Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

July 24, 2011

Would you pray with me? May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing and acceptable in your sight our Strength and Redeemer. Amen.

Now you didn’t really think on my last Sunday I wouldn’t have a joke for you, did you? If you like this joke, it came from Lute Moran. If you don’t like it, it came from the Internet.

Once upon a time there was a 90 year old lady who had just returned home from a revival at her Baptist church when she was startled by an intruder.

She caught the man in the act of robbing her home and yelled: “Stop! Acts 2:38!”

Now since the majority of people in this room are Episcopalians and not Baptists, I’ll tell you what Acts 2:38 says, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.”

The robber stopped dead in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done.

As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the robber: “Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell scripture at you.”

“Scripture?” replied the man. “I thought she said she had an axe and two 38s!”

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As I’m sure you’ll remember the last time I stood in this pulpit I talked about what I was thankful for, highlighting the words on the front of our bulletins each week: “Lively, Prayerful, and Welcoming.” If you missed the sermon, a synopsis was reprinted in the July Saints Alive! Newsletter. Today I want to share with you what I’ve learned here at All Saints’ and my hopes and dreams for you in the future. The nice thing about sharing my hopes and dreams for this parish is that I’m on my way out. If you don’t agree with them, you can leave them!

First, I want to tell you about the greatest gift you’ve given me as a priest – authenticity. It’s hard to find a place where you can totally be yourself. Where people love you for who you are warts and all. You have done that. You’ve seen my shortcomings as a priest and a human being and loved me anyway. I have felt immense support from this congregation throughout my 4 ½, nearly 5 years serving as a priest in this church. I hope I’ve been able to return that love in kind. It’s never easy to say goodbye, but I want you to know that I will be holding each of you in my heart as I leave this place and when you come to mind, either individually or as a group, you can be assured of my prayers.

I know that as I shared more of my story about who I was it was a difficult time for some of you in this parish. For some, it felt like the church they had loved had changed. Once upon a time many priests served under the same dictum as the armed forces used to – “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” For many people, myself included, this wasn’t a healthy or helpful place to be. I know to this day that people in this congregation are not all of one mind on issues of human sexuality, but I thank you for opening your hearts and minds not only to me, but also to Jason.

I hope that in the future when it comes time for this parish to call a deacon, priest, rector, or other member of staff that sexual orientation won’t be an issue but a candidate’s education, qualifications, and gifts and graces would be.

One of the challenges I experienced working here at All Saints’ has been the simultaneous 10:30 services. It was hard to find time in an already busy schedule with other responsibilities to find time to write a sermon week after week. It’s unusual for a church to have simultaneous services and I don’t have to tell you the drain on resources it takes between having two altar guild teams, two priests/preachers, two musicians, and the list goes on and on. I’ve heard a few times that one of the dreams of this parish is to be “one church.” I think this is something that needs to be explored to try and become that “one church” so many people long for. Maybe a 7:45 a.m. Rite 1 Service, 9:00 Great Hall Service, 10:30 Christian Formation, and 11:15 Historic Church service? There has to be a way forward to still maintain the core value of this parish to have distinctive worship services while utilizing less human resources. I leave that to you to pray about and figure out.

One of the things that attracted me to All Saints’ was serving on a multi-staff team and the diversity of this parish. During my time here, there have been a number of staff changes and no doubt the departure of Deacon Kay, Deacon Tom, and me represents another round of change. Change is a part of life as many of you know who have been through more changes than I’ve seen in my lifetime. Change isn’t always bad nor is it always good. Whenever I was in discernment with a parish and would read on their profile “open to change” I immediately became suspicious because I know that’s usually not the case. Whenever we get scared or anxious, we long for security and change makes us angry, sad, or upset.

Today as I conclude my ministry here at All Saints’, I know I stand in a long line of associates: Fr. Benedict, Rev. Anne Weatherholt, Fr. Roger Edwards, Rev. Meg Graham, Fr. Scott Bellows, Rev. Joell, and Fr. Andy. Some of these associates have left well and others haven’t. I don’t need to tell you who left well and who didn’t – you know the stories as well as I. What I do need to say is how important it is to leave a place well so you can enter the next place well. I hope that I’ve been able to say goodbye to All Saints’ well so that I can arrive at Hopkins ready to hit the ground running on August 1.

Saying goodbye to you has been harder than I expected and I didn’t get to say goodbye to many of you personally as I would have liked. I look forward to seeing many of you around the diocese when you serve on different committees or at Diocesan Convention. You’re always welcome to stop by and say hello to me at Johns Hopkins, I just ask that you not do it by coming as a patient.

10:30 only

So as I take my leave today I will give the final blessing and then take off my stole and leave it on the altar. In the tradition I learned how to be a priest in, we would pick up our stoles, kiss the cross embroidered on the back and remember the words of Jesus from Matthew 11:29-30 “Take my yoke upon you . . . for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” A practice I continue to this day. My burden serving here as your priest has truly been light and now it is someone else’s responsibility to pick it up.

Be assured of my prayers and love for you my brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

"If I Had My Life to Live Over"

2011-04-10T10:09:00.001-04:00

John 11:1-45

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."

When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

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This morning I want you to imagine with me that you and three other people are standing on different corners of a 4-way stop and we watch an accident happen. We each go home and we write about what we saw from our different perspectives. I use this analogy because that’s how many people believe the gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – were written. The problem is it’s not. It’s much more complex. Alfred North Whitehead used to say that for every question there’s a simple answer and a hard answer – the simple answer is usually always wrong.

You see if we use the analogy of a car accident happening at a 4-way stop with the gospels it would look like this. Mark was probably the only person who saw the accident really happen and then 30 years wrote about it. Matthew and Luke come along even later some 40 or 50 years later and they basically retell Mark’s account of what happened adding some more material that they got from other sources and we’re not sure if they were really there or not. Then last on the scene is John. John wrote his account anywhere from 60 to 90 years later. That’s why for some preachers – especially me – preaching on the Gospel of John is such a challenge. John is probably the farthest removed from the historical Jesus. John is a great place to begin if you’d like to know what the early church believed and thought about Jesus the Christ but not so much if you want to get as close as possible to the car accident to move back to our metaphor for a moment.

So that was the first challenge in thinking about the story of Lazarus this week. But it certainly wasn’t the only one. Many commentaries I consulted this week referred to this as the “resurrection of Lazarus.” I’m not sure I would agree with that summary. For me, this story isn’t about resurrection but resuscitation of a dead corpse. You might be wondering – what’s the difference. Resuscitation is breathing life into a mortal body. It’s Lazarus’s old body having the breath of life returned to it. I think that the lectionary elves – the folks that decide which passages from scripture we’re going to hear when – decided to put this passage on this Sunday to give us a preview of coming attractions. A little something to look forward to on Easter Sunday. But for me it’s not resurrection. Resurrection is Jesus on that first Easter morning when the women come to the tomb and it’s empty. When people meet the resurrected Christ and don’t recognize him at first but think he’s a gardener. Jesus’s own mother doesn’t recognize him at first because he doesn’t look the same. For me, that’s resurrection. It’s not life being breathed into a dead corpse, but it’s something new. It’s receiving a body that is different that doesn’t have the same limitations as a mortal body. It bears traces of our old bodies because everyone is able to recognize Jesus and see the marks in his hand but it’s not. How many of you with your current bodies can walk through walls or enter a room that is tightly locked? That, for me, is resurrection.

For me the story of Lazarus has much to teach us, especially for those of us living in a Good Friday world where it seems that we are constantly surrounded by images of suffering and death. For one, it teaches us that the abyss of God’s love is deeper than the abyss of death. It was because of God’s love shown through Jesus at Lazarus’s tomb that he was brought back to life. Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary were dear friends of Jesus and he couldn’t help but to be moved by Lazarus’s death. Jesus has a natural human response and weeps when they get to the cemetery. But out of his love for his friend he does something about it – he brings him back to life.

What’s interesting about Lazarus, however, is that he never says a word in the fourth gospel. If you do a word search in the Bible you’ll find two passages in John and a passage from Luke where Lazarus pops up. In Luke, as you’ll remember, it’s the story of the rich man and the poor man who die and go to the afterlife. The rich man is in Hades where he is tormented. The poor man who is named Lazarus is in “Abraham’s bosom” and there is a great gulf which separates them. I’m not sure if this is the same Lazarus as in John’s gospel or not.

Lazarus also shows up later in John sharing a meal with Jesus before his final Passover.

I think for me this passage teaches us about the sacredness and importance of life. It also teaches us that we never know when we’re going to die so to live each moment to the fullest and to cherish our relationships with friends and family.

I want to share with you an article I ran across this week by an 85-year-old woman from Louisville, Kentucky entitled “If I Had My Life to Live Over.”

If I had my life to live over, I’d dare to make more mistakes next time. I’d relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I’ve been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones.

You see I’m one of those people who live sensibly and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh I’ve had my moments, and if I had it to do over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daises.

Not too shabby advice, huh?

And one more perspective from a poet by the name of Jane Kenyon, who was the poet laureate of New Hampshire who wrote this poem as she was dying from Leukemia entitled “Otherwise”:

I got out of bed 

on two strong legs 

It might have been 

otherwise.

I ate 

cereal, sweet 

milk, a ripe, flawless 

peach. It might 

have been otherwise

.  . . . 

All morning I did 

the work I love

.  . . . 

We ate dinner together at a table with silver candlesticks. 

It might have been otherwise. 

I slept in a bed 

in a room with paintings 

on the wall, and 

planned another day 

just like this day. 

But one day, I know 

it will be otherwise. 

(from Otherwise, Graywolf Press, 1996)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Sermon

2011-01-16T14:42:00.000-05:00

Luke 6:27-36

Jesus said, "I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

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Well here we are again. We’re at the weekend in January where the secular calendar remembers the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. On the church calendar he’s remembered on April 4 – but because his birthday was yesterday and tomorrow is the holiday we decided to transfer it. That’s why we’re wearing red today.

Each year as we approach this date I have a little routine that I go through. I pull out some of Dr. King’s letters, sermons, and speeches and re-read them. You’d think that year after year of doing this it might get a little boring – but it doesn’t. Each time I read one of his sermons I see new things. Every time I read a “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” I hear his prophetic voice in new and exciting ways calling the Christian community to move from complacency to working with the poor and the oppressed.

In this letter one of the things Dr. King bemoans is the “moderate Christian.” This is the Christian who doesn’t like the way African Americans are being treated, but refuses to do anything about it. They refuse to join the march. But at the same time they aren’t off in the other camp running around town threatening people and burning crosses in people’s yards. These “moderate Christians” don’t understand why African Americans are marching – aren’t things good enough? Why do things need to change?

