St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Palm Springs, California

Maundy Thursday, April 8, 2004

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

The Reverend Vernon L. Suter

Tonight, the night before Jesus is to go to his death, is the last time he will spend with his disciples. The next day, tomorrow, Jesus will be put through the most excruciatingly painful death possible; death on the cross of crucifixion. Every year at this time, especially if I am preparing a sermon for this service, I find myself going into a very somber, contemplative mood. As I re-create the story in order to prepare my sermon, I think quite a lot about all that our Lord went through; the torture and suffering he endured. I can't help but realize that all this was done for me; for each one of us, whether we sit in this church tonight or not. As I think about all this, I have to challenge myself with the question: "Why do I wait for Holy Week to get into this frame of mind?" After all, this season begins with Ash Wednesday and the weeks of Lent that follow, but it isn't until after Palm Sunday, when I start preparing for Maundy Thursday, that I come to full awareness of what took place all those years ago. Actually, every Sunday we celebrate his resurrection, which of course, reminds us of his crucifixion. - - So why do I even consider Ash Wednesday or Palm Sunday as the time to start thinking about the sacrifice Jesus made for me? I guess I don't begin to really personalize these events until then; until after Palm Sunday, and specifically on Maundy Thursday. It's in this last week before Jesus died that I really begin to realize that he went through all this so that I might be saved.

The next thing that happens to me is when I begin to really get in touch with the fact that Christ made such a huge sacrifice, that I begin to wake up to the blessings in my life; - - blessings that are only possible because of Jesus' sacrifice. - - - -

In all my contemplation, I next begin to wonder, given my lack of attention to him, how it is that Jesus led me to where I am today. Perhaps as we continue with our service tonight, you too may want to give this some serious thought. You may want to join me in asking yourselves what situations and circumstances brought you to where you are today? How has Jesus led you through the pain and suffering that happens in everyone's life at some time or another? Another point I have to ponder is, "How often I have rebelled and sinned against God, in spite of the miraculous things he's done for me." - - - -

I remember twenty eight years ago, a very significant time for me, when I began to feel the presence of God in my life. Actually, if I take some time to think about it, I can go back further than 28 years and recognize how, in spite of myself, God stayed with me and carried me through, as I continually tested him and sinned against him. - - - -

As many of you know, I am a recovering alcoholic. By God's grace, I've been sober since 1975. I often prayed for help when I was in trouble, and then completely forgot everything about God when things were going fine. When I was in trouble I would say prayers like, "If you are really there, God, get me out of this mess." Of course, I never managed to say thank you, or even acknowledge that there was such a thing as God when the mess was cleared up. I then became the Captain of my ship, and nobody could take credit but me. In a nutshell, I sinned in the very face of God and then shamelessly asked him to bail me out. I was as self-centered as they come, yet God stood unselfishly beside me. God stayed when I didn't, and he led me through my wilderness to where I am today.

As I recall these things, I can get really sad and ashamed. When I think of the sacrifices Jesus made so that I could have salvation and peace; so that I could mess up so badly, deny him, and still be redeemed, I become very humble and grateful for God's selfless and humble grace and recognize how much more I can still learn from all that. Jesus served me, quietly and humbly, no matter how I insulted him with my false pride.

When I look at John's Gospel for tonight, I see more of that selfless humility which only Christ seems able to demonstrate so perfectly. When Jesus washed the disciples' feet, including those of Judas, the man he knew was going to betray him, he gave us all a wonderful demonstration of humility and other-centeredness.

In the washing of his disciples' feet, Jesus was making clear that he wanted them (and us) to be the same kind of selfless person he is. He told them that he had set them an example; that they should do what he had done. Indeed, our quiet but strong charge from Jesus, which he laid out in one of his great commandments, is to love one another as he, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, has loved us.

