THE CHURCH OF ST. PAUL IN THE DESERT

7/28/02, Tenth Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

The Reverend Vernon L. Suter

In the mornings, when it's not too hot, I like to go out on our patio and do my morning prayers and meditation. Sometimes my meditation is simply contemplation on scripture passages and sometimes it's reflecting on the beauty of the desert and the mountains. Last Thursday morning I was thinking about the parable of the mustard seed in anticipation of my sermon for today. I looked up and thought about the mountains. I began to wonder what small beginning those mountains had. You see, the parable of the mustard seed brought me to the realization that all things, with no exception, had a small beginning; not just mountains and other things of nature, but things of our every day life. Take business, for example. Any big business was once nothing more than an idea in someone's mind. That person eventually talked to another person and the idea began to grow. But it didn't evolve into a big business until many people got involved. There were probably bankers, lawyers, and who knows how many more. One by one people were added to the process that eventually became a big business. The Wright brothers had an idea that we could fly. My guess would be that only one of the Wright brothers had the idea first. He probably shared his idea with his brother and the two of them joined forces in doing something about it. Today, airplane travel is one of the biggest businesses in the world. Without air travel many of today's businesses would not survive. Diseases are discovered and overcome because of the seed of an idea in the mind of one scientist, one doctor, or one researcher.

Institutions evolve the same way. I remember in September of 1982 when I first arrived in the desert to take my place as one of the first staff members at the Betty Ford Center. Twenty-seven of us gathered from all parts of the country to begin the work of opening a rehabilitation center, a treatment center that for a number of years had been the dream of one lady; a dream that she prayed about and talked about with many people, - - until it finally became a reality. That small seed of an idea grew in the mind of Betty Ford to a staff of 27 people in 1982 and has swelled to a staff of well over 200 today. The Betty Ford Center has served thousands of alcoholics and addicts from all over the world. There are hundreds of Alumni organizations in cities everywhere. It has also grown even beyond the very important task of treating alcoholics and other drug addicts. The Betty Ford Center now includes a division dedicated to training physicians and others in the medical and helping professions, so that they can better understand, diagnose and treat addiction. All this from a single, small seed; - an idea in the mind of one person.

It is, indeed, a fact of history that the greatest things must always start with the smallest beginnings. This fact helps me to better understand what Jesus meant when he said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."

In contemplating all this, I realized that in order to truly understand the parable of the mustard seed, we need to understand the here and now Kingdom of Heaven, just like we understand the here and now of our world in general. The Lord's Prayer says, "...thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." The kingdom of heaven is a here and now process, just as the growth of our businesses and institutions is a here and now process. Christianity had it's beginnings some 2000 years ago with a single, simple, small, here and now event. That event was the birth of a little baby in a small unimportant town. This town had a population of around 300 people, and the baby had only a manger for a bed.

As time passed, this baby became a man, walking from town to town preaching about the Kingdom of Heaven. He gathered around himself what has been described as a "small, wretched band of men." At the time, it seemed that the only thing significant about these men was their apparent insanity. They gave up everything they owned to be with this traveling preacher and talk about the Kingdom of Heaven.

The preacher was soon crucified. He was nailed to a cross along with two criminals. All of you know this story, so you know that I'm talking about Jesus. The wretched band of men that left everything to follow Jesus, of course, were the Apostles.

Now let's consider this: A baby is born and a kingdom begins. From this small, insignificant beginning came a kingdom that has grown to embrace all the nations of the earth. It seems obvious that this growth has been the result of evangelism that started with Jesus and his band of preachers. Given this fact, it naturally follows that the main mission of the church continues to be evangelism. That mission has really never changed. We are to witness for Christ and the Kingdom of God wherever and whenever we can.

Now, this all sounds well and good and many of us have given this evangelism thing the college try. As a matter of fact, when one first gets involved in the work of the church there is usually great, unbridled enthusiasm. We're excited and fired up with the power of the Holy Spirit. But pretty soon it becomes discouraging when the response we get isn't what we expected.

I can imagine that the disciples in Jesus' day despaired on many occasions. Their little band was so small and the world was so wide, how could they ever have much of an effect on it? The fact is that individually, we are but a small speck in the middle of a vast world, just as the Apostles were. However, in spite of their smallness in number, Jesus told his disciples at that time, and he tells us, that there must be no discouragement, that they must serve and witness each in his place, that each one must be the small beginning from which the Kingdom grows, until all the kingdoms of the earth finally become the Kingdom of God. - - - -

Besides the vastness of the world around us, I think another one of the main causes for discouragement is because we have too narrow a vision of evangelism. Evangelism is broader than preaching to our friends and neighbors about Jesus Christ. To be sure, that's part of evangelism, but what about the witness of Christ through our everyday behavior? I've talked about this before from this pulpit because I think it is so extremely important.

