June 23, 2002 - The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost - Father Barry Woods

THE FIRST READING: GENESIS 21: 8-21

The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac". The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring." So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Do not let me look on the death of the child". And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him." Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

PSALM 86: 3-10

3 Be merciful to me O Lord, for you are my God; I call upon you all the day long.

4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you O Lord, I lift up my soul.

5 For you O Lord, are good and forgiving, and great is your love toward all who call upon you.

6 Give ear O Lord, to my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications.

7 In the time of my trouble I will call upon you, for you will answer me.

8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, nor anything like your works.

9 All nations you have made will come and worship you, O Lord, and glorify your Name.

10 For you are great; you do wondrous things; and you alone are God!

THE SECOND READING: ROMANS 6: 1b - 11

Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO MATTHEW (10: 24-39)

Jesus said to the twelve apostles, "A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's foes will be members of one's own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it".

The bulletin says that this is the time for the sermon, but this isn't going to be a sermon, this morning. This is going to be a bible study. You know, from time to time in this Parish on Sunday morning, we offer a bible study for adults, and you people stay away by the hundreds! So, this morning, I've got ya'! You can't leave without everybody pointing at you. I have this captive audience, and we are going to do some bible study. But, just so you don't think that it's too "Baptisty", let me begin this way, in proper Episcopal fashion:

HERE BEGINNETH THE BIBLE LESSON

The Old Testament lesson that we have before us this morning is from Genesis. The Book of Genesis is about 50 chapters long, and the last 40 of those chapters are what scholars call "The Patriarchal Inheritance" - the stories about the Patriarchs. And that 40-chapter inheritance begins with the story of Abraham and Sarah. Sarah is barren. She can have no children. And Sarah and Abraham are suffering the depression and the shame and the anger and the guilt that go with that. They are bereft of children. And then God comes into the picture, and he promises Sarah that she will conceive a child, and that child will be the father of many nations. And, sure enough, according to God's promise; Sarah conceives and bears Isaac; and Isaac marries Rebecca; and they have Jacob; and Jacob wrestles with God; and God changes Jacob's name to Israel; and Israel becomes the father of the 12 tribes of Israel; and the nation of Israel is established; and that great history begins; and don't you wish you had come to some of these classes, so you would know about this?

The great century's history of the nation of Israel begins with the Exodus and the entry onto the land; the rise of the great King David and the monarchy of the power and the glory that goes with it; and then the decline and the division of the kingdoms in the north and south; and the fall of the Northern Kingdom to the Assyrians; and the fall of the Southern Kingdoms to the Babylonians; and then the exile; and the return from the exile; and the subjugation by the Greeks and then the Romans; and the dispersion of the Jews into all of the world; and then, down through the centuries, the persecutions; the horror of the Holocaust under the Nazi's; and, in 1948, the establishment of the nation of Israel; and the Jews come home. All of that glorious history began with God's compassion, God's love, God's rescuing power. If God had never rescued Sarah from her barrenness, there never would have been all of that glorious history of Israel and the Jews.

14 years before Sarah bears Isaac - 14 years before that - in the midst of Sarah's and Abraham's discouragement and despair, Sarah and Abraham decide that Abraham should sire a child through Hagar, who is Sarah's slave from Egypt. And so, as was the custom in those days when the wife was barren, Abraham sires a child through Hagar, and that child is the subject of today's Old Testament lesson. When Sarah does finally have Isaac, she becomes jealous of Hagar and the boy, and so she has them banished to the desert to die. And, they are close to death and are crying out in their misery and their despair, and God rescues them. In His love and His compassion and His rescuing power, he lays His hands upon this boy, and he is saved and rescued and becomes the father of another nation.

Now, in the Old Testament lesson this morning, the boy is not named. How many of you know his name? Come on! Sunday School teachers don't count!

Ishmael. How many of you knew that! Sure - lie to me! Some of you are lying!