Jesus said that the world will recognize his disciples by there love for one another. The message of Jesus in that day is his message to us today. As disciples of Jesus, we are to love one another as he has loved us. It wasn't until I went into treatment in 1975, that I ever heard of anything other than to take care of yourself first, because nobody else will. My understanding of life was that if you wanted to get ahead, you stayed ahead of the other guy and didn't let anything or anybody get in your way. There I was, helpless and spiritually bankrupt, in a treatment center for addicts and alcoholics, and it was the first time ever that I heard people talk about having to give something away if you wanted to keep it.

You have to give it away so you can keep it?- - - - Who ever heard of such a thing? I sure hadn't. I had no idea what they were talking about. As I got further along in my recovery I began to understand a little about what was going on. If I was to keep my sobriety, which I now realized was coming my way because of love from others, I had to help others in the same way. Finally, much later, as I began to get involved in the church, I understood Jesus admonishment to love one another as he has loved us. This business of giving something away so you can keep it is nothing more and nothing less than loving our neighbor as God loves us.

Jesus' washing the feet of the disciples is not about foot washing. It's about love and humility. It's about the kind of love only a humble person can give. If we really believe, as I did so strongly for so long, that we are the captain of our own ship, if we consider ourselves to be too good or above the likes of any person or thing, if we are in any way arrogant about life, then we haven't the main ingredient required to experience God's peace. That ingredient is humility. If we consider ourselves too good for some-thing or some-body, we simply don't have the humility needed to pass along God's peace.

This evening, as we prepare to do our foot washing here at St. Paul's, and to receive our Communion, let us remember Christ's selflessness and what that selflessness means for us.

Let us remember his selflessness as he walked the earth healing others and raising the dead.

Let us remember his selflessness as he resisted the temptations of the devil while in the wilderness.

Let us remember his selflessness in the taking of the humiliating insults at the trial before his crucifixion.

Let us remember his selflessness during his brutal and torturous walk to the cross, and his painful crucifixion.

And above all, let us always remember that all of this pure selflessness on the part of our Lord Jesus Christ was to give us his never ending grace. I believe that we, in turn, must be humble enough to be emissaries of the unconditional grace of Jesus; the grace he so freely gave us.

The Church of St. Paul In The Desert

Easter Vigil, April 9, 2004

(Exodus 14:10-15:1)

The Reverend Vernon L. Suter

One of the biggest lessons we can learn from today's Exodus reading is to never focus on the negative. The Israelites of that day seemed to obsess with the negative instead of looking for the good. There's an old song that some of you may remember called, "Accentuate the Positive." The words started out, "Accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative. . ." Instead of focusing on the promises of the blessings to come and the everyday things of the moment that they needed to do in order to get where they were going, the Israelites spent all their time worrying about the bad things that could happen to them.

First the Israelites were watching the Egyptians that were chasing them, instead of watching where they were going. Just think for a moment and conjure up an image of running for your life while at the same time continually turning your head and looking behind you. What would happen? My guess is that you would trip on something, stumble and most likely fall down. I think we can be pretty sure that you wouldn't get where you were going. Something unforseen, something you hadn't noticed because you were looking back all the time, would most certainly be your undoing.

The same is true spiritually. When we are so preoccupied with where we've been or whatever problems are chasing or plaguing us, we can't do anything but flounder. Getting where we're headed is almost out of the question.

Not only were the Israelites concentrating on their pursuers, they were busy comparing their present situation with the life they had in Egypt, as horrendous as it was, and lamenting the fact that they weren't still there. It seems that its always easier to stick to the status quo than to take a risk, to step out in faith, if you will, and move on to the promise of something better. - - - -

And what did God have to say about all this? He told Moses to tell the Israelites to go forward. Of course when they did this, when they trusted God and developed a little faith, they went forward on dry ground. God led them away from the Egyptians to eventual salvation and the promised land.

