October 31, 2004 - 22nd Sunday After Pentecost - Father Barry Woods

FIRST READING: Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18

PSALM: 149

SECOND READING: Ephesians 1: 11-23

GOSPEL: Luke 6: 20-31

I wonder if you can feel them all here this morning. I wonder if you can feel how full this place is this morning. I wonder if you can feel, by my count, the 1,039 saints that we prayed for and remembered by name this morning. I wonder if you can feel them here, and I wonder if you can feel all the countless millions from 5,000 years of spiritual ancestors that were not named here this morning - the countless millions from five millennia - I wonder if you can feel them here. You should be able to feel them, because, when Christians gather to remember something, then God remembers also; and, when Christians remember and God remembers, that mutual remembering makes time and geography disappear. And so, they are here with us this morning - the countless millions, the ones named, the five thousand years of ancestors - they are all here this morning, and I hope you can feel them because they are our family.

And what a magnificent family it is. Oh sure, we have some black sheep in that line-up. We have the people who conducted the Crusades and the Inquisition and the witch hunts. Sure, we have some folks in our spiritual ancestry that we wish weren't there, but on balance and overall, what a magnificent family it is. And this family gives to you and to me a distinctive set of characteristics. This family that you and I belong to - this family gives us a unique way of looking at and living life. It gives us a view of life that is ultimately confident and filled with hope and confidence, and not with fear. And this family that stands here with us and beside us this morning - this family gives us a distinctive set of choices about the way we live our lives. We live lives that are marked by love, not indifference. We live lives that are marked by simplicity, not extravagance. We live lives that are marked and chosen for service, not for dominance. We live lives that are devoted to the building up and the gathering together, not the tearing down or dividing. We live lives that champion the causes of the poor and the downtrodden and the hungry and the homeless and the sick, not the ones who have it made. This family of ours has given us a distinctive way of looking at life and living life, and, this morning, this magnificent family is present with us in a way that it is not always present, because this is our celebration of All Saints Day.

And, as crowded as this place is this morning, with all of those millions of folks, there is another group that also stands here beside us - another group of saints - the saints yet to come. All those people out there who are members of God's family because He loves them and because Jesus died for them, but who do not know that they are members of this family. All those countless, faceless, nameless millions out there - they are also standing here beside us because, some day, some day they will recognize their membership in this family.

One of the reasons this place exists - and of course, I think the main reason - is that we exist so that, someday, those people will know that they are members of this family. This place exists - all the buildings and the worship and the organ and the music and the staff and the office and the clergy; everything that goes on here; everything; the stewardship campaign on which we are about to embark - everything exists so that those people out there may truly come and stand beside us as members of our family.

Can you feel them with us this morning? They are here. They really are here. This is not some Hollywood movie. This is not that very entertaining movie, Ghost. This is not Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. This is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the communion of saints - our family.

I hope this morning that you can feel them standing here beside us.

November 28, 2004 - First Sunday in Advent - Father Barry Woods

FIRST READING: Isaiah 2: 1-5

PSALM: 122

SECOND READING: 13: 11-14

GOSPEL: 24: 36-44

Last June, Father Armand, who was the Associate Rector at that time, stood in this pulpit, and I was sitting right back on this side, about half-way back. It was Trinity Sunday, and he reminded us that you can always tell when it is Trinity Sunday in the Episcopal Church. Two things always happen. First of all, the vestments and the hangings are all white, and the second thing is that the Rector is not preaching. It is customary and traditional and very appropriate, of course, that the Rector of a parish always preach on the big Sundays of the year, but today is kind of a big Sunday. This is the first Sunday of Advent. It is kind of a big Sunday - I think it is! And yet, he is not preaching. And there are two possibilities here - either he is a very generous Rector and wants to share the pulpit with his associates and assistants, or the other possibility is that, four months ago, when he did the clergy schedule, he didn't know this was going to be the first Sunday in Advent! Whatever stroke of good fortune brings me to this pulpit this morning on the first Sunday of Advent, I am glad, because it gives me a chance to remind all of us, on this first Sunday of the Church year - it gives me a chance to remind each and every one of us that we live in a time that is in-between.

Christians live in a time that is in-between two great events. The first event is the First Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world, what we call the incarnation - the birth and life and ministry and death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth - the First Coming, that great event. And then, we look forward to another event, what the Church calls the Second Coming - that great day some time in the future when the Lord Jesus Christ will come again into this world. He will come again in power and great glory to judge and rule the world as Lord and King, and you and I live in this time that is in-between those two great events.