Let me give you an example. On many occasions I've seen someone who exudes serenity and peace. This person is quick to help others, quick to understand the mistakes of others, and slow to judge. Inevitably someone will comment, "I don't know what he's got, but I sure would like to have some of it. Whatever it is, I want it." The long and short of it is that by our personal example of how we live life, we are evangelizing in a way that cannot be explained with words. There's no way to effectively describe the Christian example lived out, - - but people see it and it is effective evangelism.

This kind of evangelism is seen in our Lay Eucharistic Visiting. It's seen when we assist at one of the nursing home Eucharists in which St. Paul's participates. It's also seen in our services at church as ushers, servers and readers; in the choir, the youth ministries and vestry work. It's seen in the often unnoticed work of the Alter Guild and other such organizations. Less obviously, it's also seen in our Christian behavior in every walk of our life. It's seen in our work, at home and when we're at play. Whatever the activity, wherever or whenever the activity, we're seen as Christians, and our behavior is either inviting or it is not. If it's inviting to the Christian life, it's evangelism. It's planting a seed. Perhaps it's just a small seed, but it's a very fertile seed. Evangelism is as much our example to others as is verbally preaching or talking about Jesus. A word of caution though; evangelism can be discouraging if we're looking for immediate results. Remember, when a seed is planted it sometimes takes a long time to grow, and the truth is that someone else may reap the harvest. We may plant and even till the fields, but the harvest may come in someone else's time. We must never, however, quit planting.

Take a look at Jesus. How many seeds did he plant that he never saw harvested during his time on earth? He wasn't able to stay around and see what became of the multitudes that he miraculously fed. How about the many people he healed? Was he always able to see all the results of those great acts of evangelism?

How about the disciples after Jesus' ascension? How much of their harvest were they able to enjoy? I wonder if, in their wildest imagination, they ever realized the massive growth the Kingdom of Heaven would take as a result of their seemingly small efforts? Planting the seed is the key. We must plant and plant and then plant some more. Then we need to let God worry about the results.

I'm sure the question during Christ's day was: "Can this small band of ill-reputed characters be the beginning of anything, let alone God's redeemed community? Can anything as vast as the Kingdom of Heaven evolve from this?"

Jesus answered, "Yes!" He answered yes with the same certainty that a tall shrub grows out of a tiny mustard seed. God's miraculous power turned that small band of Apostles into the mighty host of God's people, embracing everyone.

From tiny, insignificant beginnings, God created His mighty Kingdom, and continues its creation through the work of each and every one of us, his disciples of today.

THE CHURCH OF ST. PAUL IN THE DESERT

8/11/02, The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 14:22-33

The Reverend Vernon L. Suter

There are many ways this miracle of Jesus walking on the water can be interpreted, but no matter where we take the story, one very clear and significant point stands out. It's glaringly obvious that in the hour of the disciples need, Jesus came to them. When the wind was contrary and life was a struggle, Jesus was there to save them.

In our lives, the wind is often as contrary as it was in the lives of the disciples in Jesus' time. At times it even seems like it's worse. Often we feel like we're really up against it, and life is one big desperate struggle. We struggle with ourselves, with our circumstances, with our temptations, with our sorrows, with our decisions, and it goes on and on. What we forget is that at such times we need not struggle alone. Jesus comes to us across the storms of our lives, just as he did with the disciples. He comes to us with his hands stretched out to save us. With a calm clear voice he bids us to take heart and have no fear.

The problem, as I see it, is that we don't stay focused on this fact, the fact that Jesus is always with us; to help us, strengthen us, and support us in every situation. I think that's probably because we don't realize that he's always as close as our next door neighbor, our close friends, or the person working next to us. I preach time and time again about how God works through people, but being the humans that we are, we tend to prefer handling things on our own. In so doing, we inevitably act on the emotional moment without counting the cost. The real truth is that we are a lot like Peter.

Peter was characteristically impulsive. He always leaped before he looked. Peter was mixed in motive. He genuinely thought he could handle everything by himself. Peter wanted so much to be just like Jesus, a desire that sent him out impulsively taking everything into his own hands. Now please don't get me wrong. Peter deeply loved Jesus, but, like most of us, he was torn between the pride of being able to take care of himself and the humility it takes to really trust Jesus, - - or anyone besides himself, for that matter.