Within this letter Dr. King remarks that he challenged the white prison guard that because of his low salary and living in poverty that he needed to join the march!

You see what I love about Dr. King to this day was the way in which he integrated faith and praxis. Praxis simply means action. The Book of James, which we don’t hear from very often in church is a small book, but it packs a powerful punch. James 2:20 says that “faith without works is dead.” Dr. King got the interconnection between the Christian faith and being involved in the community. Christianity isn’t a spectator sport where we come to church, sit in our pews, watch the priest and other ministers do a few things in the front of the church and go home. Christianity is a way of life. It’s modeling our life on the mystery of the cross. It’s following in the footsteps of Jesus who always sought to invite more people in. Jesus who ate with the lowest of the low – sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes – people we would probably turn up our nose at. All of these people mattered to Jesus – shouldn’t they matter to us as well?

The other thing I love about Dr. King’s writings is that if you read them sequentially, you begin to notice that his message evolves over time. He goes deeper. What began as a struggle for the rights of African Americans gets wider as he begins to lift up the needs of the poor and needy. Dr. King truly got that we are all made in the image of God and that we are all interconnected as a members of the human family. How we treat each other matters. How we even treat the “least of these” matters. Everyone matters in the eyes of God. No one is beyond the reach of God’s love and grace. Here’s a man with a PhD fighting for the rights of garbage workers – not something you see everyday. As one biographer of Dr. King put it, “Martin came down out of the academy and marched himself to glory.” He moved from speaking to doing.

How did Dr. King do this work? I believe it was because he got a glimpse into the dream of God. He knew what God’s dream for the world was. He saw it clearly when he had “been to the other side” and when he gave his “I have a dream speech.”

So this morning as I reflect on Dr. King’s life and legacy and what God might be calling us to do today in light of it I give thanks. I believe that had it not been for Dr. King and the civil rights struggle that what happened yesterday – the ordination of a woman by the name of Rev. Jessica Knowles wouldn’t have been possible. The church still might be sitting on the fence of women’s ordination. Now to be sure, there are still many denominations who don’t ordain women. It’s sad to me that these churches are missing the gifts and graces of over half their congregation by not doing so.

I also reflect on my own life and call to ministry. Had it not been for Dr. King, the civil rights struggle, and many who have come before me I couldn’t be standing before you today as a priest in Christ’s Church.

I’m also aware this weekend that while we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King that we also have a cloud hanging over us as a country. The cloud of an attack on a Congresswoman that left six dead, including a nine-year-old girl who was committed to creating a better world. This attack on one of our nation’s brightest leaders reminds us of the darkness that is present in the world. It was a darkness that Dr. King testified against with words and deeds. In the end, he was assassinated, but his message lives on in the hearts of those who will hear this voice.

So today I invite you to get off the sidelines or out of your armchair and to get into the game. To find ways to work for justice in your home, in this Church, in the community and in the world.

And I leave you with these words from Dr. King:

All I’m saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we’re caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.[1]

[1] From Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail April 16, 1963. Found online at http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

Baptism of Christ Sermon

2011-01-09T07:45:00.000-05:00

Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

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I still remember my baptism. Probably funny words to hear in an Episcopal church since most people are baptized as infants. But I didn’t grow up in this church. I grew up in my grandfather’s small community church which practiced believer’s baptism which simply meant that you couldn’t be baptized until you’d made a public profession of faith.

I was eight years old and a few weeks before my scheduled baptism, I was a little nervous. You see they practiced baptism by immersion – it didn’t count unless your whole body was submerged and buried with Christ in his death. A little daunting for someone who has a fear of drowning. And I’m sure my grandfather knew what a miserable sinner I was, so I wasn’t too sure that he’d hold me under a little longer than was required to make sure my baptism “stuck.”

So my dad would practice with me every now and then. Demonstrating how my grandfather would put his hand in the small of my back and all I had to do was bend the trunk of my body backwards into the water, and then raise back up. Easier said than done, right?

But truth be told everything went off without a hitch when the moment arrived. As soon as my foot touched the warm water of the baptistery and I looked at my grandfather I knew everything was going to be okay.

I wonder what happened on that day when Jesus was baptized. While I had the comforts of a nice clean baptistery with warm water to be baptized in, Jesus didn’t. He was baptized in a river and a dirty muddy river at that. I wonder what the water was like that day. Was it as smooth as glass without much movement or was it like the water of a river you’d whitewater raft in? Was it calm and serene as many moviemakers have imagined or were John the Baptist and Jesus doing all they could simply to stand in the roaring currents of the river? Was the Spirit of God moving so mightily in that spot that they could hardly stand? I wonder.

The other things I wondered about this week as I sat with this text are the way in which John the Baptist tries to discourage Jesus from being baptized. I wondered why? Jesus’ baptism is recorded in all four of the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – yet only Matthew has John inviting Jesus to rethink what baptism means.

I wonder if John didn’t want Jesus to get dirty. I don’t know about you, but I need a Messiah who is willing to get dirty in the messiness of human life. A Jesus who was born in a stable. A Jesus who was born like any other child with all the blood and mess that comes with being born. A Jesus who cried as an infant when he was hungry, had a dirty diaper, or was in pain. A Jesus who made mistakes, disobeyed his parents at the age of 12. The church has taught for centuries that Jesus was fully God and fully human. I believe in order for Jesus to be fully human he needed to be baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. He needed to get into that dark, dirty, murky water filled with the sins of those who had been baptized before to understand what it meant to be fully human. To feel the guilt and shame of carrying things around and then to feel the release of being forgiven.

The other thing I wondered about this week was what the voice of God sounded like. Was is strong like thunder? Was it gentle like a still, small voice? I’m not so sure it matters what God’s voice sounded like as much as the words that were uttered: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

I believe if we take seriously the Lord’s Prayer which we say each and every Sunday in this church, particularly those first words, “Our Father,” we remember that if God is our Father that each and every one of us are siblings. Now you might not like the idea that the person sitting next to you in the pew is your brother or sister in Christ – but the fact of the matter is we are all brothers and sisters in Christ through the waters of baptism. Each of us had the same words said by God over us at our baptism as was said at Jesus’ baptism: “You are my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Out of the waters of baptism flow each of our calls to ministry. Your call won’t look like mine. Perhaps you’re called to serve on one of our lay pastoral care teams. Maybe God is calling you to serve as a reader, acolyte, server, or chalicist. Maybe God is calling you to start a Sunday School class. Maybe God is calling you to serve on our outreach committee and serve those on the margins.

So I invite you in this new year to sit down and to remember your baptism. To remember that you are claimed by God and loved by God more than you could ever imagine. Then I want you to pray about what ministry God is calling you to. You might be saying, “But I’m too young.” “But I’m too old.” “Someone else would do a better job.”

Stop making excuses. The kingdom of God and the Church are not voluntary organizations. Every person is called and commissioned to a task by virtue of our baptism. The word Church in Greek is ecclesia which literally means a community that has been “called out.” So what is God calling you out to do in 2011? I can’t answer that question for you. Your spouse or partner can’t answer that question for you. Your parents nor children can answer that question for you. No one, no matter how well they know you, can answer that question for you. You’ve got to answer it for yourself after a lot of prayer and inner searching.

So today remember your baptism and be thankful and ask God to reveal to you what God is calling you out to do in 2011. Amen.

Proper 28 Sermon

2010-11-14T13:21:00.000-05:00

Isaiah 65:17-25

For I am about to create new heavens

and a new earth;

the former things shall not be remembered

or come to mind.

But be glad and rejoice forever

in what I am creating;

for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,

and its people as a delight.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem,

and delight in my people;

no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,

or the cry of distress.

No more shall there be in it

an infant that lives but a few days,

or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;

for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,

and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.

They shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labor in vain,

or bear children for calamity;

for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD--

and their descendants as well.

Before they call I will answer,

while they are yet speaking I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,

the lion shall eat straw like the ox;

but the serpent-- its food shall be dust!

They shall not hurt or destroy

on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

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When I was a kid growing up one of my favorite memories was going to the lake with my grandparents. Since my grandfather was a pastor, we would never miss church when we went out of town. We’d usually visit this large nondenominational charismatic church. I don’t remember much about this church, but three things still come to mind: first was the lively worship, second was the way in which the preacher always managed to insert politics into his sermon, and third was a huge banner hanging to the side of the church just to the right as you entered the room. It was a 5 by 15 foot banner with a picture of the world with an angel above it with a trumpet to its lips and the words from Isaiah 64:1 “O that thou would rend the heavens and come down.”

The theology of this church was quite simple really. We as human beings have messed up the world in such a major and unfixable way we need God to intervene in space and time and fix it all. They were looking for a “rapture” a point where God would come and take all of the faithful Christians home. It was the “Left Behind” sort of theology if you’ve ever read any of those books. Just as an aside, there’s a reason that those books are in the “Christian Fiction” section of the library.

What I think this church missed and a number of Christians miss is the danger of proof texting. Of digging around in scripture and lining up verses that match what you believe or think rather than looking at the whole of scripture.

They also missed that God did intervene in space and time 2,000 years ago in the person of Jesus Christ. Our reading this morning in Isaiah 65 is actually an answer to the People of Israel’s cry in Isaiah 63 and 64. God says, do you want to see what the Reign of God looks like? Do you want to see my dream for the human family? Well, here it is. A society built on justice. A place where children don’t die of hunger. A place where the old have everything they need to not only live long lives, but to thrive. A place where people can live in safety and security. Where opposites can exist together: animals that once ate each other will lie down together. Republicans and Democrats can live next door to each other and share a meal together.

Underlying the world of Isaiah 65 is the theme of justice. That resources are equitably distributed. That the poor have enough.

Now maybe I’m young and naïve enough to believe too much in the goodness and ability of human beings – but I believe our job as Christians isn’t to sit around and wait until God fixes our problems. I believe that we are called as Christians to be actively involved in the world around us to try and bring in the Reign of God in any way we can. Do I think we can create the world of Isaiah 65? Probably not. But it gives us something to reach towards. A goal. A direction. If we can’t create this world, perhaps we could begin small and create an Isaiah 65 family. Teaching our children and grandchildren to strive for justice to in a small way create a space where children don’t die in infancy and the old live long and prosperous lives.