If you have ever given any thought to why it's seems so tough to be a Christian, this Exodus story gives a strong hint. Just as with the Israelites, I think we enjoy the status quo. We would rather just keep on plugging, living OK, not making waves, rather than step out in faith and take a risk so that we can have something better. Actually, for the most part, this is the human condition. Most prefer just to keep things as they are and be sort of comfortable. I should say we prefer to keep things as they are and be what we think is sort of comfortable. Most of the time, what we think is comfortable, isn't really all that comfortable. We're just used to it, that's all. We get in a habit, a rut, and it seems like more work to better ourselves than to stay in the status quo.

Why do we like this pseudo comfortable place? Why do we fear moving out of where we are to a more promising existence? I think the problem lies in the fact that the potential good is not clear enough for us to visualize. We can't experience it until we get there, and just like the Israelites with Moses, we're not all that anxious to go by what someone else says. However, the long and short of it is that to become a Christian, or to behave as a Christian once we are baptized, does not allow us to stay in the status quo. So, as Christians, we must trust and take the risk. We must have the faith to realize that God will see us through, and will never forsake us.

In our Exodus Scripture it talks of our Lord as the Angel of Light, and how the light lit up the night to guide the Israelites. It also describes how the angel of God, who was going before the Israelite army, moved and went behind them, coming between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel.

God is all around us, protecting and guiding us, just as he protected and guided Israel. - - As Moses told the people, "The Lord will fight for you, and you won't have to do a thing."

The ground that we walk on as we follow Christ is always dry, as long as we "accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative;" - - As long as we stay positive and recognize the future as leading to a brighter life with God. On the other hand, if we are always looking back with the idea that where we were had to be better than where we are, we will stumble, fall and struggle, perhaps never getting where we want to go. In a nutshell, we need only follow the Light of Christ as the Israelites followed the Angel of Light.

Tonight, we are baptizing two young men into the Body of Christ. By young, I mean really young. They are just about two years old. However, I refer to them as young men because these boys, Jerry and Hank, were given away to foster care on the days of their birth in Guatemala, the likes of which most of us have never even dreamed of experiencing. At their baptism they will be given a lighted candle, which is symbolic of the Light of Christ. By having already been led by his light into the loving arms of Tom & John, and ultimately here to their baptism, they have seen God part the waters of their own Red Sea. They have been able to walk on dry ground to God's salvation, in spite of whatever obstacles they may have encountered along the way.

As we witness these baptisms tonight and contemplate our own salvation, we can truly rejoice and sing as the prophet Miriam did after the parting of the Red Sea: "Sing praises to the Lord, for his great victory! He has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea."

The Church of St. Paul In the Desert

The Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 23, 2004

Acts 1:1-11

Luke 24:44-53

The Reverend Vernon L. Suter

Each Sunday, our readings have been leading us to the point where Jesus ascends to be with the Father, and today's readings talk of his actual ascension. However, along the way, as well as today, some of the important passages in our readings could be kind of vague. They were not always understood by Jesus' disciples, and I'm sure it's no different for us. We heard a couple of these phrases today in our reading from Acts. One is, "He ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father." Another one: - - Jesus said, "This, is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

It's immediately obvious that his apostles didn't understand what he was saying when they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" Of course, this didn't tie into what Jesus said at all. Jesus wasn't talking about restoring the kingdom to Israel. He was talking about his sending the Holy Spirit as a way in which he would continue to be in them and with them. We see this when he said ". . . you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." - - - - Jesus was asking them to stay in Jerusalem until this happened, and then go out to witness and do God's work. As to restoring the kingdom to Israel, Jesus merely told them it wasn't up to them to decide such things. That's up to the Father. Immediately after saying all these things, Jesus ascended to be with the Father.