The lessons this morning on this first Sunday in Advent give us some reminders of how you and I are supposed to live in these in-between times, and I want to look at these reminders in the inverse order of the way they were read. I want to start with the Gospel and, of course, the great reminder there is that how we are to live is that we are to stay awake. We are to stay awake and stay alert. Of course, we are supposed to stay awake and stay alert, looking forward to that great event in the future when He comes again - what I prefer to call not the Second Coming of Christ, but the Final Coming. We are, of course, supposed to stay awake and alert for that great day in the future and His Final Coming, but we are also to stay awake and alert for all the other times that, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus comes into your life and into my life. He comes in little ways, but they are always unexpected. They are always surprising. They always happen in a way that we don't anticipate or predict. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, He is continually coming into your life and into mine in ways that are unexpected and surprising and wonderful and new. And the first reminder is for you and for me to stay awake.

The second reminder comes in Paul's letter to the Romans, where he says in the translation in front of us this morning, "Live honorably". Now, I don't like to stand up here Sunday after Sunday after Sunday and pretend that I am a better Greek scholar than the people who translated this translation. I am not into that ego trip. However, I have to tell you this morning that I find that particular translation, "Live honorably", absolutely unconscionable. I cannot imagine where they came up with that translation, whoever they are. The Greek is so very crystal clear here, that I do not understand how they could mislead us so terribly. (I am talking with my tongue half-way in my cheek!) The Greek is so very clear that what Paul was saying to the Romans was not, "Live honorably", but he was saying, "Walk honestly". And I think that is a better translation. First of all, it is more accurate to the Greek, and I also think it is better, because it reminds you and me that these in-between times in which we live are a journey. It is not a place we occupy. It is not a room. It is not a status. It is a journey. And, when we translate the Greek, "Walk honestly", it reminds us that we are on this journey. It is a journey that we are to walk honestly, and that is better than legally. You and I are to walk generously, and that is better than selfishly. You and I are to walk with integrity, and that is better than success. You and I are to walk this journey in a way that every one who sees us knows that we know that we are no longer ourselves, but we were bought with a price.

And, finally, the first lesson, where the prophet tells his listeners to walk in the Light of the Lord. This is a reminder to you and to me this morning that there are at least two kinds of Light of the Lord. One type is the all-at-once type. This is the famous one. This is the one where people are walking in darkness and are in some kind of dark place, and they are bumping around; and they are afraid; and they are scared; and they don't know where they are going; and they can't see anything; and, all of a sudden, the Lord turns on the Light and illuminates everything around them. All of a sudden, everything is clear and bright and good and new again. That is one kind of Light of the Lord, but there is another kind. There is another kind where the imagery is not the floodlight, but the headlight. The imagery of a journey in a car, where you get into that car on a dark, dark night, on a dark road, and the only light that you get is the headlight. And it doesn't illuminate everything, does it? It doesn't illuminate all the surroundings. It doesn't illuminate the entire journey. You can't see all the way to your destination, but you can see enough to get started. And that is the other kind of Light of the Lord that we should be reminded of on this Sunday - not the great blasting, illuminating, all-consuming light, but rather just enough light from the Lord to get started and to keep going on this journey in-between times.

This morning, I hope that we can take advantage of these reminders. I hope that we can, on this first day of a new Church year, be reminded of these things about our in-between times and take advantage of these reminders. I pray that, if there is someone here this morning whose life is just suffering from the blahs - those who feel like there just is no more meaning or purpose, nothing exciting, nothing really important going on in their lives anymore - I hope that, if there is someone like that here this morning that they will be reminded to stay awake, because Jesus is going, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to come into your life in some way and make everything new again. And, I don't know when, and I don't know how, and I know you don't know when or how, but take it from me, it is going to happen. He is going to come into your life unexpectedly and surprisingly in a way you cannot possibly imagine, and so, this morning, be reminded, if that is you, to stay awake.

And, if you are looking back over your journey this morning and realizing that maybe you have not walked honestly; if you are realizing that maybe you have not walked honorably; if you are looking back and realizing that you have not walked generously and that you have not walked as one who knows that he belongs to Jesus; if you are looking back over your journey this morning and saying to yourself, "I have not walked that way", then be reminded that this is a journey and it is never too late to start. And, on this morning, this first day of a new Church year, it is a good time to begin to walk honestly.

And, finally, if there is someone here this morning who is bumping around in a dark room; who can't find their way; crashing into things that they shouldn't be crashing into - if you are walking in some kind of darkness and fear, then be reminded that you do not need all of the Light to come on at once. All you need is the headlight - just enough to get started.

So, this morning, stay awake, walk honestly, and walk in the Light of the Lord.