There were times when Peter kept his pride and impulsiveness out of the way, at least at first. He got a good start on things, but along the way when the going got rough he got scared, just as he did when he was attempting to walk on water. He started out faithfully trusting Jesus. But what happened? Why did his faith fail? When his venture began he had his eyes focused squarely on Jesus. His faith failed because, as he continued, he began to look at the storm rather than at Jesus. - - In the days of the old sailing vessels, when a new deck-hand climbed the narrow rope ladder to the crow's nest, the old deck-hands would holler up to him, "Look up! Look up! Keep looking up!" It was very important for him to keep his eyes on where he was going and pay no attention to anything going on around him, especially that which was below him. If he looked down, he would begin to concentrate on the danger of falling and become afraid, possibly causing him to get dizzy and actually fall.

When Peter looked away from Jesus, he started thinking about the storm and became overcome with terror. Of course, when he reached the point of total preoccupation with the storm, he became completely out of control and the storm took charge. The storm became the master of his fate. But, - - when Peter thought he was a goner, he pleaded with Jesus to save him. He turned his concentration back from the storm to Jesus. - - Another behavior to which I can relate.

I can't count the times that I started an endeavor with Christ as my strength. I kept Jesus in the picture long enough to get rolling. Soon, however, I would become impatient and prideful and take back the controls. Inevitably, a struggle ensued and I, trying to stay in charge, found myself in the middle of a head on collision with failure. Of course, if I wised up soon enough, I returned to my faith, let go of the struggle of trying to do it all by myself, turned the whole thing over to God; - - and would you believe what happened next? - - You got it! The waters became calm again, my direction became clear, and whatever I was struggling with got worked out.

Situations such as Peter's, my own experiences, and others I've heard about that are similar to mine, give me pause. I wonder if any of us ever truly feel a need to call out to Jesus until we feel the pain of failure, - - or are at least threatened with failure, or encounter a crisis of some kind. I think failure, our own powerlessness or helplessness, is the real catalyst in our getting closer to God. Peter's words in today's Gospel, when he became frightened and began to sink were, "Lord, save me!" Peter suddenly became aware that there wasn't one thing he could do at this point to save himself. I'll go so far as to say that it isn't until we, as with Peter, are absolutely convinced

that we can't manage something ourselves, that we break down and say, "Lord, save me!" Although we fight tooth and nail to do it on our own, the bottom line is that when Jesus gets into our boat, and only when Jesus get's into our boat, does the wind sink. - - The wind sinks when Jesus is with us, not the boat. The great truth is that, wherever Jesus Christ is, the wildest storm becomes calm.

There's a very old book titled Consider Him, written by a lady by the name of Olive Wyon. In her book she quotes a story from the letters of St. Francis of Sales. As the story goes, St. Francis had often noticed a farm servant going across a farmyard to draw water at the well. He also noticed that, before she lifted the brimming water pail, the girl always put a piece of wood into it. One day he went out to the girl and asked her, "Why do you do that?" She looked surprised and answered, as if it were a matter of course, "Why? - - to keep the water from spilling . . . to keep it steady!" - - - -

What a story! What a thought to apply to our lives! Consider this: If every time we encounter a storm or some kind of stress in our lives, we simply place the wooden cross of Jesus in our hearts and minds, his presence, and the love which flows from that Cross, will bring to us the peace, serenity and calm for which we are struggling. The Cross of Jesus will, indeed, keep us afloat during the stormiest of times.

St. Paul's Church In The Desert

The Nativity of our Lord, December 25, 2002

Luke 2:1-20

The Reverend Vernon L. Suter

Once again we are gathered to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is one of the most joyous celebrations of our life and of our church. It is also probably the very biggest proclamation of faith we are asked to make as Christians. This day is the day designated for us to recognize that we worship a Lord, the King of Kings, who not only came into this world in total poverty and deprivation, but we, as Christians, proclaim that he was born of a virgin. Although we've all heard it, I'd like to quickly summarize the story: On the morning of the day of Jesus' birth, all the people in the world, as it was known at that time, were ordered by the emperor to go to their home towns to register for the first census ever taken.

I think it's important for us to picture this. People from surrounding small towns or settlements converged on these various cities, probably by the thousands, in order to comply with the edict of Augustus. It must have been a mob scene, and right in the thick of this mob we find Joseph, taking his pregnant fiancé to Bethlehem for registration. Now Joseph was a simple man who made his living as a carpenter. He was also a very religious man, and in those days a religious man was a man of the law. According to some historical sources, Joseph was quite legalistic, always conforming to the letter of the law. Given all this background in the religious law, we might well imagine that Joseph wasn't too happy to discover that Mary had become pregnant. Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus gives us an idea of how Joseph felt about the whole thing.

Matthew writes, "Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband to be, Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.'" I think it's important to understand that by Jewish custom, once a couple was engaged, the law dealt with separation the same as divorce. A husband, or in this case a fiancé, could get rid of his wife or fiancé by a simple letter of dismissal. If she had committed adultery, as Joseph apparently thought Mary had, there was every justification for dismissing her. Mary was saved from dismissal and the other consequences surrounding adultery by a visit to Joseph from the angel of the Lord. - - - - Now, consider the faith of Joseph in this matter. He was willing to parade his pregnant fiancé in front of everyone because and angel told him it was OK.