As most of you know, before I became an Episcopalian I was a Methodist. One of the things I loved about the Methodist Church was the way in which it was founded as a social reform movement. John Wesley and his group of Methodists would go places that most people didn’t want to. They visited people in prison. In the hospitals. Child labor would have never ended had it not been for the Wesleyan revivals. One of John Wesley’s followers, William Wilberforce ended slavery. I believe that these men were able to do great things because they had a deep life of prayer and they could see the world the way God saw it. They saw the world through Isaiah 65 goggles. They knew that those that were poor, marginalized, and in prison mattered. As I was leaving the United Methodist Church to become an Episcopalian that was one of the hardest things I left behind – the strong social justice strand within Methodism.

I believe one of the most dangerous things we do as Christians each and every week is to say the Lord’s Prayer. Particularly those words “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I wonder if we really mean those words. Do we really want the Reign of God? Are we willing to make sacrifices for it so that infants no longer die? So that the old have the healthcare they need?

When I was in seminary, we had a number of students who were from Africa. One day we were reflecting on our different practices surrounding Holy Week. The African students were telling us that the churches in Africa are packed on Good Friday. They know what pain and suffering look like. But hardly anyone comes on Easter Sunday. They rarely experience resurrection and good news in their daily lives. Of course, here in the West it’s just the opposite. Hardly anyone comes to church on Good Friday while the churches are packed on Easter Sunday. It’s like we think we can skip the suffering and go straight to the resurrection. That’s not the Christian message. Just because you come to Jesus doesn’t mean that all of your problems go away. But the good news is that there is a day when suffering ends.

So I invite you this week to take time to try and see the world through God’s eyes. To put on your Isaiah 65 goggles and imagine what you can do in your corner of the world to help bring it into being. Amen.

Proper 24 Sermon

2010-10-17T10:03:00.000-04:00

Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

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I’ll never forget Maria. During seminary, I did an internship at an inner city church that had a social services agency attached to it. One day Maria came in needing a refrigerator. Her old one had quit and she did not expect new, but she had four children under the age of six and she needed emergency funding to purchase a used refrigerator. Her general demeanor sitting across the desk from me communicated, “Now. Today!”

So I set to work. I got to know Maria much better during the year I worked in the neighborhood. I learned more of Maria’s personal history. It included physical abuse as a child, teenage alcoholism, and four children by the same father whom she refused to marry because he was a drunk, and going cold turkey off alcohol when she was 17 and first pregnant. Maria had learned to be tough in a world which communicated regularly to her in various ways that she was on her own to raise her children as best she could with barely enough government aid and food stamps to get through each month.

I saw Maria buy fifty pounds of potatoes the first week of the month as insurance against the fourth week of the month when food stamps would run out.

I saw her pushing a grocery cart laden with commodities down an uneven brick sidewalk while three children stumbled behind her several blocks toward home. My thought at the time was that Maria had truly earned those commodities.

I heard Maria yell at and curse her children in an effort to make them tough before they ventured out onto the sidewalk of their harsh world or into first grade of the school which didn’t really have time or money to intervene with the remedial work they needed. I also saw Maria decide she really did want her GED diploma and go to class to earn it.

Maria and I occasionally talked about God. She sometimes sent her children to church, mostly because it was a break for her. But Maria once told me that she began every day with a prayer of petition that God would help her through the day and ended each day with a prayer of thanks that she and her children had indeed been brought through the day alive and safe once more.

In her own ways, every day, on behalf of her children, Maria sought justice from a social, political, and economic world which couldn’t have been less interested in her plight. She confronted me, teachers, neighbors, friends who stole from her, her children’s father, her own family, and assistance workers in a daily battle to provide the necessities of life for her children.

Maria and the persistent widow in the gospel of Luke have a lot in common.

I had a hard time with this passage this week trying to make sense of it in a 21^st century world. Some biblical scholars continue to interpret this passage as being primarily about prayer. For me, I come to a different place. I believe this passage is about justice. I’m reminded of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King who said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

I also believe that this passage isn’t as simple as it seems at face value. For one, a rhetorical argument is used that we aren’t really familiar with in our day and time. It’s a “how much more” argument. If this wicked judge eventually did the right thing how much more will our God who is just.

The other problem is the difficulty of translating it from the Greek. The judge it seems in the Greek is actually afraid that if he doesn’t execute judgment that the widow will literally “give him a black eye.” How is he ever going to go home and be able to explain that one to his wife? To his friends? To people who pass him in the street?

Rather than risk being beaten up by this woman, he finally decides to do the right thing.

Once I got to know Maria a little better I began to realize how much we were alike. Our differences were on the outside, revealed in gender, socio-economic status and educational backgrounds. But our similarities were on the inside. We both wanted the same thing for her children and the children of the community. We both wanted safe neighborhoods, secure housing, and good education. In the crucial human elements, Maria and I were more alike than different.

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that the church isn’t about buildings, but about people. God could care less whether this building at 106 West Church Street existed tomorrow. I’ve even wondered in my less than generous moments what if our church didn’t exist anymore? Would people in the neighborhood and our community notice? Are we embedded enough in the community that people would notice if All Saints’ Episcopal Church were no more? Or are we simply taking up space on Church Street?

Are we making a difference in the community? Are we giving those that are unjust a black eye?

No matter how you view this parable one thing is for sure – it’s a parable of the real world and no fairy tale.

I heard a delightful story the other day about the day that Mother Teresa went to visit Edward Bennett Williams, the legendary Washington criminal lawyer. He was a wonderful lawyer. He at one time owned the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Orioles and he was the lawyer for Frank Sinatra and Richard Nixon, among others. Evan Thomas’s biography of Williams tells the story about when Mother Teresa visited Edward Bennett Williams because she was raising money for an AIDS hospice. Williams was in charge of a small charitable foundation that she hoped would help. Before she arrived for the appointment, Williams said to his partner, “You know, Paul, AIDS is not my favorite disease. I don’t really want to make a contribution, but I’ve got this Catholic saint coming to see me, and I don’t know what to do.” Well, they agreed that they would be polite, hear her out, but then say no.

Well, Mother Teresa arrived. She was a little sparrow sitting on the other side of the big mahogany lawyer’s desk. She made her appeal for the hospice, and Williams said, “We’re touched by your appeal, but no.” Mother Teresa said simply, “Let us pray.” Williams looked at his partner Paul, then bowed his head and after the prayer, Mother Teresa made the same pitch, word for word, for the hospice. Again Williams politely said no. Mother Teresa said, “Let us pray.” Williams, exasperated, looked up at the ceiling, “All right, all right, get me my checkbook!”[1]

Maybe that’s what Jesus wants from us. To persist for justice. To be a voice for those that might not have a voice or whose voice has been silenced. To be an advocate for the Maria’s of this world. Amen.

[1] Illustration from Tom Long’s sermon “Pray without Losing Heart,” 30 Good Minutes. Found online at http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/long_5101.htm

Proper 23 Sermon

2010-10-10T10:08:00.000-04:00

Luke 17:11-19

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

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This is one of those passages where I wish I had been there. I wish I could hear the tone in Jesus’ voice – was it like I remember as a kid growing up “Thomas Sherman Rogers, III get back in here this instant!” Is that the tone in Jesus’ voice when he comments “Were not ten made clean?” Or is there pain in Jesus’ voice: “Were not ten made clean?” This is a case where I think the context and inflection of Jesus’ voice mattered. Is he mad at the other nine? Is he hurt that they don’t return to say “Thank you?”

I remember as a kid growing up anytime I got a present for my birthday, Christmas, or any other occasion that I had to sit down and write a Thank You card and mail it. It almost made getting gifts a pain . . . I said almost. But there was something important going on when I would sit down and take the time to write. It made me remember the person who gave the gift and in a roundabout way it caused me to remember the goodness of God. I certainly didn’t deserve a gift. I was a pretty ornery kid growing up. I know you all find that hard to believe. But I think my parents did this intentionally so I wouldn’t grow up with a sense of entitlement but so that I would be grateful for each and every gift I received.

As much as we’d like to say we’d be like the 10^th leper – I wonder. You see the other lepers don’t really do anything bad per se. They followed Jesus’ instructions to go and present themselves to the priests in the Temple. They weren’t even healed instantly when they came near to Jesus. They were healed as they were making the journey. Really you can’t be mad at the nine. They were probably good members of their local Episcopal church – paying their pledges on time, arriving for service on time – they might even be members of the vestry! But what amazes me about this story is that while the nine listened with their head and did exactly what they were supposed to do – the 10^th, the foreigner, the double outsider – listens with his heart. He goes back to Jesus to thank him.

Meister Eckhart, a 13^th century German theologian and mystic is famous for saying that if you only utter one prayer in your life ‘’THANK YOU” that that’s enough. I’m not sure I’d want to go quite that far, but many times I think we do forget to be grateful for all the blessings we have. For our families. For friends. For food and shelter which many people in our world don’t have. For the fact that we live by in large in a peaceful country – a country that isn’t fraught with genocide or civil war.

It’s funny to me to have been in different churches throughout my sabbatical and whenever it came time for the prayers of the people you heard people’s names mentioned who needed prayer, but when it came time to give thanks to God it was eerily silent. While there are many people and things that need our prayer, I believe that sometimes we forget to start our prayers from a place of gratitude and thankfulness giving God thanks for all that we have already.

I know a person who struggled all his life to make ends meet. He had just enough to eek out a decent life. But then one day he fell into some money and things suddenly changed. He stopped saying “Thank you” whenever a waiter or waitress would bring him a drink or food at a restaurant. He felt that he’d all of a sudden deserved the service. He’d earned it. He’d paid his dues, laid down his cash, slaved away at his job to make it. All of a sudden a coarseness formed around his heart and a sense of entitlement. He wasn’t as fun to be around anymore. He had forgotten that everything he had in life was a gift from God.

So this morning I invite you to make time to say “Thank you” to God in your prayer time this week. If you’ve never prayed before or are just developing a life of prayer perhaps start with a sheet of paper and write down all the things that you’re thankful for. Then offer those to God. Perhaps later in the week you can come back to your sheet of paper and add to it.

Whatever you do this week, don’t forget to say “Thank You.” Amen.

Proper 20 Sermon

2010-09-20T07:22:00.000-04:00

Amos 8:4-7

Hear this, you that trample on the needy,

and bring to ruin the poor of the land,

saying, "When will the new moon be over

so that we may sell grain;

and the sabbath,

so that we may offer wheat for sale?

We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,

and practice deceit with false balances,

buying the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals,

and selling the sweepings of the wheat."

The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

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“Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land.”