The boy's name was Ishmael, and from him sprang the Ishmaelites. Because of God's love and God's compassion and God's rescuing power, Ishmael begins the nation of the Ishmaelites, and they lived to the east of the land of the Israelites. They have their own history - hundreds of thousands of years of great history. I don't know their history as well as I know the history of Israel, but it must have been a great history of up's and down's, victories and defeats, and, of course, the conversion to Islam in the 6th century. They have a great history, and they come down to the modern times, the Ishmaelites do, and do you know who they are today? The Ishmaelites are a portion of the Arabs and the Palestinians.

So, on one stream of history, we have Isaac and Israel and the Jews, and, in the other stream of history, we have Ishmael and the Ishmaelites and the Palestinians. And both were born of God's love and God's compassion and God's rescuing power.

This evening, I will go home, and, when it is time, I will turn on World News Tonight. We all watch ABC in my home. My wife is in love with Peter Jennings, and so, even when he is not on, which he is not on Sunday night, we still watch ABC - just in case he is on! So, tonight, I will go home, and I will turn on World News Tonight, and probably - probably - once again, I will be assaulted by the images from the Middle East. Once again, I will have to sit through the images of innocent civilians being killed by suicide bombers, and other innocent civilians being killed by Israeli tanks and Israeli soldiers and Israel jets; and, once again, the rhetoric of hatred and self-righteousness will be facing me from the television. One more time, I will have to face this horrible tragedy with no apparent solution. Economic solutions don't work. Military solutions don't work. Diplomatic solutions don't work. Political solutions don't work. Nothing works. The hatred and the self-righteousness go on and on and on, with no ending.

I am not an expert on International things, but I believe this. I believe that none of the old solutions will work. I believe the only solution is a religious one. I believe the only solution is a spiritual one. And so, my prayers for peace in the Middle East have changed. They used to be general prayers; you know, like we all pray - for "peace". But, now, my prayers about the Middle East have become very specific. I pray that God will raise up some person who can be heard by both sides - some person who will speak powerfully and eloquently about who those people are and where they come from - where the Israelites and the Jews come from, where the Ishmaelites and the Palestinians come from and who they are. They are the product of God's love and God's compassion and His rescuing power, and, without that, they would not be there. And that is my prayer - that God will raise someone up that they will listen to - both sides - and hearts will be changed, because they will begin to remember who they are and where they come from.

That is my new prayer for peace in the Middle East, and maybe it can be your prayer, also.

HERE ENDETH THE BIBLE LESSON

August 4, 2002 - The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost - Father Barry Woods

THE FIRST READING: GENESIS 32: 22-31

The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." The sun rose upon him as he passed Peniel, limping because of his hip.

PSALM 17: 1-7, 16

1 Hear my plea of innocence O Lord; give heed to my cry; listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.

2 Let my vindication come forth from your presence; let your eyes be fixed on justice.

3 Weigh my heart, summon me by night, melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.

4 I give no offense with my mouth as others do; I have heeded the words of your lips.

5 My footsteps hold fast to the ways of your law; in your paths my feet shall not stumble.

6 I call upon you O God, for you will answer me; incline your ear to me and hear my words.

7 Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them.

16 But at my vindication I shall see your face; when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.

THE SECOND READING: ROMANS 9: 1-5

I am speaking the truth in Christ-I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit-I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO MATTHEW (14: 13-21)

Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me." Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

I wonder how many people shop at Vons. This is not a commercial for Vons, because I am sure Albertson's and the rest of them do the same thing. But we shop at Vons in Rancho Mirage, in the Rancho Las Palmas shopping center, and, at 5:00 on any day of the week, you can go into Vons, and they will have just put out some of the most fantastic, freshly-baked bread you have ever seen in your whole life. And they put it out on the shelves, and, for about 20 feet all around that shelf, all you can smell is this bread. And you can hardly wait to snatch it up, and get it into your car, and get it home, and, of course, then there are still a couple of hours until dinner. So, the bread is sitting there, and you just have to rip off a piece of it and slather a bunch of butter on there - now, this is a sermon, not a dietary consultation! - slather a bunch of butter on there and get it down just as fast as you can. It is fantastic stuff. It looks great. It smells great. It tastes great. It is great.

