Pentecost 8

Sermon for Hope Episcopal Church
The Reverend Martha Frances
Year B, Pentecost 8, Proper 12
30 July 2006

Text: Mark 6: 45-52

Other Readings: 2 Kings 2: 1-15; Psalm 114; Ephesians 4: 1-7, 11-16

Immediately after Jesus has fed the 5,000 men & who knows how many women & children, he makes his disciples get into the boat & head toward Bethsaida on the other side of the lake. Why? Well, it’s pretty obvious if you remember last weeks’ reading. At the beginning of the Gospel lesson last week, Jesus invites the disciples who have returned from their first preaching & healing mission to come away to a deserted place & rest awhile.

That wasn’t a very successful move, was it? When they got to the deserted place, there was a crowd that, by dinnertime, had swollen to well over 5,000 hungry people. Jesus had deferred their rest ‘till after he had fed all the gathered crowd, first with spiritual bread & then with a physical meal. Now, he’s pooped! He tries again to get at least some rest & prayer time for himself. He sends the disciples across the lake in a boat, perhaps so they can rest while he’s not with them, & he goes up on the mountain to pray. We don’t know how much prayer time he has had, but I can promise that it’s not enough.

I can really relate to this situation, for much goes on when I am in the church office, & between the interruptions which are when much real ministry happens & caring for a disabled husband, I have to work to find time for daily prayer & meditation. If Jesus had to have it, it’s pretty clear that those of us called to do Jesus’ work need time for re-creation & getting our batteries recharged just as Jesus did. That’s why I’m taking the next 2 weeks off & will spend a few days in Florida this week. A couple of my colleagues will be on call in case a priest is needed. Such time for prayer & meditation & “down time” is as necessary for you lay people as it is for us priests.

Does Jesus have a premonition that his disciples are in trouble? The text doesn’t say but only tells us that about 4:00 in the morning, he comes walking on the sea toward them, seeing that they are straining at the oars against an adverse wind. A curious line follows in the story: “he intended to pass them by.” Why would he not intend to help them? There’s a good indication that his water-walking antics are actually what we call a theophany, an appearance of Jesus that shows his divinity. The disciples are indeed dense, for they believe him to be a ghost & are terrified. He responds with still further evidence of an epiphany or theophany much like God’s appearance to Moses in the burning bush. He says, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” God told Moses, “I am who I am,” much like “it is I.” How many times do we hear in the Bible God or God’s angels telling mere mortals not to be afraid? Yeah, right!

Then Jesus does a very human thing: he gets into the boat with the disciples. What is extraordinary & miraculous is that the wind ceases! The disciples, still not catching on, are astounded. Mark adds curiously that their astonishment comes from not understanding about the multiplication of the loaves, not from his calming the seas. Their hearts are hardened so they do not see Jesus for who he is—the messiah. The part of this story which is left out is that the crowds on the other side of the lake, people not nearly so close to Jesus as the disciples, recognize Jesus & run through the neighborhood to bring the sick to him for healing. Why don’t the disciples recognize Jesus’ divinity?

Do we always recognize what Jesus is doing in our own or others’ lives? Of course not. We often try to explain away miracles or take credit ourselves for Christ’s work in our lives. This past weekend, my husband Bill had another spot arise on his chest like he had had when we were at home. This time, he was in the hospital where the doctors recognized an infection & another surgical procedure was necessary. Had we been at home, we would not have recognized its significance. Being alert & open to see God’s work in our lives is part of maturing in a faith journey. For the 10 chapters after this incident in Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus helping the disciples grow in the faith. We’ll be exploring that deepening faith walk in the next several Sundays in worship & are already in the midst of that study in our 9:00 adult formation class.

Today, we get a glimpse of the marks of a mature Christian by focusing on the Ephesians selection in the lectionary. We are encouraged, just as the Christians at Ephesus were urged, to lead a life worthy of being called a Christian. Character traits mentioned are humility, gentleness, patience, loving each other even when others are hard to bear, & striving to live in peace & unity with each other. Sounds like a tall order, wouldn’t you say? Yet it’s one we’re all called to strive for if we’re ever-maturing Christians. Can we do it on our own? Absolutely not. We need to establish the habit of watching for the miracles, the healings that happen in our lives that are only attributable to the Holy Spirit’s guiding us. And then we’re given a Christian community to grow with. We’re not alone in this road to maturity.

Whenever we have a baptism or confirmation in the Episcopal Church, we begin the service by quoting from this scripture from Ephesians. We affirm that there is one body & one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God & Father of all. Notice how many times the word “one” is repeated? We’re called to work on being unified. Does that mean we’re all going to think or behave just alike? Of course not! What a dull world this would be? However, we have a solemn obligation to learn to live together in love even when we disagree. We’ve done an extraordinary job of fulfilling this expectation of God’s here at Hope in the last year.

The Ephesians are told, as are we, that all of us are graced with Christ’s gifts for building up the church community & for reaching out into the larger world. Whether you or I is gifted to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor and/or a teacher, we are all—& I emphasize every one of us—saints who are being equipped for the work of ministry. My sisters & brothers, God doesn’t choose the equipped, as we have often been told; God equips the chosen. All of us are chosen; no one is left out.

Right here in Ephesians, we’re told two important things that we often forget. God gives us gifts not so we can be better than everyone else & win in competitions with weaker Christians. No! God’s not in the business of making super-hero Christians. God gives each of us gifts to build up the body of Christ—that’s the Church. Keep today’s lectionary insert someplace you’ll see & read it often; it’s our instruction for our parish these days. Our Spiritual Workout for ministry which begins today & continues two Saturdays in August & two in September is Hope’s next step in providing training for the ministry which God is calling us to do with each other & beyond our own community into a spiritually-needy world.