Uh oh. Here we go again. Just when I thought a Sunday couldn’t be any harder to preach than last Sunday the lectionary has to give me the prophet Amos. You know the Amos that proudly proclaims “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”[1]

Now to be sure Amos isn’t the first prophet to talk about justice. You’ve got Isaiah who reminds us to “cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”[2]

And then of course you have the famous passage from the prophet Micah, “[God] has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”[3]

You would think with all the citations that link God and justice together that justice is at the very heart of God’s nature – and to be sure it is![4]

I know as a preacher that whenever I begin to talk about justice one of two things happen. The conservatives in the congregation begin to shut me out because they think I’m going to go on some wild leftist tear. Those of you who know me well know that you might get fooled because I could end up in a very different place than you imagined. I don’t fit too well within boxes. Then the liberals might tune out of the sermon because they think they already know what I’m going to say and they’re 100% on board. They think I’m going to pat them on the back this morning.

To me, the prophetic tradition emphasizes justice in a conservative way by simply lifting up the law. It highlights God’s expectations of the people and reminds them of their duties and obligations. That’s why over and over in scripture we hear a call to defend the widows and orphans – because they were the most vulnerable members of society. The Bible constantly reminds us to care for the powerless – those who lack the capacity to protect their own welfare.

As I was sitting with this text this week, I decided to do something I rarely do. I looked back three years ago when these readings came up and decided to see what I preached on. I took the easy road and preached on the Gospel lesson (although I’m not sure it’s very easy either!). I didn’t want to touch Amos in 2007 and I’m not so sure I want to touch it today – but it wouldn’t let me go this week.

I think one of the reasons I stayed here was the way in which the world has changed since 2007 with the stock market crash of 2008, the mortgage lending fiasco, the car manufacturing bailout and the bank bailouts.

Now before you think I’m going to talk about the evils of the market – I’m not. I for one have a vested interest in the markets since I want to retire someday. I hope my pension is being wisely invested by the Episcopal Church’s pension fund.

Earlier this year I was at Trinity Institute where the topic was Building an Ethical Economy. One of the pieces I took away from this conference was the way in which our word for economy comes from the Greek word meaning household. So economics could be viewed as the way in which we manage our house. If we viewed our community, nation, and the world on this level what could we learn?

What could we learn if we truly believed that everyone was a son and daughter of God thereby making them our brothers and sisters in Christ? Would we want a market economy that left people on the streets that profited from a set up where some were winners and some were losers?

Katherine Tanner from the University of Chicago Divinity School asked what if our market could function with a little bit of infusion of God’s grace? What if there were ways in which it cared for our modern-day widows and orphans? Provided healthcare for those who were mentally ill or who had served our nation in war and needed a hand up?

I couldn’t help but notice the New York Times article this past Thursday “Recession Raises Poverty Rate to a 15-year high.”[5] This article made me sad because I was hoping that we were coming out of things. But then the other day when I was in Washington, DC I couldn’t help but notice how many small mom and pop businesses had closed and had boards on their windows.

This morning’s sermon doesn’t have a neat and tidy ending. What it does have is an invitation to mindfulness. What I’m asking you to think and reflect on this week is if where you’re investing your retirement savings lines up with God’s priorities. Are you investing in companies that care for their workers or in companies that run sweatshops halfway across the world? Are you investing in for-profit hospitals and healthcare companies that turn away people that don’t have insurance? Are you finding yourself shopping at Wal-Mart or at another 24-hour a day store at 11:00 p.m. at night or 2:00 a.m. in the morning where people have to work 24 hours a day? It’s funny because in a market driven economy if no one was shopping after 9:00 p.m. at night all of a sudden they wouldn’t be 24 hours any more.

So heed Amos’ words this morning and work for justice for all God’s children.

[1] Amos 5:24

[2] Isaiah 1:16d-17

[3] Micah 6:8

[4] see Isaiah 30:18

[5] Published on Thursday, September 16, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/us/17poverty.html?_r=1&sq=poverty%20rate&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1284808403-cb2NjP38QLavAcYe9juelA

Proper 19 Sermon

2010-09-13T07:34:00.000-04:00

Exodus 32:7-14

The LORD said to Moses, "Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, `These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation."

But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, `It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, `I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

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There’s no way around it. This is a hard weekend to preach. Not only because of the passage from Exodus that I want to think with you about in a moment but because of yesterday being the ninth anniversary of September 11 and remembering all the people who lost their lives in that disaster and in the years of war since.

It’s also hard for me because of all the stuff I’ve been seeing in the news lately. Like many of you I’ve had mixed emotions surrounding everything I’ve seen and heard.

On September 11, 2001 I was with my parents in Memphis, Tennessee. I had just flown in the night before on September 10 and my flight had been delayed because of thunderstorms so I got in rather late and stayed in bed while they went downstairs for breakfast. When I turned on the news that morning I could hardly believe my eyes at what I was seeing. There were waves upon waves of shock and fear moving through my body.

Probably because George W. Bush and I have a lot of Texas running through our blood I agreed with him on a couple of points. I felt that a reaction needed to happen. Nine years later I wonder.

I also happened to have been a second year seminarian when all of this was going on which changed everything. All of a sudden theology mattered. It became a matter of life and death how we began to view the “other.” Were we going to look at everyone as strangers and outsiders and not trust anyone ever again? Were we going to step back and look deep within ourselves and ask the tough question of why someone would do this to us?

Nine years later I still have a lot of questions and haven’t resolved all of my own thinking.

And then I have this passage from Exodus to deal with this morning that seems to have something to say to us.

You see Moses had gone up the mountain to get the 10 commandments from God. Moses and the Children of Israel didn’t live in a technological world where Moses could download an app for his iPhone or download a PDF file from the Internet to get them. He had to carve them on stone. He was gone 40 days and the people got restless. Rather than being patient, they wanted an instantaneous response. They wanted a god they could see and worship. Aaron, not being the best #2 and not being willing to take a stand as a leader lets the people run all over him. He gives into their request and forms an idol for them. You and I know that in this text the idol takes the shape of a golden calf, but to be honest it really doesn’t matter what it is. An idol is anything that takes the place of God or gets in our relationship with God. So the people worship a creation rather than the Creator.

And if we follow this passage to where our reading ends this morning we encounter a God who seems willing to start all over again. To destroy everyone and everything except for Moses and have Moses become the new Abraham. But Moses is able to intercede for the people and to talk God down from wiping everyone out. It even seems if we take this text at face value that God is willing to change God’s mind. That God can make mistakes.

I lift up this text to also lift up the current controversy about the Cordoba House by the World Trade Center site that has been in our news so heavily the last few months. Two years ago when I was part of the New Clergy Program at the Chautauqua Institution in New York I had the privilege of meeting Imam Feisal and his wife Daisy. At the time, the Chautauqua Institution was dealing with the pushback they were receiving for opening a Muslim House on the campus to go alongside all the different denominational houses like Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal and even a Jewish house. A number of people at Chautauqua were protesting the opening of a Muslim house given the events of 9/11. But the Director of Religion, the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell was able to shift the conversation. Building an inclusive place is hard work. It requires everyone to make efforts to build bridges and understand the other. It doesn’t mean accepting everything wholeheartedly, but it means trying to be tolerant and understanding.

Imam Feisal belongs to a sect within Islam known as Sufi. It’s a mystical branch of Islam. I don’t think we really have an equal within our Christian tradition, although Quakers in my opinion, come rather close. Sufis look for enlightenment from a number of different sources and not just within their own tradition. If you happen to have seen Imam Feisal’s op-ed piece in the New York Times last Tuesday you notice that he quoted Jesus Christ in the reasoning for building this community center.[1] To develop a deeper love for God and our neighbor. To be a witness for interfaith work and to have a place for Jews, Christians, and Muslims to pray.

I don’t know about you, but I’m keenly aware that the world we live in has shrunk and we are in touch with people in far corners of the earth and who hold far different belief systems than we do in an amazing way. I believe that the God I’ve come to know in Jesus Christ is calling each of us to stop, take a deep breath, and listen. To be willing to be challenged by people who are different than us. To suspend our judgments until we have an opportunity to weigh all the facts. To try and build a community of love, justice, and peace. Amen.

[1] “Building on Faith” by Feisal Abdul Rauf published in the New York Times on Tuesday, September 7, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/opinion/08mosque.html?scp=1&sq=imam%20feisal%20op-ed&st=cse

The Call of God

2010-08-23T09:15:00.002-04:00

Jeremiah 1:4-10

The word of the LORD came to me saying,

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But the LORD said to me,

"Do not say, 'I am only a boy';

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you,

Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

says the LORD."

Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me,

"Now I have put my words in your mouth.

See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant."

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When I was going through the ordination process one of the things I was asked to do over and over again was to share my call story. The story that tells the way in which God was actively moving in my life up to the present moment and how I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was called to ordination. What’s funny about sharing your call story is that each and every time you share it it’s a little different – different pieces stand out for you. Things that you left out the first or second time suddenly seem important to share.

But for all the times I shared that story I never had a Jeremiah experience of being called before I was born. My mother would tell you that I was since she wasn’t supposed to be able to have children and when she found out she was pregnant she dedicated me to God before I was born. Before my ordination to the priesthood, my mother reminded me that she knew I was called to be a preacher, but she wasn’t sure it was to be a priest!

This reading from Jeremiah takes us not only into deep questions of vocation but it also takes us deep into the heart of God. You see this text promises us that God has a plan for each of our lives. Your call story might be different from mine – not all of us are called to ordained ministry.

Your call story might be how you met your spouse or partner. It might be how you got your current job and the way in which you have a deep inner sense that you’re doing exactly what God wants you to do. Many times I believe we think that a call story has to involve a call to ordained ministry, but God calls people to be bankers, doctors, accountants, librarians – God needs people in every job and vocation.

Being called to something also involves discernment. Discernment involves judging what you believe God is calling you to and it’s hard work. God is constantly calling – many times we have to tune our ears to hear it. We have to go to places where the noise of culture is silent – sometimes on a spiritual retreat or spending an afternoon hiking a path, just someplace quiet that takes us out of our normal routine so we can hear God clearly.

As most of you know, I just returned from a sabbatical where I had some time to step back and reflect on my vocation and calling. After much prayer and discernment and listening to these words from Jeremiah, I believe that now is the time for me to begin looking for a rector position. There’s nothing immediate – I don’t have any plans to go anywhere anytime soon and the average search takes two years. But this is a typical cycle in an associate’s life. There comes a day when you believe that God is calling you to move on to a different work. I’ve deeply loved my time here at All Saints’ and have learned so much and grown so much as a priest, especially as a preacher. Rest assured that as things move forward in my discernment process you’ll be the first to know when something exciting happens.

