October 19, 2003 - 19th Sunday After Pentecost

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October 19, 2003 - 19th Sunday After Pentecost - Father Fred Myers

FIRST READING: Job 38: 107, 34-41

PSALM: 104: 1-6, 25

SECOND READING: Letter to the Hebrews 5: 1-10

GOSPEL: Mark 10: 35-45

Can you imagine the audacity of James and John? They go up to Jesus when they can get Jesus alone and say, "We would like for you to do something for us." And Jesus said, "What do you want me to do?". "You know, when you reach this place of glory that you keep telling us about, that you are going to, how about letting us be number one and number two, one on the left and one on the right? How about letting us be your helpers?" And I love Jesus' answer. He says, "Are you sure you can do it? Are you really sure that you have what it takes to do it?" And then he explains to them that it is not going to be an easy job. "You have to suffer what I suffer. You have to be baptized with what I am baptized with. You have to be ready to face whatever it takes to be my right and left hand persons."

But, you know, James and John aren't much different from the rest of us. Isn't that the way we think, too? "I want to be at the top. I want to be the most important. I want to be right there." You know, our whole culture just encourages this kind of thing. Even children - you know, when I was a kid, it used to be fun to go out in an empty lot we had way out behind the houses on the other side of the street, and we would go out there and play baseball. First base was a big rock. Second base was a piece of wood that we had found, and third base was, I think, just a worn spot. The distance between second base and third base was longer than the distance between first base and second base. But we had a lot of fun. But, look at what we have done with that. We have a thing called Little League. And what do we do to those boys and girls playing Little League? We encourage them. We say, "You have to be the best player". And the parents! Oh, my gosh! The parents - competitive - got to be at the top - got to have that team that wins, and woe to the umpire that calls a wrong kind of call. It is part of our culture, part of who we are - strive to be the first - strive, strive, strive.

Then, in the story, the other apostles get angry with Jesus, don't' they? Just like we do when we are in competition, and we don't seem to make it to the top - someone edges in in front of us, and we get angry. So, the apostles were no different than who we are. We are no different than who they are. But Jesus says, "You know, that is not where you are going to really find happiness. That is not really where you are going to find success, a sense of well-being - that is not where you are going to find it." Jesus says that where you are going to find that is when you are serving others. When you can serve other people, then you will find your own worth - you will find out who you are, and you will be blessed in that. Jesus says, "That is not what I am about".

Even the writer of the Book of Hebrews says that Jesus did not aspire to be a high priest. He was appointed by God, because Jesus was willing to give Himself as a ransom, as an offering. He was willing to give His life for the world, and that is why He was appointed, if you will, as the High Priest of Heaven.

Even Job is brought up short when God says to Job, "Where were you when the earth was built? Did you have anything to do with that? Do you know who did it? Are you sure?"

Jesus calls us to be servants - servants to one another. Jesus does not call us to be in charge. Look at the Church today. Look at how divided we are - how much tumult and chaos there is in the Church because one side wants to be the leader, and the other side wants to be the leader. They want to be at the top. They want to be on the right and left sides of Jesus, and they think that they can do that.

But that is not what we are called to do. Jesus said that, if we want to rise to the top, we are called to be servants - servants to one another. Jesus summed it all up when he was asked what the greatest law was. He said, "Love God with your whole soul, with your whole life, with your whole heart, and then love one another as yourselves". This is what we are called to do. We are called to love one another, to serve one another, and, in that serving, we will find peace. We can find our own self-worth. We can find wholeness in our minds. It is not striving to be first. It is not striving to be number one. But it is working for one another - living one another. This is what Jesus told us to do. This is what Jesus calls us to be.