When you think about the bread that was brought to Jesus in the Gospel lesson that we just read, I think you will imagine the incredible contrast between Vons' bread at 5:00 and the bread that was brought to Jesus long ago in the desert. That bread was not fresh. It was at least one day old, probably more, and this, of course, was before there were preservatives, so Heaven knows what that bread was like. And it had been out in the desert all day, at least for one day, and maybe more, and so it was pretty dirty and dusty and sandy. Maybe there were even some insects that had gotten a hold of it in places. The point I am trying to make, of course, is that this is totally retched stuff that is brought to Jesus! And so, wretched stuff is brought to the Lord of the Universe, a man who deserves only the greatest that the world has to offer, and this wretched, musty, dusty bread is brought to Him.

What does He do with it? He does four things.

The first thing He does is He takes it. He accepts it. He does not turn away from wretched stuff. He takes it. He takes it, and then He blesses it. And, in His blessing, this musty, dusty bread becomes something different. It becomes something more than it was. It becomes something better than it was. It becomes something that, instead of being totally inadequate for God, becomes something that serves His purpose fully. And then the third thing that He does with this bread is that He breaks it. I like to think in terms of: He opens it. He opens this bread so that it can be shared by all the people present. And fourthly and finally, He gives it. He gives this transformed bread to the people, and they go away satisfied and full beyond their wildest expectations.

So, He does four things with this wretched offering. He takes it; He blesses it; He breaks it; and He gives it. Sounds a little familiar, doesn't it? In a few minutes, I, as your celebrant, will take the bread that is brought. The bread that gets brought to us here at the altar is not like Vons, and it is not like the desert, but it is somewhere in between. It is - well, you know what it is, it is not really bread, but we pretend that it is bread. That bread will be brought once again, as it has been hundreds of times. It will be brought, and I will take it, and I will bless it in Jesus' Name; and, in that blessing, it will become something different, won't it? It will become something better, something more, and it will become the Body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And then it will be broken, opened, split up, so that it can be shared by all of us present. And, finally, the bread will be given, and you will feed on that transformed bread; and you will be able to leave here today with a whole, new way of dealing with your life and the world around you, if you choose to.

So, those four actions existed in the wilderness long ago, and those four actions exist every Sunday, of every week, of every year, in the Church. And, because they existed long ago and then get repeated every Sunday, there must be something very, very important about those four actions. And there is. Those four actions are what Jesus is all about. Those four actions are His business - it is what He does. He takes; and He blesses; and He breaks open; and He gives - it is what He does.

In any congregation, on any given Sunday morning, there are always going to be some people who are carrying baggage around with them in their life, and, in their own eyes, this baggage is probably not very attractive stuff. It is not Vons' bread; it is the wilderness bread. They carry around guilt, and anger, and fear - all kinds of things - and maybe there is somebody here today who is carrying something around that they don't think is worthy of God. And, this morning, I ask you, please, don't leave that baggage at home. Don't leave it in the parking lot. Don't even leave it in the pew. Bring it here this morning. Bring it here with you and let Jesus do what He does. Let Him take it. Let Him bless it and make it something better and more. And let Him break it open so it can be shared. And then let Him give it back to you so that you can go back into your life with a whole new capacity for love, forgiveness, compassion, and justice. Let Him do what He does.

He takes; He blesses; He breaks; and He gives.

October 20, 2002 - 22nd Sunday after Pentecost - Father Barry Woods

THE FIRST READING: EXODUS 33: 12-23

Moses said to the Lord, "See, you have said to me, 'Bring up this people'; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." He said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." And he said to him, "If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth." The Lord said to Moses, "I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." Moses said, "Show me your glory, I pray." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, 'The Lord'; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live." And the Lord continued, "See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen."

PSALM 99: 1-5

1 The Lord is King; let the people tremble; he is enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth shake.

2 The Lord is great in Zion; he is high above all peoples.

3 Let them confess his Name, which is great and awesome; he is the Holy One.

4 "O mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob."

5 Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God and fall down before his footstool; he is the Holy One.