Now back to our story. - - - - Mary was nearly nine months pregnant at the start of their journey, so the trip had to be a rough one. The rigors of travel, especially the way they had to travel in those days, were certainly enough to bring on labor. So, as might be expected, Mary went into labor about the time they arrived in Bethlehem.

As if that wasn't enough, Joseph couldn't get a room at the inn. They were booked solid. Unfortunately, advance reservations were out of the question in those days. - - - - Now lets move away from Mary and Joseph and go to the fields where shepherds were guarding their sheep. It was night time, and suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared. Scripture tells us the shepherds were terrified, and I can't say that I blame them. The angel told them not to be afraid because he brought good news of great joy for all the people. He went on to say that a Savior was born that day in the city of David, a Savior who is the Messiah, the Lord of all.

In blind faith. - - based on this vision of the angel of the Lord, which some might consider a hallucination of some sort, the shepherds left immediately. Just as the angel said, when they got to Bethlehem they found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they told the story of the angel and what they had been told about the baby Jesus. Of course, everyone who heard the story was amazed. Later, the shepherds returned to their fields, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.

# # # #

Now let's fast forward to Nevada, a few years ago.

I remember a time when Bonnie and I were traveling at night across the Nevada desert. She was driving and I looked outside the window and saw a bright white light following in the sky, moving right along at about the same rate of speed we were going. I couldn't believe what I was watching. Do you know what my first thoughts were? I thought, "I can't say anything about this. Bonnie will think I've lost it. Maybe I'm not really seeing this. On the other hand, I quit drinking a long time ago, so this can't be a hallucination." Can't you just see it? Bonnie is driving along, paying attention to the road, and here I am, secretly trying not to be noticed as I kept glancing out the window at this light.

Finally, after several miles, I couldn't take it any longer. I finally confessed to Bonnie what I was seeing and asked her to stop the car and see if she could see what I saw. Would you believe, about that time the darn thing vanished and Bonnie never saw anything. The only indication that something might have been there was a truck stopped about a hundred yards behind us. The people from the truck were outside looking up in the sky. I told Bonnie that I wasn't going to tell a soul about this and I didn't want her to tell anyone either. I just didn't choose to have people to think I was nuts. - - - - Low and behold, the next morning's Las Vegas paper carried headlines about a Russian satellite burning out on re-entry over the Nevada desert. Well - - - - you can't imagine how fast and fearlessly I told everybody about what I had seen. Of course, I now had proof that what I saw was really there.

####

Considering the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, isn't it something to marvel at when we consider the faith it took to go along with such things as visits from angels in the middle of the night?

We sit here today, as do many just like us in churches all over the world, thinking and talking about the baby Jesus, professing our faith. When I think of my Nevada incident, I have to ask myself the question, "Do I really understand what having faith means?" Have I ever really considered that this faith I profess is supposed to mean blind faith? Blind faith is the kind of faith that doesn't need the proof I needed to believe what I saw that night in the Nevada desert. Blind faith is the kind of faith displayed by Joseph and the shepherds. I think there are several questions we might ask ourselves as we think about the events of this day two thousand years ago. - - - -

For example, I have to ask myself, "If I were engaged to be married and my fiancé became pregnant before we lived together, would I just think a visit from an angel was an ordinary dream and just go about the business of getting rid of my fiancé, or would I have the faith to blindly accept what the angel said to me? In times when the acceptance of an `un-wed mother' was unheard of, would I have the nerve to take my pregnant fiancé into public for all to see and talk about?"

Would I have the faith to travel all the way from my fields, leaving my sheep alone and without a shepherd, to worship a Savior that some angel told me about, or would I think I might be hallucinating? I know I wasn't too sure of myself that night on the way to Las Vegas. Today we are once again presented with the great miracle that Joseph and the shepherds were presented with long ago. We are told our Savior, Jesus Christ, came to us amidst extremely unusual circumstances.

In order to really understand and believe, in order to really have the faith we say we have, we must challenge ourselves by answering the hard questions that come out of this story of the humble birth of our Lord. We need to dig inside ourselves for the humility to understand to the depths of our being how much sense this whole thing really makes. When we return to our homes this morning, I hope we can all believe faithfully that a Savior was born to us in the city of David all those centuries ago, and that he is with us each and every moment of our lives as we live them today, saving us from our own faltering faith, returning us to him, over and over again.

Let us return to our homes as the shepherds returned to the fields, glorifying and praising God, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.