AMEN
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November 9, 2003 - 22nd Sunday After Pentecost

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November 9, 2003 - 22nd Sunday After Pentecost - Father Fred Myers

FIRST READING: Book of Ruth 3: 1-5; 4: 13-17

PSALM: 127

SECOND READING: Letter to the Hebrews 9: 24-28

GOSPEL: Mark 12: 38-44

One of my favorite pastimes is watching people. I am a people-watcher, and, yesterday, I was with Andrew down in San Diego. I had never seen the Cathedral before, and I got a chance to see it and to participate in a conference down there. But, on the way back, we stopped at a couple of places to have a cup of coffee and have some dinner on the way home. I just love to sit there and watch people, and I guess that part of that comes from my background in college. My undergraduate degree was in social psychology, and, in that study, we had to watch people.

And that is what Jesus was doing, and I wonder if He had a degree in social psychology? I don't think so. But, He was watching people as they came to the temple to put money into the coffers there to support the temple and work of the temple, and He was making an observation. The first words we hear in the Gospel is that Jesus was teaching, and this is what Jesus did a lot of. He taught. He taught how to be in a right relationship with God; and He taught how to be in a right relationship with one another.

As you know, we are in our Stewardship phase, if you will. This is not one of my most favorite times of preaching or doing anything like that. When I was in the active ministry, I avoided it by allowing my vestry to do the preaching at that time. But we do have an important lesson here on the widow's mite, and I think that we need to hear it from the perspective of Jesus. What did Jesus see when He saw this widow putting her money into the coffer? He saw a person who was disenfranchised - a widow - she no longer had a husband. She no longer had a real income. She no longer had anything. She was one of those who were set aside. She was a disenfranchised person. And, yet, she made her trek to the temple. She made her walk to the temple, and she brought what she had. Now, the question I have is - why did she do that? Why? I think the answer to that question is because she was committed to God. She was committed from her heart to acknowledging and worshiping God, and this is the way she did it. She was committed. Jesus said before this to look at the people who were giving out of their abundance. They were just coming and dropping coins in and leaving. There was no feeling in it. But, for this woman, there was a definite commitment.

Why was she so committed? Why was she so committed? We are not really told in the Gospel why she was committed; we are just told that she was committed. And, my thought on that is that she was committed because she was counting her blessings. She was not giving to the temple out of a sense of - "well they need it". She is not giving to the temple out of a sense of duty. She is not giving to the temple out of a sense of feeling guilty, that she needs to somehow contribute to the temple. She is giving to the temple simply because she is thankful. She is thankful for the many blessings that she has already received. She had a husband. She has maybe a family. She has a place to live. No, she doesn't have much money. She doesn't have all the riches in life, but, what she has, she is very grateful for. And, so, she is committed.

This whole story always reminds me of that tired old joke about a breakfast of bacon and eggs, where the chicken is a donor, but the pig has to make a real commitment. And that is true. The widow had made a real commitment.

I think what we need to do in our lives is ask ourselves - How has God blessed me? How has God blessed me? Is it enough for me to want to contribute to the Church that is supposed to be working towards helping others and bringing the word of salvation, bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ? Do I want to further that? Am I committed enough to do that? And that is the question I think we need to ask ourselves. Jesus observed this. He was people-watching. He was watching the people as they came to the temple, putting their money into the coffers, and He saw this widow; and it touched Him. Here was a disenfranchised person who gave everything she had. This is what God asks from us. God gave His only Son, gave everything He had, that we might have Eternal Life. God gave His only Son - everything that God has - that we might be in a right relationship with Him. He doesn't ask us to do that. He really doesn't. God says, "I have already done this for you". And what we do is that we respond - we become responsible - we respond to God's love for us.

How committed are we to do that? How committed can we be? Are we willing to give everything we have? Not only our treasure, but our time and our talent. How willing are we to go out and help others? How willing are we to work in the Church here? How willing are we to give of our time? This is the question that we need to ask. This is the question that Jesus is answering for us, and He is saying, "This woman knows how to do that. This woman knows how to express her love for God. This woman knows how to say thank you to God for the many blessings that she has, not for any gain, but out of her heart of thankfulness."