THE SECOND READING: 1 THESSALONIANS 1: 1010

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO MATTHEW (22: 15-22)

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered, "The emperor's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

If you are a visitor to St. Paul's this morning, perhaps maybe someone who is looking for a place to make their Church home, you have come at an unfortunate time. Your worst suspicions that the Church is all about trying to get your money have been realized this morning. But, seriously, this is only one part of our family life, and so, if you are new or thinking about joining us, please don't think that that is what we are about. Come back next Sunday when the "pro" is back.

As most of you know, we are about to embark on our annual stewardship effort, and then we have this Gospel in front of us this morning that was just read that says render to Caesar and render to God; and, so, you have every right to expect that this sermon will be about your giving back to God what is God's. You can expect this sermon to be about reminding you that everything you have is God's, and, therefore, you should do a better job than you have been doing in giving it back to Him in the form of a pledge to St. Paul's Church. That is what you can expect to hear this morning. You can expect me to try to appeal to your sense of duty, or maybe a little guilt. You can expect me to tell you that you can do better - that you can do more, etc. - all the things that you have been hearing all your life on this Sunday in the Episcopal Church.

But I am not going to waste your time or mine by telling you all of that, because you already know that. Instead, I want to focus this morning on the second lesson from the letter to the Thessalonians, where St. Paul, writing to those early Christians, praises them, and he praises them for three things. He praises them for their work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfast hope in Jesus Christ. Think back with me to those early times. It was not easy to be a Christian then. If you were a Christian in Thessalonica in those early days, you had probably been rejected by your family. You had probably lost your job. You were being hounded and frightened and rejected and persecuted, and it was a very tough time to be a Christian. And yet, in the midst of all of that turmoil and all of that fear and all of that negativity, these early Christians were able to show forth to the world their work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfast hope in Jesus Christ. And, not only was that true for those early Christians in Thessalonica, but, all through the centuries since, the Christian people have been the people who showed forth to the world those three things.

Oh, we have blown it a lot. I know Church history as well as you do, and better than some, and I know how badly we blew it many, many times. I know we forgot who we were about on occasion. We have had severe limitations and horrible lapses in our history, but, still, down through the centuries, we have always been the folks who have shown the world those three things. We showed them our work of faith, our labor of love, and our steadfast hope. Down through the centuries, in all places and in all times, and down to where we are this morning, right here at St. Paul in the Desert in Palm Springs, California, that is who we have been. We have been the people who showed the world those three things.

We have shown them our work of faith, and I want to underline the word, work. The faith that we have shown the world is not just the words of the Nicene Creed, which we will say in a moment. It is not just intellectual ascent to some propositions about God and His Son. That is not just what our faith is. We show the world our work of faith, and that work of faith lies in the fact that you and I believe in a God who does not change. He is not affected by the things that blow the world around. Stock market up's and down's, and economic up's and down's, and the threat of war with Iraq, and terrorist attacks - they do not affect Him. He does not change. You and I stand on ground that is different than what our non-Christian brothers and sisters stand on. We stand on ground that does not change. It does not shift; it does not move beneath our feet. We stand on solid ground, and that is the work of our faith.

We are the people who have shown the world the labor of love. Our love is not the love that the world loves with. The world loves with a fleeting kind of love. The world loves with a love that is based on feelings and what you get for it, in many cases. We love with the love with which we were loved by that unchangeable God, who, even though He could have kept his unchangeable power and might, outside of our existence; no, instead - not because He needed to, but because He loved us - He reached down into this mess in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and loved us that way. And our labor of love is a love different than the world. Our love loves the unlovable and reaches out to the untouchable. Our love forgives the unforgivable.

So, that is who we are. You and I stand in this legacy, this line of heritage. Thousands of years and millions of people and all the different places in the world - this is our heritage. This is who we are. This is where we stand. We stand in that heritage; we stand in that legacy. We are marked with the unmistakable DNA of the Christian. It is who we are. We are the next in line of our spiritual ancestors. We are the ones to whom that centuries-old torch has been handed.

