November 15/16, 2003

Please enter your E-mail address below and depress "Send" to receive this sermon via E-mail

Sermon preached by Father Armand John Kreft

Associate Rector for Family Ministry

Church of St Paul in the Desert, Palm Springs, California

November 15/16, 2003

When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place." Stewardship in the heart of chaos. When things go horribly wrong, when we feel threatened either in body, mind or spirit, our first response is self-protection and followed very quickly by self-preservation. We tend to pull inward and hold onto to the familiar while reducing others into enemies and the new and untried as a threat. All of a sudden rather than living a life of abundance, we see the world through poverty and we fear there won't be enough. To live in fear and with a scarcity conscience is contrary to the gospel teaching and the promises of Jesus. For Jesus says that these chaotic times are the birth pangs of something new.

Steve Charleston, a Cree Indian from Oklahoma and the former bishop of Alaska and now dean of Episcopal Divinity School, once said that we are in the midst of a reformation quite unlike the one 500 years ago. Today we are sowing the seeds that will be harvested by those who come after us, but we will not live to see the completion of the reformation. Reformations are scary. They are filled with uncertainity, the unfamiliar and the new.

So we can be a part of the reformation by supporting the church or digging our heels in, by embracing the uncertainties of life or trying to insulate ourselves from the world. Either way, we are participating in the birth of the kingdom of God.

But this reformation is not just about the church. It is about us. Our hearts calls out for a reforming of ourselves. The old way needs adjusting ... a new heart beats and calls us to a new birth and new commitment.

In the gospel today it's getting close to the end of Jesus' earthly ministry. Jesus and the disciples had just been watching people present their offerings at the temple. Somebody spoke of the beautiful building and the gifts being offered. Jesus' response was that it has no lasting value to us or to God. I just returned from England where beautiful churches and cathedrals abound. Stunning in their majesty, they remain embarrassingly empty. A country where the Church of England is the state church but less than 1% of the population attend services at Easter. A country where the largest Hindu temple outside of India has been built in Neasden and the largest mosque in western Europe, with room for over 6,000 worshippers has just opened in north London. Yet the Anglican Church remains empty.

Here at St Paul in the Desert our church buildings are what the English call "in good nick". We've taken care of them and shown good stewardship. But we know these buildings have no lasting value, but if we don't take care of them, the will eventually collapse and fall.

Beyond the structures, it is what can and does happen inside this building that is of lasting value and of our true stewardship. The building is only a gathering place, but it is a gathering place of devoted Christian people. It is a place where we baptize people, to bring them into the fellowship of the church, and mark them as Christ's own forever. Marked as Christ's own forever...lasting value.

This is a place where we gather to find comfort and strength to make our way through the chaos of the world. It is a place where seekers can come to question and find answers. This is a place where Christian education and formation take place as we gather for worship, study and fellowship.

This is a place where we come to find comfort and support when we lose a loved one to death. This is a place where we can come to find comfort and support in other painful life circumstances. This is also a place where we come to celebrate happy events in our lives like weddings, births, anniversaries and other good occasions. This is a place where we also find ourselves challenged. Our lectionary of scripture readings cover the breadth of our needs and experiences. Some comfort us, some give us hope, some may annoy us, and some challenge us.

How about ourselves? Are we in "good nick"? Have we shown righteous stewardship of our lives and faith? Being in good nick is getting our priorities straight. In the chaos, while the world is reeling from wars and rumors of wars, of people wrangling about who has the most authority, who is right and who is wrong, when some are threatening the wrath of God and see the devil walking amongst us, our hearts need to find our first and foremost priority, our baptismal vows...to vow to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, to vow to resist the devil and all the forces of spiritual wickedness, to vow to respect the dignity of evey human being. (BCP)

Since the threat of terrorism hangs heavy over us and since the church is a mess, some people may indeed wonder if the End Times have commenced. But Jesus told us that no one, not even he, knows the hour or the day. I don't believe acts of terrorism are the acts of God. I believe that God's grace is abundant and God wants the best for us even when we are in chaos. For out of the chaos of Creation God sent forth the Holy Spirit to brood over the waters. God gives us comfort when we our hearts are hurting, gives us light when our hearts sink into the darkness. God challenges us for our own well being, for the well being of the community, for the health of our souls. So the challenge is how we live in this world with wars, insurrections, terrorism, fear, suffering and jockeying for power and worst of all, apathy. God starts with our heart to live with faith and grace made known to us in Jesus Christ and heightened by the actions of the Holy Spirit.

And this applies to our stewardship as well. Christian stewardship is not just about getting enough money for the church budget, for paying for the air conditioning and lights. Christian stewardship is about how we Christians set our priorities and values. It is about how we use the time, talent and money we have to further our Christian values and furthering the mission of the church... which is not who is right and who is wrong. The mission of the church is to bring the overwhelming, breathtaking, awesome gospel of Jesus Christ to those who live in fear.

Billy Graham said during one of his Crusades, Many people think that money is the answer to all of their problems, but there are limitations to what money can do, money will buy a bed but not a night's sleep. It will buy books but not intelligence. It will buy food but not an appetite. It will buy finery but not beauty; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusements but not happiness; religion but not salvation.

For many unbelievers life is meaningless and hopeless. The problems of the world and personal life are insurmountable. They have no concept of where they come from, why they are here, or where they are going, for they seek answers only within themselves and to their own strengths. Those of us who have put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ know where we have come from, the purpose of our existence, and the glorious future toward which we are headed. This makes life more than worth living. It gives us hope for the future." The chorus from one of my favorite Gaither hymns sings: "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; because he lives all fear is gone; because I kow he holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives.