Jeremiah had many excuses to offer to God about why he shouldn’t be called to this work – mainly his age. Isaiah felt that he was of “unclean lips” – I’ve always wondered if this meant he liked to run around cursing a lot. Moses said he had a speech impediment or stuttered. Jonah gets on a boat and goes the other direction.

What’s your excuse? What’s keeping you from following God’s call? Whatever it is if it’s a true call from God you’ll see doors opening up and a way where there seemed to be no way before. So trust in the slow, steady work of God to lead you and guide you and rest assured that God has a plan for each of our lives. Amen.

Being in God's wall-breaking business

2009-07-20T16:31:00.003-04:00

Ephesians 2:11-22

Remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called "the uncircumcision" by those who are called "the circumcision" -- a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands-- remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

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Three men married wives from different states.

The first man married a woman from Michigan . He told her that she was to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

The second man married a woman from Missouri . He gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third man married a girl from TEXAS . He ordered her to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm was healed enough that he could fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher.

This morning I want to continue to think with you about our reading from Ephesians.

Last week, as you’ll remember we looked at the opening words to Ephesians where the author lays out his thesis statement: “God destined us for adoption as God’s children through Jesus Christ.” We talked about how we know this simple Christian affirmation, but that many times it’s hard to move it from your head and into your heart. Then I gave you a bit of homework to do for the next month. To take a post it note and write “I am a beloved child of God” on it and place it on your bathroom mirror so it would be one of the first things you saw each morning.

I’ve been surprised by the conversations I’ve had with folks this week in person, over the phone, and via e-mail who have done this. How it has changed them. How they see other people differently and even helped out a few relationships!

It appears that our reading this morning from chapter two has to do with unity in the midst of diversity. The author of Ephesians isn’t stupid. He realizes that it doesn’t take long for people who live in community for very long to begin to fight and quarrel. People take sides on issues and draw lines in the sand. “Either you’re for us or you’re against us” we hear over and over again.

But we have an invitation in the midst of this. To realize that the lines we draw in the sand or the walls we put up might not be God’s. That making decisions about who’s in or who’s out aren’t really up to us, but are up to God.

I remember when I was sitting in front of the TV in 1989 as the Berlin Wall came down. It was amazing to see the looks on people’s faces as families who had been torn apart for years were suddenly reunited. It’s one of those events in my life that I’ll never forget. I knew that I was watching history. A wall that had been up for years as a sign of oppression and of keeping people apart was knocked down virtually overnight.

I think that’s exactly what is happening in our passage in Ephesians. God is telling us that the walls that divide us are really much smaller than we realize and that God would love to help us knock them down.

I believe being a Christian means following God’s lead in the wall breaking business. Standing up and being counted for the cause of justice whether you’re here at Church, in the workplace, a deputy to General Convention, or in the community. God calls us to knock down walls and barriers that prevent everyone from coming to the table.

I was especially proud of our church this week at General Convention when our church made the bold move to move forward by opening the office of bishop to any qualified candidate – regardless of sexual orientation. Watching this for me was like watching this passage from Ephesians be lived out in our contemporary world.

I’ve been amazed at the number of guests we have here at All Saints when I call to follow up with them who tell me that they came to visit an Episcopal Church because we include everyone. They don’t want to be a part of a church that excludes people based on race, gender, or sexual orientation. They want to be a part of a church that when it says “All are welcomed here” that all means all.

Let me tell you a story of what the other side of inclusion looks like. The side of exclusion.

A good friend of mine just retired from being the preaching professor at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, GA. He grew up in Tennessee and each year he’d go back to his hometown at Christmas. He would visit his old friend Buck. Buck owned a café on the main street of town and he would always give Fred a cup of coffee and a piece of chess pie. One Christmas when Fred went in to get his coffee and pie, Buck said, “Come on, let’s go get a cup of coffee.” “What’s the matter?” asked Fred, “isn’t this a restaurant?” “I don’t know; sometimes I wonder,” Buck fired back.

Later, sitting across from Fred, Buck asked, “Did you see the curtain?” “Yes, Buck, I saw the curtain; I always see the curtain.” The curtain was in Buck’s café, separating the front half of the café from the back half. White folks came in the front of the café from the main street, but black folks came in from an alley behind the café. The curtain was there to separate. To separate white people from black people.

Buck looked up and said, “Fred, the curtain has got to come down.” “Good,” Fred replied, “Pull her down!” “That’s easy enough for you to say,” said Buck. “You come in once a year and tell me how to run my business.” “Then leave it up,” Fred countered. In personally agony, Buck said, “Fred, I take that curtain down, I lose my customers; I leave that curtain up, and I lose my soul!”

Buck was right, of course. Some curtains have to come down. Some curtains have to come down because if we leave them up we will lose our souls, no matter how many church customers we gain! The church of Jesus Christ simply must rip some curtains from top to bottom and dump them in the garbage.

The walls of exclusion whether based on gender, race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or religion have to come down. We’ve got to begin looking at ourselves and each other as beloved sons and daughters of God. Amen.

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Associate Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

Year B // Proper 11 Sermon

Link to audio: http://www.box.net/shared/3070vqo96a

God's Beloved Child

2009-07-20T16:21:00.003-04:00

Ephesians 1:3-14

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.

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A preacher was making his rounds to his parishioners on his bicycle when  he  came upon a little boy trying to sell a lawn mower. 

'I've been needing a lawn mower. How much do you want for it?' asked the preacher. 

'I just want enough money to go out and buy me a bike,' said the  little boy. 

After a moment of consideration, the preacher asked, 'Will you take my bike in trade for it?' 

The little boy asked if he could try it out first, and after riding the bike around a little while, 'Mister, you've got yourself a deal.' 

The preacher took the mower and began to try to crank it. Pulling on the cord a few times with no response from the mower, the preacher called the little boy over, 

'I can't get this mower to start.' 

The little boy said, 'That's because you have to cuss at it to get it started.' 

The preacher said to the little boy, 'I am a minister, and I cannot cuss. It has been so long since I have been saved, that I do not even remember how to cuss.' 

The little boy looked at him happily and said, as he rode off, 'Just keep pullin' on that cord. It'll come back to ya.'

This morning I want to think with you about our reading from Ephesians. This opening paragraph in the letter of Ephesians is quite powerful and loaded. “God has blessed us in Christ with very spiritual blessing . . .” God destined us for adoption as God’s children through Jesus Christ.

These are words of comfort to us to let us know that God has a plan. God has a plan for each and every one of us and it’s a good plan. A plan of blessing. I believe our job is to live into that.

I don’t know why we have such a hard time believing that we are God’s sons and daughters. But how would our lives change if we really believed what we say week after week. You are God’s son. You are God’s daughter. I want you to turn to the person to your left and say “I’m God’s child.”

I know of a man who was a Catholic priest who belonged to a religious order that on the first day of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, would sit in his room and whip himself with a leather belt for all of his many sins. The other brothers in his religious community would do the same. He was amazed at how hard the brother next door was hitting himself and actually began to worry that he was really going to hurt himself so he peaked through a key hole only to find that he was sitting in a chair smoking a cigarette reading a book. What he heard was coming from a tape recorder.

Is this what God looks for in us? To fake things? To hit ourselves and beat ourselves up all the time because we aren’t good enough?

Not according to Ephesians. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. We are God’s children.

I want to tell you about a spiritual breakthrough I had a few years ago. I was on a retreat at the Society of Saint John the Evangelist in Boston, Massachusetts. I shared with my spiritual director what was going on in my interior, spiritual life. After I’d talked for 30 minutes or so the room became silent and he sat there. Then his face broke out with the biggest smile and he said, “Tommy. God loves you. God loves you more than you’ll ever realize. More than anyone. God has called you to be a priest in God’s church and your calling flows out of that deep love that God has for you. Never forget that.”

I believe what this letter to the Ephesians is all about is to help us remember that. That we are deeply loved children of God and that God has blessed us with every blessing. So the next time you’re at a meeting and thinking what an idiot the person sitting across the table is – remember that they’re a child of God just as much as you are and they’re your brother or sister in Christ. If we treated everyone this way imagine what could happen in this place.

So your homework for the next month, yes I said month, is to take a post it note and put it on your bathroom mirror so every morning you see the words “I am a child of God.” But remember if you’re a child of God so is everyone else – treat them like it! Amen.

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Associate Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

Year B // Proper 10 Sermon

Link to audio: http://www.box.net/shared/g2i7hvunq3

The Cost of Discipleship

2009-01-28T10:43:00.002-05:00

Mark 1:14-20

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

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This morning I have a joke for you. An old one that you’ve probably heard, but a good one. Once upon a time there was a little boy who was standing at the back of the church looking at a plaque with different names on it. He asked the priest what it was for and the priest explained that it was in memory of those who died in the service. The boy got a rather somber look on his face, thought for a minute and then asked the priest, “Which service – the 8:00 a.m. or 10:30 a.m.?”

This morning I want to think with you about the cost of discipleship. A theme that is very important to the Gospel of Mark and which is alluded to in today’s reading. Are you willing to follow Jesus? To leave everything behind? It’s a difficult question. Many people are willing to follow Jesus as long as the going is good and there aren’t too many speed bumps along the way.

What amazes me in today’s reading is the way that Simon and Andrew drop their careers and livelihoods to follow Jesus. They didn’t take any time to prepare for what Jesus was asking them to do nor did they take any time to get used to the idea. They simply went.

Barbara Brown Taylor, a phenomenal preacher, views this story as a miracle story because it’s really about the power of God. The power of God to walk right up to a group of fishermen and work a miracle: creating faith where there was no faith, creating disciples where there were none just a moment before. To those of us who are 21^st century Christians this might be difficult to hear the way our culture emphasizes our choices and independence – our ability to shape our lives and determine our destinies. “We can do it.” “It’s within our power.” “We can fix and improve everything.” “We can take hold of the future and make it what we want it to be.” In fact, we have to do it to please God and get to heaven. The better we are, the more saintly and sacrificing we are, the more likely we are to earn our salvation. I don’t know about you, but to me this sounds like works-righteousness. Thinking we can work our way into God’s favor. Buying into what popular culture says causes us to loose sight of the full power of God to recruit people who have made terrible choices. To invade the most hapless lives and fill them with light. To sneak up on people who are thinking about lunch, not God, and to smack them upside the head with glory. Whether we’re ready or not, God acts.