AMEN
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December 28, 2003 - First Sunday after Christmas

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December 28, 2003 - First Sunday after Christmas - Father Fred Myers

FIRST READING: Isaiah 61: 10-62

SECOND READING: Galatians 3: 23-25; 4: 4-7

GOSPEL: John 1: 1-18

Well, I wish God would send forth his Word and melt the ice and snow and warm it up a little bit out there. The Psalms say he sends forth His word and melts them.

The Word of God. Yes, we hear about the Word of God. We heard a very different Christmas story this morning than we heard just a few days ago. A few days ago, we heard the story about the child being born in Bethlehem in a manger somewhere in the Middle East. Today, we hear from St. John in a very different way - The Word.

How important words are! Do you ever think about that? Words. Words can be consoling. Words can build you up. Words can tear you down. When we think of what we talk about to each other and how we label each other, sometimes words can be very hurtful. Remember the old saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me"? Not true! Words can often hurt, but words can also build up.

In the case we have this morning, John is building this wall up with the Word. He says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". Of course, we know that he is talking about the same Jesus of Nazareth, whose birth we talked about just a few days ago. That is the same child. I think this is a wonderful Gospel, because it tells me that God cares about me. It also tells me He cares about you. God chose to become human, just like you and me - a real human being, a being that could hurt; a human being that could be hurt by words, who is the Word of Love, but who could be hurt by words of hate, also. This is the same Jesus, whom we talked about just a few days ago, in the manger. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who wasn't even recognized by His own family as being who He was, but He was the incarnate God. He became flesh in a real, real way, but He was also the Love of God.

What is interesting for me about this story this morning, this Gospel from John, and is exciting for me, is that John says that, because of Jesus, He gave us the power to be children of God, and to be children of God meant to be related to Jesus in a real way - to be an heir, Paul tells us in Galatians, an heir of God - that we can, too, as Jesus did, respond to God as Abba, Daddy, Father. That is really important to me to know that my God cares so much for me that He chose to find out who I am by becoming real in Jesus Christ and becoming a real human being and knowing the things that I know, the same limitations that I have, but was still God, was still able to be the loving, caring, redeeming, creative God that we have. This is what we now know about Jesus. Through St. John, we know that Jesus was part of that creation, and, as heirs and sons and daughters of God, we, too, are a part of that creation. We are a part of that creative process that is ongoing in Jesus. We are no longer bound, John tells us, and Paul tells us. We are no longer bound by rules that were set forth to create a community, such as the rules obtained from Moses. We are no longer bound by that. We have received Grace, and we are graced upon graced, John tells us, to expand and to make that creation broader. And that creation can be anywhere in our lives. It can be the creation in our families. It can be the creation in our Church. We are no longer bound by those rules. Oh yes, they serve as good guidelines, but we are not bound by them. We are only bound, now, by love, and love is wide open, as Jesus shows us in His life and in His teachings. He brought about healing. He drove out demons. He taught the love of God, caring for one another. He brought about redemption. He brought about reconciliation. He even loved us so much that he was willing to give His life for us that we might be redeemed and be who we are, and that is the children of God.

So, it seems to me that, not only have I been gifted by God with being a child of God, but I have also been given a tremendous opportunity and an opportunity to be responsible, to be responsive to God by loving beyond myself - not only loving myself, because I am a child of God, but loving beyond myself and saying to each and every one of you and every one I meet in my life, "You, too, are a child of God. You, too, are loved. You, too, are worthy of my love and the love of God." Because this is what Jesus is all about. Thanks be to God!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was Jesus. The Word is God, and God is Love, John tells us in one of his Epistles. God is Love - it is that simple. If God is Love, Jesus is Love. And, if we are heirs with Jesus - if we have the same relationship to God that Jesus has - then we, too, can be vehicles of God's love for one another.

So, the message I hear this morning is that God truly loves us, me and you, through Jesus Christ. God gives us the ability and the opportunity to respond in loving one another. What a glorious Gospel! Praise be to God!

AMEN
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