To clearly understand the implications of what Jesus was telling his disciples, we only need to take a look at the part in John's Gospel in which Jesus tells his followers that he would be leaving them. They weren't too happy about it and were loaded with questions as to where he was going. They were also very strong about wanting him to stay with them, or to let them go with him. He responded by saying he wouldn't leave them alone. He said he would send another Advocate, the Holy Spirit. He further indicated that the Holy spirit would abide with them and be in them. He said very directly, "I will not leave you orphaned; . . ." When Jesus said that The Holy Spirit will be in them and among them, the key point is that God will be in all of them, which further implies that he will be in each one of us. Thus the verse from Matthew in which we hear ". . . where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."

Now, to bring us back to a statement from Jesus that I've already mentioned; when he says that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, he doesn't mean that we are to sit around and enjoy our spiritual wealth. As you recall, he said, ". . . you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." - - - - - - If we were to bring this to the present and to this room, we are admonished to witness our faith, not only in Palm Springs, but anywhere and everywhere we go, - - - - all over the world.

So, actually, the statements of Jesus, before ascending to the Father, are quite clear and simple. The twelve step programs that we are all familiar with put it very simply and make it easy to understand. In these programs they say, "God works through people." Unfortunately, many people understand God as residing someplace in heaven. Up there someplace! The idea that often goes along with this thinking is that God has very little to do with mundane earthly matters. It's this kind of understanding that denies the earthly presence of God. God, the Holy Spirit, dwells in each of us. Therefore, the love of God dwells in each of us. As love spreads in the form of help given and received, we see God working through people. Because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we touch God every time we touch one another. Of course, we must do this touching with love and kindness. We hear God every time we speak to one another, as long as the words spoken are out of love.

I was talking to a man one day about God working through people, and he asked me a very important question. He said, "If God works through people, why is there so much evil in the world?" A complete answer to this question is too lengthy for one sermon, but a brief answer is that evil is a human choice, available to us in the free will God gave us; the free will that he gave no other species in the animal kingdom. God's choice is love. Whenever love is present, God is present. God is never present in evil. Unfortunately, evil is present and available, if we choose to exercise that choice.

God's love is abundant, but it does have a price. The price of God's love is humility. We need to be humble enough to recognize God's love as it exists around us. We need to be humble enough to receive it once we recognize it, and finally, we need to be humble enough to share it with others once we recognize it. - - - -

What is it that prevents so many of us from knowing God's love? The answer, once again, is pretty simple but evasive. If the price of God's love is humility, then it follows that the barrier to God's love is pride. Pride drives us to attempt to be totally self-sufficient. It's that kind of pride that prohibits honest interaction with our fellow human beings. As long as we think we have to be so self-sufficient, we will not know God as He works through others.

Why is that?

The answer is that the proud person can only trust in self. There is no hope outside of the proud person's own abilities. On the other hand, the humble person is quick to realize his or her helplessness, and it is only in our helplessness that we can bring ourselves to rely on anyone else. Only the humble person can have hope of really seeing God's love as it is manifested through people. - - - -

Now I have mentioned the need for us to recognize the work of God through others, but we also need to look at our role as God works through us. The very awareness of the Holy Spirit in others leads us to concern ourselves with our behavior toward others. Answers to our prayers are within the context of this world, always involving our fellow human being. Therefore, we need to make ourselves available to God as an instrument through whom others may see the answers to their prayers.

Unfortunately, in our effort to understand the work of God through us, pride raises its ugly head. Pride gets squarely in the way of our sharing God's love. It is pride that insists that we are always right. It is this need to be right that brings about our criticism of others. It is our criticism of others that keeps us from loving. When we begin criticizing others with an attitude of self-righteousness, we are no longer posturing ourselves in the image of God. Rather, we are behaving as though we are God. There is a fine line between recognizing that we are the messenger and image of God, and at the same time remembering that we are not God. Jesus has sent us the Holy Spirit, to be in us and among us. With that gift, he has admonished us to witness to our faith, not only in Palm Springs, but anywhere and everywhere we go, - - - - all over the world. With God at the core of our very being, it is important that we remember what we heard in today's Gospel; that "repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." - - - - or from Palm Springs, if you will.