When we ultimately do decide to follow Jesus we have to lay down some of our most valuable possessions: our understanding of the world, our view of right and wrong, our assumptions about whom God favors and whom God despises, our ways and thoughts.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a famous theologian. He grew up in Germany and then did his theological education at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He wasn’t impressed with the liberal theology of his day which kept saying we’re getting better and better in every way and met Karl Barth and was challenged by his thinking. Bonhoeffer left the safety of New York City to go back to Germany to continue his work of fighting the Nazis. He was arrested in 1943 and found guilty of being a part of a plot to kill Hitler and was hung at a concentration camp in 1945 just weeks before Allied forces moved in to liberate the camp.

He wrote many letters and papers from prison and one of his most famous books The Cost of Discipleship. The opening words of the book instantly challenge the reader “When Christ calls someone, he bids them come and die.” We are called to die over and over in our lives. To die to old ways of thinking. To die to self so that others might live. The path of discipleship isn’t an easy one. It’s a lifelong journey.

Bonhoeffer argues that our duty as Christians is so much more than just leaving the world for an hour or so on Sunday morning and going to church to be assured our sins are forgiven. He labels this “cheap grace” and asks us to go deeper. To go for “costly grace.” This is the grace that cost Jesus his life. Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field.

Bonhoeffer calls us to a costly grace which cares about the shape of our lives as individuals and as a society. A revealing test of whether we live by cheap grace or costly grace is to list the important decisions you make in a week and ask what impact your commitment to Jesus Christ had on your deliberation. How are the values of God’s kingdom reflected in the decisions we make in our nation or in our churches?

So, are you ready to follow Jesus? Are you ready to lay everything aside in order to follow him? Whatever your relationship with Jesus Christ – if you’ve just now decided to follow him or you’ve been following him for 30 or 40 years – I invite you to go deeper. To respond willingly and enthusiastically when he says, “Follow me.” Amen.

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Associate Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

Year B // Epiphany 3 Sermon // January 25, 2009

Baptism of Christ Sermon

2009-01-12T11:46:00.002-05:00

Mark 1:4-11

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

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A few weeks ago on All Saints Day as you’ll remember Bishop Sutton was with us and preached about “thin places.” Those places in our lives that it seems the veil between heaven and earth is very thin. For him, one of those places was Ireland. Today, I want to share one of my thin places with you.

I was probably eight years old when my parents first took me to Santa Fe, New Mexico and I instantly fell in love. It’s a beautiful town. Mountains all around. Adobe houses. Incredible art. And one of my favorite places is right in the middle of town. The Cathedral Church of Saint Francis of Assisi. I love this cathedral because it’s one of those places you can walk into and can tell people have prayed for hundreds of years. The art is amazing from the rerodos behind the altar in the Church to the painting of the crucifixion in the chapel. But for all the beauty of this cathedral, my favorite thing is the baptismal font.

This Church took liturgical renewal seriously and when it was renovated they did something quite extraordinary. They took their old marble font, cut out one of the sides and added a baptismal pool. So if you stand in the middle of the nave the old font is there with water constantly flowing out of it and into an eight-sided baptismal pool. This allows children to be baptized in the font and for adults to be baptized by immersion in the 3 foot deep pool. When a baptism isn’t going on it is still amazing to hear the sound of trickling water when a service is going on. In this space you can’t help but be reminded of your baptism.

As you’ve probably guessed by now if you didn’t look at the front of your bulletin, today we celebrate the Baptism of Christ. This is the day when Jesus was baptized by his cousin John in the River Jordan. It marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and the descent of the Holy Spirit. This is probably the second hardest Sunday to preach. The first being of course Trinity Sunday. What does a preacher or theologian do with the problem of Jesus seeking baptism – especially a baptism of repentance by John?

As Christians many times we like to think that we came up with baptism. But in truth Jews had a ritual bath called a mikvah for years before John appeared in the wilderness. People would undergo a mikvah after child birth, after contact with a dead person, and after certain diseases among other things. John the Baptist took this idea and tied it in with his preaching – a preaching of repentance.

But that still doesn’t solve the problem of why Jesus sought out John’s baptism of repentance. Did Jesus sin? If so, we’re in pretty big trouble since the church for centuries has said that Jesus was human as we are in every way, yet didn’t sin.

For me, this question is a mystery that can’t easily be answered. I believe that Jesus was baptized by John not because he had sinned, but to stand in solidarity with all of us throughout history who have sinned. By being baptized, Jesus took upon himself the condition of our human sinfulness.

If there’s any doubt about whether Jesus should have been baptized or not it’s solved when the heavens are torn apart and God announces God’s seal of approval. This is my beloved in whom I am well pleased. I love the image of the heavens being ripped open. To me, this also symbolizes that anything that separates us from God was torn down so that now we can get to God. Because of Jesus we have access to God – we can get close to him.”

This morning we’re going to welcome five new Christians into our community of faith through the waters of baptism. One of the questions that usually comes up is why do we baptize infants and I briefly want to say something about that.

In my Grandfather’s church and in many other churches they practice believer’s baptism where someone isn’t baptized until they’ve made a public profession of faith. The problem with this, at least for me, is that it means baptism has something to do with the individual. Baptism is a sacrament just like the Eucharist and sacraments are dependent on God – not us. Even though I’m the one who will pour water on each person’s head God is the one doing the acting. God is the one incorporating them into the Body of Christ. God is the one claiming each person as God’s son or daughter. And if we believe that baptism is all about God and God’s activity in the world and not ours, it only makes sense that we would baptize infants and children.

And this morning, just as we do every year at the Baptism of Christ, the font is filled with water and you are welcome as you come forward to receive the Eucharist to stop and touch the water to be reminded of your baptism. If you simply want to touch the water, that’s fine, if you want to make the sign of the cross that’s fine as well, or if you simply want to look into the font and be reminded that’s okay as well. Just remember your baptism today and be thankful.

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Associate Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

January 11, 2008

Year B, Epiphany 2

Leadership

2008-10-14T11:02:00.002-04:00

Exodus 32:1-14

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD." They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

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This morning I want to think with you a little bit about our Exodus passage. As you'll remember, the Children of Israel wonder in the wilderness 40 years on their way from the empire of Egypt to the Promised Land that God has given them. Can anyone tell me why they wondered in the wilderness 40 years? Most women could tell you because Moses refused to stop and ask for directions. I have to admit that that would be me. I'm not one to stop and ask for directions either. Thank God for GPS.

Since the Children of Israel are spending an inordinate amount of time together, God needs to lay some ground rules for how they should behave with God and with each other. Last week's reading laid out those 10 rules to live by -- the 10 commandments.

What struck me as I was sitting with this week's lesson were two things. One is a carry over from last week and the other is Aaron and Moses' different leadership styles.

Now it might sound kind of strange to hear this lesson from Exodus 32. It might sound like we're backing up given that the 10 commandments fall in chapter 20. What's striking is that after God gives the Children of Israel the 10 commandments, they instantly plead with God never to speak with them again. They were afraid of the thunder and lightning and the smoke. They beg Moses to be their intermediary and to go between them and God so they never again have to hear God speak directly to them.

So, responding to the people's request, Moses goes up on top of the mountain for a little sabbatical so he can hear God clearer. He's up there 40 days and the people begin to get a little concerned. They go from being afraid to hear God's voice to wanting to hear something . . . anything. So what do they do? They pressure Aaron to build an idol for them, thereby breaking one, and perhaps two, of the rules that God gave them to live by. God sees what they are up to and sends Moses back down the mountain. God is so angry with the people that God is ready to start all over again and make Moses the new Abraham. To carry on God's promises through Moses and his descendants. And a rather humorous exchange takes place where God calls the Children of Israel Moses' people and then Moses call the Children of Israel God's people. Kind of like what happens in most homes when a child has done something bad. Suddenly it's the other parent's child. I can't tell you how many times I was my father's child growing up.

Surprisingly, Moses wins this argument and the Children of Israel are spared.

There are a couple of interesting things about Moses' and Aaron's leadership style. First, let me say that I don't think either one was totally exemplary. It seems that Moses is a charismatic leader. He knows how to bring energy and excitement to a room. In Scripture we're told that when Moses and God got through speaking his face would shine bright red. Talk about charisma. But Moses forgot something along the way. Just because you have a strong sense of personal direction doesn't mean you're a good leader. You have to bring the people along with you. You can't lead alone. Moses' 40 day sabbatical was probably a little long for an anxious group that had just fled captivity. They needed to know that their leader was with them, that he was okay. That he loved them and was going to lead them the rest of the way. Moses was so busy soaking up God's presence that he forgot to stay connected with his community.

Next is Aaron. Aaron is quite a character. He rounds up all this gold, throws it into a fire and "Poof!" out pops a calf. Now if you believe that, I have some wonderful beachfront property to sell you in the Sahara Desert. We know that's not the way it happened. Aaron's lack of leadership has to do with solely focusing on consensus. He wanted to be liked. He wanted the Children of Israel to like him because he did the popular thing. Not necessarily the right thing, but the popular thing. He was too connected with the community and forgot to stay connected with God. The picture I have of Aaron is he's the assistant rector who decides to change the liturgy and move the altar and baptismal font while the rector is on sabbatical . . . not a very good idea!

So if neither one of these leadership styles -- leading by charisma or leading by consensus -- isn't ideal, what is? I think it's finding a middle road. You all knew I was going to say that as an Anglican Christian, didn't you? Always going for that via media. As leaders, we need that strong sense of personal direction -- of knowing our mission statement, of knowing where we want to go. But we can't forget to make sure that everyone is with us on our journey otherwise we'll be 25,000 feet up the mountain while some people are still at base camp.

So I think the challenge God is laying before us is to be leaders who embody a little bit of Moses and a little bit of Aaron. Leaders who are charismatic -- who have a solid prayer life rooted and grounded in God and who also lead by consensus -- making sure everyone is with us. So in other words, leaders who have their feet firmly planted on the ground and not in the sky. Amen.

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Assistant Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

October 12, 2008 // Year A: Proper 23

The 10 Commandments

2008-10-06T18:25:00.006-04:00

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die." Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin."