God speaking to our hearts through the chaos is about how we as individuals and as a community respond to God's call in the broken and chaotic world; to seek hope, that awesome hope that through all the wars and rumors of war, God's plan is working itself to fruition through us and our life together. An exciting reformation of church and ourselves, God working in us and for us.
Return to list of sermons.

Advent 2C, December 6/7, 2003

Please enter your E-mail address below and depress "Send" to receive this sermon via E-mail

Sermon preached by Father Armand John Kreft

Associate Rector for Family Ministry

Episcopal Church of St Paul in the Desert, Palm Springs, California

Advent 2C, December 6/7, 2003

I suppose after the rector's trailer last week, you would be expecting me to preach about the End Times and the approaching hoofbeats of the apocalypse. I'll get to that latter. In Jesus' time there were lots of prophets. People were calling others to follow them, to join in rituals and change their lives. As the rector said in his sermon at 8:00, John was preaching against the government. He was calling into question the sins of Herod and his court. And he was murdered for that. So in reality, not a lot of people listened to the prophets. Today we have modern prophets on television who claim for $153 a month you can lose an enormous amount of weight, or get great muscles or save money on your insurance. Dr. Atkins is a modern prophet who espouses a belief and offers life changing results if you follow his advice. I will freely admit that I followed the South Beach Diet ... for a while. Let's see, a couple of years ago we were told that steak and eggs were not good for us. Now, certain diets call just for red meat and the modern prophets have decided eggs are not bad for you. So what prophets do we listen to today? Why do we listen more closely to Alan Greenspan and his prophecies about the economy rather than the prophecy of John the Baptist. Why are we willing to listen to the television prophets rather than the messages of Isaiah and John? All of them are calling upon us to make life changes. All of them are promising something better than what we've got now.

What all prophets have in common is they point to something beyond themselves, to something that has yet to take place. As a promise of a better life comes from advertisements, an even better life is promised by John the Baptist. The longing, the dreams, the hoped for Messiah is on his way, the wait is over. John is warning us that what is approaching is life changing. The world will never be the same again. Just stop and think for a moment. Whatever kind of Christian you are, look at the changes that the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has made on the world. The changes in art, in music, in justice...but most of all, the way we look at our life here and our relationship to others who share our time on earth.

But this Messiah, this longed for hope, will not just fit into our lifestyles and culture. The prophets call us to empty ourselves of the obstacles to God in our lives, to empty ourselves of the petty and allow ourselves to be filled with the new. In the prophecy we hear today, the valleys will be filled and the mountains made low... in other words, it's going to be a level playing field. All will be equal and all will be judged in the same way. But a level field not only sets us as equals, a level field removes the obstacles, low valleys, high mountains, all the obstacles from getting in our line of sight to Almighty God. The prophet Isaiah is quoted as saying "everyone will see the saving power of God." There are no obstacles, unless we put them there, no obstacles, to seeking and finding God. For the past two weeks, we've heard Jesus tell us not to be anxious about temporal things, and yet we listen to the modern prophets more closely when they speak of our physical comfort than when the Scriptural prophets speak of the state of our souls.

The saving power of God doesn't mean much to most people today. Even the thought that they might need salvation is offensive to some believers. The prophets are saying things we know, but do not want to accept. Yet all we have to do to look at the direction our lives have taken to realize John's cry of "turn back to God, be baptized and your sins will be forgiven." Salvation doesn't mean who's getting into heaven and who's not. Salvation means being able to look at God face to face with a clean heart. To know you've done your best to usher in the kingdom of peace and justice, of trying to right the world's wrongs, and for us, to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. And also to accept the wrong things in our lives that can be put right with God. I mentioned a few weeks ago - statistics prove that more relationships break up at Christmas than any other time of the year. So look at your relationships that have gone sour through anger or jealousy or resentfulness or hurtfulness or moodiness or dishonesty or selfishness or a hundred other human emotions. Of disappointments in our lives, that things haven't turned out the way we had hoped they would or disappointments with others or institutions or any of the myriad things that turn our sight away from the abundance of God's gifts to us.

How can these things be put right? Firstly by recognizing that you want and desire to be right with God. Secondly by looking at what has gone wrong and by admitting perhaps we may have had a part to play in the state of our life and any problems involved. And then thirdly, and most simply, ask God to make us right with him. You see God wants us, just as we are. He wants the bits we don't like in ourselves and the bits we do like. And once the whole self is turned over, the way is prepared, the walk to the riverside is done and like the words of Baruch, "the people can return home safely on level ground and we will show God's glory to the world." We cannot possibly have peace with God or peace with each other in the world or even peace within ourselves until we do something about the sin in our lives. Heed the prophet's warning. Look into your hearts and see the prophets you follow. Do they promise a life changing experience without any change from you? John the Baptist called for action on our part....turn from sin, be baptized and see the glory of God.

The prophets call us out of what's expected into the unexpected. John prepares the way for us. He calls us to the riverside. The same riverside that Jesus walked to and where God recognized him and claimed his as his own. So to are we recognized and claimed as God's own when we turn back to God and take heed of the prophets warning.

So this Advent as we expect the coming of the Savior, in the birth at Bethlehem or with the approaching hoofbeats of the apocalypse....let us first pray to heed the prophet's call and for the return of Christ into our hearts. For there can be no peace in the world without peace within ourselves. And peace comes to us when we allow Jesus to take once again his place in our lives in the stable of our heart.
Return to list of sermons.