In the next couple of weeks, the stewardship materials will begin to reach you, and they will outline the things that we want to try to do. There will be some budget information in there. There will be all the information that you will need as you begin to ponder and pray about your decision, and, as you ponder and pray, remember - remember the Thessalonians. Stewardship is not really about a new roof for the Parish Hall, even though we really do want to try to do that. Stewardship is not really about hiring a full-time priest for family ministries, but we really do want to try to do that. Stewardship is not really about new programs or new buildings, even though we want to strive for those things here in this place. Stewardship is not about really any of those things. Stewardship is about our heritage. It is about our legacy. It is about where we stand in the long line of the Communion of the Saints. Stewardship is about the torch that has been passed to you and to me.

In the end, Stewardship is not something we do. Stewardship is something we are. We are the people who show the world the work of faith, the labor of love, the steadfastness of hope in Jesus Christ.

May 25, 2003 - Sixth Sunday of Easter - Father Barry Wood

FIRST READING: Acts 10: 44-48

PSALM: 98: 1-5

SECOND READING: 1 John 5: 1-6

GOSPEL: John 15: 9-17

There are a lot of themes going on this morning. This is the Sunday, the last Sunday before the Feast of the Ascension, and so we are confronted in the Scriptures with what we call the farewell discourses - Jesus' final teachings to His disciples to enable them to go out and conquer the world with faith and love. So that is one thing that is going on this morning. It is also Memorial Day weekend, and so we have those guys who didn't make it back on our minds and hearts this morning. So, we have those two things. We have the Sunday before the Ascension; we have Memorial Day weekend; and we have Rogation Sunday. Rogation Sunday - Rogation from a Latin word "rogare", which means "to ask". And so, one of the things that this morning is about, is about asking, and I think we are all familiar with what it is to ask God for things or for situations or for something to happen. We have all done it, and we have all done it over and over again, repeatedly. We ask in faith and love, and we ask for the things that we need or that some loved one needs, and, sometimes, we get what we ask for, don't we? It happens. We want something to happen, and it happens. We ask for something to not happen, and it doesn't happen. And things are great, and everybody feels good; and we share that good news with other people; and everybody feels wonderful; and everything's great. Sometimes, we ask - we ask in faith and love - and we ask for what we think are good things, and they don't happen. Isn't that right? We ask, and it doesn't happen. Those times are great tests for faith. There is little to rejoice in, and we scratch our heads and wonder and keep it to ourselves; and, sometimes, it even destroys faith.

So, this morning, in case any of you have ever asked and not been granted - in case any of you will someday ask and not be granted - let me remind us all of three things about asking. First of all: Never, ever, ever stop asking. No matter how many times you have asked for something to happen or not happen - no matter now many times your asking has not been granted - keep on asking. You will not pester God. A God who could put up with His Son's bleeding to death on a cross can put up with some pestering from you. So do not ever, ever, ever stop asking.

The second thing to remember is that when askings are not granted - when that happens - it is not because of some unworthiness in you or in the person for whom you asking. When things don't happen the way we ask God to have them happen, there are some Christian preachers who would like you to believe that it is your fault. They have no room in their theology for the mystery of God, and so they want to blame it on you - if you don't get what you ask for, it is your fault; and you must never, ever believe that. When you ask in faith and love, you are doing the best you can, and, if it is not granted, it is because of something that is hidden in the mind and the heart of God, which we cannot fathom.

Finally, remember that God is more about relationships than He is about mechanics. We live in a mechanical and technological age, and we are very, very accustomed to being able to fix things. You push a button, or you do the right thing, or you buy the right software, or you get the right consultant, and you can fix things. And it is a tendency for us to think of God as some kind of mechanical genius - some technologically-divine being who can fix things. But we must remember that God is mostly about relationships. Scripture does not define Him in terms of mechanics or technology; it defines Him as Father, lover, friend - relationships.

So, when your car won't start, and you have asked God to start it, sometimes He will. Sometimes He will start that car - only sometimes - but He will always wait with you until the tow-truck comes. And when you ask God to heal yourself or someone, sometimes He will. Sometimes, that healing will take place - only sometimes - but He will never, ever, ever leave you alone. He will always wait with you through the long days and nights of suffering. And, when you ask God to do something in your life or not to do something in your life, sometimes He will grant that asking. He will do it or not do it - only sometimes - but He will always, always, always keep His promise made to the disciples at the Ascension, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the earth."