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I want to go back and think with you about the culture wars we experienced in 2006 surrounding the 10 commandments. If you'll remember, Judge Roy Moore, a chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court became a hero of the religious right for his willingness to "go to the mat" over the display of the 10 commandments in the courthouse. After he was removed as a justice for his refusal to remove the 10 commandments, he became a national figure speaking all over the country and bringing those 10 commandments with him. What got lost in this entire conversation, at least for me, was the size of the monument that Moore had built. It was 5,280 pounds (2 1/2 tons)! Whenever he would travel and go to an event, a crane had to lift it out of the trailer. What struck me about this whole event were two things: 1.) The number of folks who supported Moore (initially 80% in a nationwide poll) yet who couldn't name the 10 commandments -- don't worry I won't ask you to name them -- and 2.) In the Jewish tradition, the 10 commandments are a source of joy and life, not something oppressive -- especially 5,280 pounds of oppression. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is devoted entirely to singing the praises of the commandments -- "Your law gives life to my soul" says the psalmist. That's quite different than 2 1/2 tons of granite.

Given that each commandment could be a sermon unto itself -- this morning I want to simply think with you about two of those commandments: idolatry and sabbath.

First idolatry. Now you might be thinking "I don't have any graven images in my house, so I'm safe." Well that's not exactly what this commandment is talking about. Idols are about self-worship. They point us away from the worth and dignity of all human life. This week has been a difficult week for many of us as we watched the stock market take a drastic hit. We wonder about our retirement, our pension, our savings. Will we have enough money? Those who have set up money as an idol have had a very hard time. Money is a means to an end when used appropriately. Money allows us to provide food, clothing, and shelter for our families and to give money away to God and to the poor. Accumulating wealth just for the sake of accumulating wealth is a form of idolatry. It's putting your trust in something besides God. It's easier to go through life with idols. It's much harder to trust in the unknown, in the darkness. In the voice answering Moses' request for revelation with the words: "I AM WHO I AM."

Church is the place we come each and every week to have community. To regain our center and to be reminded that God should be at the center of our lives and not idols of wealth, status or position.

The second commandment I want to think with you about is Sabbath. Now you might wonder why I chose this one. It's because this is probably the one commandment we throw around more loosely than others. People don't usually walk around and say, "I'm goint to steal today." "I'm going to commit adultery today." "I'm going to lie." But how many times do we go around talking about "working all weekend" trying to gain the favor of our boss and to try and emphasize the value we place on work?

Six days of work followed by one day of rest is woven deep into the fabric of the Bible. It all starts with creation where on the seventh day God rested. Are we better than God? We as God's people are to rest on one day because God did. In the Exodus as the children of Israel were fleeing the Egyptian Empire, God provided manna for them in the wilderness. They could only gather enough manna for the day ahead, but the day before Sabbath they could gather enough for two days.

In 1991 Juliet Schor published a book entitled The Overworked American. It became a surprise best-seller. In the book, Schor argues that work hours and stress are up and sleep and family time are down. Add overtime or second jobs to schedules and single parents are stretched in so many directions that they sometimes feel that they can't manage. Simultaneously, we are bombarded by messages that urge us to spend more (and so, ultimately, to work more) to keep our homes cleaner, to improve ourselves as parents, investors or athletes. To make all of this possible, grocery stores are open 24 hours, entertainment options are available around the clock. We live in an economy and a society that are demanding too much from people. It seems that the American economy is nearly a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week, 365-days-a-year economy.

So what is one to do?

Culture tells us to take a fancy vacation (yet again requiring more money and thereby more work) or buy a piece of exercise equipment that can burn 500 calories in 5 minutes.

Here is where our Jewish brothers and sisters have something to teach us. The idea of Sabbath is at the heart of Judaism. What would it be like for us to set aside one day a week for rest and worship. If you have to work on Sunday, like me, finding another day to do it. Spending a day where you focus on taking a walk, resting, talking with loved ones, reading. Taking a break from shopping or e-mailing.

So the next time you run across the 10 commandments I hope you can name at least two of them and to remember that they aren't weights to bog us down, but a way to help us stay centered by focusing on God rather than idols -- especially the idol of money and to give us rest and peace by keeping Sabbath. Amen.

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Assistant Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

October 5, 2008 // Proper 22

What does it mean to DO justice?

2008-09-18T10:01:00.013-04:00

Matthew 18:21-35

Peter came and said to Jesus, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times."

"For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, 'Pay what you owe.' Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had take place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked slave! I forgave you all the debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart."

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When I was 15 1/2 my parents decided it was time for me to learn how to drive so I could pass my driver's test. I guess they finally got tired of chauffeuring me around all the time. The worst thing was parallel parking. We went downtown on the weekends when downtown Oklahoma City was like a ghost town and practiced parallel parking more hours than I'd like to remember in front of the federal building.

On the morning of April 19, 1995 I was sitting in class at school. The room we were in didn't have any windows and we felt the building shake. We were talking amongst ourselves because we didn't remember seeing any clouds in the sky as we were walking into the classroom. We at first assumed it was thunder. A few minutes later a student who had forgot to wear a tie (I went to a private Christian school that had a dress code) was returning from home when he said he saw some cars driving over 80 miles an hour on the highway. It was all rather strange and surreal. Our teacher turned on the TV and we heard the breaking news that there had been an explosion downtown. At first, reporters thought it was a natural gas explosion. Then, as reporters often do in a vacuum of hard facts, they jumped to the conclusion that it was "Muslim terrorists." And finally, the truth emerged that two people planned this attack in retaliation for the government's actions of the Branch Dividians in Waco, Texas.

Seeing all of this on the TV was hard to believe and I can remember many nights after this happening taking the "long way home" and going along Interstate 40 which was an elevated highway where you could see the damage very clearly. Being unable to believe the place where I learned to parallel park and that had been so calm so many times before was the center of such chaos and tragedy.

As you know, this week we passed the seventh anniversary of September 11 and what happened in New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D. C. The events that happened in Oklahoma City when I was a junior in high school come the closest to me being able to understand what happened on those days. It's just now 13 years later that I'm able to talk about my experience of being in Oklahoma City during the time of the federal building bombing. These are difficult things to talk about without our emotions getting the best of us. Sometimes sadness. Sometimes anger. Sometimes wanting revenge.

This week's gospel lesson is particularly hard to hear in light of September 11. But I think in other ways it's not. What I want to think with you about is the parable Jesus tells about the man who is forgiven his enormous debt who turns around and is unwilling to forgive someone who owes him a small sum. This is one of those Gospel lessons that as I heard it as a kid I enjoyed listening to the first part about forgiveness, then Jesus turns the tables on me at the end where the man is unwilling to forgive his fellow slave. This man has been forgiven so much yet he's unwilling to forgive someone else.

I think the reason this gospel angered me so much hearing it growing up was my innate sense of justice. Bishop N. T. Wright in his book Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense argues that within each of us is a longing for justice. We want people to be treated fairly and justly. Deep inside of us we know when someone has been wronged.

Let me give you an example. A few weeks ago my partner Jason and I took our Godkids David, who is eight, and Grace who is five, to the Air and Space Museum. Grace is at that age where she is keenly aware of justice. There were three times that day when her brother did something and we'd hear, "That's not fair." By the third time feet were stomping and yelling commenced. We know that justice looks like and we're always striving for it.

When we see someone treated differently because of the color of their skin, because of their religion, because of their sexual orientation, or because of their socioeconomic status we know it's wrong.

One of my favorite theologians is Dr. James Cone, a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Cone speak back in January at the Trinity Institute. A questioner asked him about the present "crisis" in the Anglican Communion around human sexuality. "Will there ever be reconciliation in the Anglican Communion over issues of human sexuality?" Dr. Cone, who is an African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor and not an Episcopalian, had nothing to loose by answering this question candidly and honestly. He said reconciliation can never happen until there's justice. Until gay and lesbian Christians are treated with dignity and respect and treated equally as straight Christians. Archbishop Desmond Tutu who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa would probably respond in the same way. Reconciliation couldn't happen in South Africa until justice had won the day and blacks were treated with the same dignity and respect as whites.

So today I wonder where God might be calling us to work for justice. I wonder if we as a nation have been forgiven much and now it's time for us to forgive others. My hunch is the answer to that question is yes. We as a nation haven't been totally innocent in a number of atrocities. I wonder if seven years is long enough for us to begin to think about healing. I wonder if God's dream for us as a country is to walk in those words from Micah 6:8 -- to DO justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. Amen.

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Assistant Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

September 14, 2008 // Year A: Proper 19

Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us

2008-09-18T10:01:00.005-04:00

Exodus 12:1-14

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance

n n n n n n n n n n n

I don't know about you, but this passage from Exodus has always been difficult for me. If you'll remember two weeks ago we started this cycle at Exodus 1 with the brave midwives who go against an unrighteous law and stand up for justice by allowing Moses to live. God chooses to turn the world upside down with the Exodus by five women and a baby.

Last week our reading from Exodus had to do with the call of Moses. Moses doesn't want to do the job that God has called him to so he comes up with excuses -- mainly that he stutters. Does that get him out of it? No. God tells him that his brother Aaron can help him. Then the lectionary conveniently skips the plagues and takes us to today's reading -- the institution of the Passover.

Now before I get to the Passover I think I need to at least touch on the final plague -- the one I can still see vividly in my mind from Charleton Heston in the Ten Commandments. When the angel of death comes and takes the firstborn -- firstborn of cattle and firstborn of human beings. The first time I remember hearing this text and it really setting in I was about nine years old. I was a little scared at first because I thought that meant I was going to die since I am my mother and father's only child. But then I remembered a loophole . . . my dad had a son from a previous marriage. So that mean that Wayne would die -- not me! Oh, happy day! That was appealing at the time when my brother and I fought like cats and dogs -- but not so much today.

This raises some difficulties because we have to ask hard questions like "Does God love the Hebrew people and not the Egyptians?" What does it mean when we read over and over that "God hardened Pharaoh's heart?" These are hard questions that don't have easy answers.

For me, God's love is an inclusive love that loves everyone. But God is also a God of justice. The Egyptians had enslaved the Hebrews for hundreds of years and God is never on the side of oppression. For some reason God chose a certain people to be God's own. It goes all the way back to Abraham and the covenant God and Abraham made together. God bound Godself to a people. God didn't have to do this. God chose to do this. In these powerful stories from Exodus we see that God is always on the side of human freedom and free will. Pharaoh could have changed his mind at any time. He didn't have to reject God's will for justice. I think by the third plague even I would have got God's message.

What's amazing about this entire Exodus saga is that God does fantastic things around very human characters -- namely Moses and Aaron.

One of the greatest gifts I ever received in my life was the opportunity to study Biblical Hebrew for a year as an undergraduate student. One of the blessings was to study it with a lay conservative Jew. Throughout the year, she taught us about various festivals and traditions from Judaism. She said if you ever want to understand modern Judaism, you need to study four things: 1.) The Exodus, 2.) The Babylonian Exile where Israel is conquered by a foreign people and forced to live in a foreign country, 3.) The Destruction of the Temple, and 4.) The Holocaust.

In order to help this Christian class of Hebrew students better understand Judaism she tried to teach us everything she could about the Exodus, and especially the Feast of Passover celebrated by our Jewish brothers and sisters in the spring of each year -- which usually closely coincides with our celebration of Easter.

What's amazing about the feast of Passover is that it it celebrated just as our passage tells us this morning "with loins girded, sandals on your feet, and staff in hand." In other words you've got to have your traveling clothes on. The equivalent today would be to have on comfortable shorts, t-shirts, and tennis shoes. The other amazing thing that is done is they eat bitter herbs to remind them of the bitterness of slavery and so they'll never enslave a people as they were enslaved.

By participating in the ritual of Passover, the past becomes the present. These ancient stories become alive once again and it's a way for Jews to pass on their story from one generation to the next. It's how children learn the story of Judaism.

Now you might be wondering what this has to do with Homecoming. The key is in the celebration of Passover. As Christians, we have our own celebration each and every week called the Holy Eucharist. Like our Jewish brothers and sisters, this is a way for folks new to the community of faith to hear of God's saving acts in history over and over again. By listening to the words we pray in the Eucharist we are participating in something that happened in the past, yet becomes real and present to us once again. It's no accident that at the end we say, "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast."

Christ is our Passover and has opened the way to freedom and peace. Our job is to work with God in bringing about that reign of justice, freedom, and peace. Amen.

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Assistant Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

September 7, 2008 // Year A: Proper 18

Link to audio: http://www.box.net/shared/y6c9cnk08s

Stepping up to the Plate

2008-08-27T10:46:00.006-04:00

Exodus 1:8 - 2:10

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, "Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land." Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, "When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live." But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?" The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them." So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live."

Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, "This must be one of the Hebrews' children," she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Yes." So the girl went and called the child's mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, "because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."

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Because I've been away on vacation the last few weeks, I have a joke for you:

One Sunday the rector woke up and realized it was an exceptionally beautiful and sunny spring day and he just had to play golf. So he called the assistant rector and told him that he was feeling sick today and needed him to preach instead. As soon as he hung up the phone, the rector was on his way to a golf course forty miles outside of town. This way he knew he wouldn't accidently meet anyone he knew from church. Setting up on the first tee, he was all alone. After all, it was Sunday morning and everyone else was in church. At about that time, Saint Peter leaned over to God while looking down from the heavens and exclaimed, "You're not going to let him get away with this are you?" God sighed and said, "No, I guess not." Just then the rector hit the ball and it shot straight towards the pin, dropped just short of it, rolled up and fell inside the hole. IT WAS A 420 YARD HOLE IN ONE! Saint Peter was astonished. He looked at God and asked, "Why did you let him do that?" God smiled and said, "Who's he going to tell?"

This morning I want to think with you about our reading from the beginning of Exodus. As you'll remember we've traveled through the stories of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Jacob and Rachel, and most recently of Joseph and his rise in a foreign country -- Egypt. He becomes Pharaoh's right hand man as it were. Then, Joseph dies and the Pharaoh that knew Joseph dies and that's where our passage picks up.

It's a rather difficult beginning. All the assumptions that the Hebrew people held are thrown out the door by this new king. They had been an alien people in Egypt to be sure, but they were a valued people. The Pharaoh who is unnamed becomes scared because of the number of Hebrews. He's worried what will happen when the Hebrews outnumber the Egyptians. Something he's not going to allow to happen under his rule so he makes the Hebrews slaves and gives them hard and difficult tasks to perform in the hopes that they will stop growing as a nation. This doesn't work.

Next he asks midwives to go against their vocation which is to bring life into the world and to begin killing. Thankfully the midwives don't follow the Pharaoh's directions and come up with a creative excuse -- that the Hebrew women give birth much quicker than Egyptian women and the baby is already born by the time they get there. Now if you buy that, I have some oceanfront property to sell you here in Frederick -- just see me after the service!

What's amazing about these women are a number of things: First of all they are named -- Shiphrah and Puah. Most women in the Bible aren't named since it arose from a patriarchal or male-dominated society. That should be our first clue that something important is going on here. Secondly is the way these women are willing to engage in acts of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance for the sake of justice. These women are willing to risk their very own lives so that God's plan and purpose can be brought forth. If it weren't for these women, there would never be an Exodus because there would have never been a Moses!

The other amazing thing is how God chooses what patriarchal and power-hungry Pharaohs of this world consider low and despised as an instrument to shame and overthrow the arrogant and strong. We see this over and over again in scripture. Just think of Jesus' birth -- being born to an unwed teenager!

While Pharaoh is trying to make the Nile River which is a source of life for thousands of people an instrument of death, three women who work together succeed in making it a place of rescue and life. It's like the words of the Magnificat are coming true hundreds of years before they were uttered -- "God is bringing down the powerful from their thrones and lifting up the lowly."

God's intervention into the crisis does not come through dramatic sweeping events, but in a small one -- the birth of a little baby named Moses. God, through five women and a baby, is able to lead a nation out of bondage to freedom. It definitely gives power to anthropologist Margaret Mead's famous quote "Never underestimate the power of small group of people to change the world." That's the hope that we are called to live into as Christians each and every day. But this isn't a hope that is without risks. Just as each person in this narrative had to take different risks in order for God's plan to come to pass, sometimes we too are called to take risks. To speak out boldly against injustice. To perhaps be like Shiprah and Puah and to engage in civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance.

So my question for you this morning is when have you taken a risk for God? Has God ever called you to do something uncomfortable or a little "risky" and you walked away? Where have we as a community of faith -- All Saints Episcopal Church -- taken risks? Where might God be calling us to risk everything for the sake of the Gospel?

Let me tell you a brief story which might shed some light on these difficult questions. Walter Brueggemann is a much beloved preacher and professor of Old Testament. After Hurricane Katrina, he did something very "non-theological." He traced the origins of jazz. What surprised him was that jazz music came out of the barrio, among "those who go for broke every time because there is so little to lose, so much to hear and say, so much to hope . . ." Brueggemann invites us to journey deeper into the history of jazz that goes deeper than New Orleans. That story is told in Exodus 1. Told in the midst of a Pharaoh whose name we cannot remember, because if you have seen one Pharaoh, you've seen them all. This nameless "Lord of Egypt" who tries to stop the music is stopped in his tracks by courageous women because of their singing in the Hebrew barrio where dances of freedom began long before the feet of the Children of Israel ever touched the waters of the Red Sea. There arose defiant dances, dances of freedom, and dances of gratitude and hope.(1)

So this morning I invite you to step up to the plate and take risks. To not be afraid to speak out against injustice in whatever shape or form it takes. And to listen to the music playing on the underside -- the music of what is to come -- a season when justice will rain down like the waters in the sea. Amen.

(1) Taken from Brueggemann's sermon "Variations from the Barrio" in his book Inscribing the Text

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Assistant Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

August 24, 2008 // Year A: Proper 16

Link to audio: http://www.box.net/shared/2j70c126d8

The Spirituality of Place

2008-07-20T15:10:00.002-04:00

Genesis 28:10-19a (NRSV)

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood before him and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place -- and I did not know it!" And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the place Bethel.

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May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing and acceptable in your sight our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

This morning I'd like to think with you about our reading from Genesis and to begin I'd like to take a moment and for you to recall a scared place to you. A place where you had an encounter with God. It might be in a church, a cathedral, or a place outdoors. Take a moment and recall that place and let it come fully to your mind.

What do you see?

What do you hear?

What do you smell?

For me, this place was a retreat I went on a few years back at the Pecos Benedictine Monastery in New Mexico. It's an amazing location set in a valley below the Sangre de Christo Mountains. In English it translates to "Blood of Christ" mountains. It gets its name from the way the mountains look early in the morning near sunrise when the sunlight is reflected off the sand. It has a reddish tint to it. It's an amazing, breathtaking sight.

Now in this morning's lesson from Genesis, things are a little different than the picture I've just painted for you. When I went on this retreat I wasn't trying to escape my brother's fury. You see Jacob had just got through stealing his older brother Esau's blessing. He tricked his father Isaac into thinking he was his brother and his father blessed him. Esau is of course furious with him. Because of all this trickery Jacob is a persona non grata in Canaan and has to flee for his life.

What's interesting about this story is that when Jacob decides to stop running for a moment God shows up. Now if I were writing this story, or if I were God I don't think I'd show up just yet. I'd let Jacob sweat for a while. Make him think he' going to have to rely on his own resources to get out of this mess! But I'm not God and I'm not writing this story.

The first thing that catches me about this story is the way Jacob seems to have no problem falling asleep after all he's been up to. He's just tricked his brother and father and it seems as though he dozes right off to sleep.

The second thing is that God shows up and not only shows up, but allows Jacob to see something that few human beings ever have -- the gateway to heaven. He sees angels ascending and descending. And if that wasn't enough, God even speaks to Jacob and tells him that the promises God made to his Grandfather Abraham and Father Isaac are his. And here's the real kicker -- God even promises to be with him wherever he goes and will not leave him.

Now up until this point in Genesis, Jacob has just been sort of a background character. We see Isaac and Rebekah have twins and he's the youngest of the twins. We see Esau starving for food and Jacob offering food to him provided he gives him his birthright. He's very tricky and sleazy -- probably not the type of person you'd like to have stay overnight in your house unless you've got all the valuables locked up. You probably wouldn't even want him over for dinner because he'd take your silverware!

I think this story teaches us many valuable things. For one, it teaches us that God will not let us go -- even when we are running away from the results of our own

crooked acts. God doesn't give up on us even though we might give up on ourselves. And secondly, we learn that our journey through life is never alone. There might be times when we feel that we're all lone in the world -- but Jacob's dream reminds us otherwise. It reminds us that God will never leave us or forsake us.

And now for your homework. Yes, I know it's summertime. Turn to page nine in your bulletin. As you can see, we're going to have a dream night here at All Saints. What an appropriate time to talk about this given our scripture lesson and sermon which have to do with dreams. We're going to dream big dreams about where we'd like to go as a community of faith next. And maybe if we're lucky God will shine just a little light on us like he did for Jacob. So your homework is to come to this Dream Night on Wednesday, August 6 at 6:00 p.m. We need every voice to be heard -- young and old, married and single. So come and let's dream big dreams about this place where so many of us have encountered God. Amen.

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Assistant Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

July 20, 2008 // Year A: Proper 11

Audio of Sermon: http://www.box.net/shared/30pyssisk4