What is the expected outcome of such a building project? That’s the 2^nd thing often forgotten. The goal we’re being transformed for is our coming to unity in the faith in the midst of our diversity & growing in knowledge of the Son of God. Both the unity & the knowledge are called maturity, & only when we obtain some maturity do we grow into the full stature of Christ.

The Ephesians were very young in the faith when this epistle was written. In fact, this epistle was probably written originally as an instruction manual for preparing Christians for baptism. They’re told—& we’re told—that we can’t be content to behave like children. As baby Christians, we can be tossed about on the sea of various opinions & disagreements like those disciples in the boat during the storm that Jesus had to calm. Mature Christians speak the truth in love, & we’re called to grow up & be Christlike. The image the writer uses is of one body in which the parts work together because the body is in good shape. The ligaments are properly knit together so that the body can function as it is created to do. Such a well-developed body represents unity in the body of Christ. All the parts—that’s each of us—are needed for the spiritual exercise which tones the body of Christ. My goodness, this scripture brings us right back to our own series of spiritual workout sessions, doesn’t it? Perhaps this is one of those God-incidences I was mentioning earlier in my sermon: no one looked at the scriptures for today when we developed the theme for our training sessions; God worked that out!

Regardless of where you are on your journey toward Christian maturity, let us pray for Christ’s walking into your life to calm the turbulent seas within you & to lead you to become the mature Christian God created us all to be. Let us pray also that we may walk & work together as a community to the mission & ministry God yearns for Hope to be & do.

Pentecost 7

The Reverend Martha Frances
Year B, Pentecost 7, Proper 11
23 July 2006

Text:  Mark 6: 30-44
Other Readings: Isaiah 57: 14b-21; Psalm 22: 22-30; Ephesians 2: 11-22

Have you ever felt like the outsider?  The one left out when your friends were invited to a party?  The one who, for whatever reason, did not fit into the group?  I know I have.  My family moved quite frequently when I was a child, & It seemed I was always having to make new friends, find my niche, learn who I could trust & who to avoid.  Even as an extrovert & being of the majority race almost everywhere I’ve lived, starting over again was never easy.  The pain of being different still washes over me when I enter a new environment.
THE BIG ISSUE in the early church was that of inclusion, & the author of the Ephesians is dealing with just such an issue in the epistle for today.  The earliest Christians were Jewish, & it was only after the apostles were confronted in visions such as Peter’s dream of a sheet full of unclean animals to eat was offered to him combined with experiences like Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch that Jesus’ disciples began to focus much of their missionary work on the Gentile community.  By the time Ephesians was written, the churches were sorting out how Jewish Christians & Gentile Christians were to live together in unity.
The author of Ephesians, actually one of Paul’s disciples, we believe, reminds those new Christian groups that, because of Jesus, those who were far off have now been brought near, that Christ has broken down the dividing line—the hostility—between the two groups.  Of course, this writing wouldn’t have had to speak thus had all been going smoothly within the nascent Christian communities.  Notice the many ways he reminds the Christians that they are to be united in Christ:
“he has made both groups into one,
broken down the dividing wall, thehostility between us,
create in himself one new humanity in place of the two,
reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross,
you are no longer strangers & aliens, but you are citizens with
the saints & also members of the household of God.”
     We in this congregation remember the time when Black Episcopalians worshiped on one side of town & Anglos on the other.  No one thought that Hispanic Christians might choose another denomination than Roman Catholic until the Pentecostals made such inroads in Hispanic communities, whereupon we from mainline denominations woke up & began to scramble to learn Spanish & figure out what Hispanic ministry might entail.  Our churches are much more integrated than when I was a child or young adult, but we at Hope are still certainly in the minority.  By & large, Sunday morning is still the most segregated time in the United States.  
     When I was at Lord of the Streets, I worked with those who are still the outcast, the “different ones,” due to economic inequity more than racial biases.  As former vicar & executive director there, I listen to readings such as today’s with different ears than I would have previously.  Although Jesus regularly reminds us that the last shall be first & the first last, that we must remember the widows & orphans, & that those who care for society’s least actually care for him, we church people are often reluctant to take Christ’s admonitions to care for those most vulnerable in society seriously.  “Charity” has long been part of our ethos, but many folks still cringe at the thought of having “those people” in our own back yards, so to speak.  As we look across the street to Black Middle School, we know that many underserved & struggling young people attend there.  Please pray for the group who meet today & in the near future to determine how we can reach out to those who need a tutor, a grandparent figure, an adult friend.
     Listen, if you can, with the ears of those who are “different,” to Jesus’ teaching, he who has compassion for them because they are sheep without a shepherd.  Our gospel reading today is one of the few places in Mark’s gospel where he uses the word “apostles,” but they have been out on their mission that we discussed last week, & apostle means “one who is sent.”  Apostle emphasized the direct connection between the one sent & Jesus who sends him or her.  We’re sent in Jesus’ name out of our comfortable church into the city to feed the hungry with spiritual as well as physical food.
     Jesus taught the crowd all day in this deserted place, in a place where nourishment was scarce, where the elements tore at the people & battered them pretty badly, especially those who had no shelter.  The disciples asked Jesus at the end of the day how they would have enough food to share with all these people, & Jesus gathered what they could scramble around & find, the scripture tells us—5 loaves & 2 fish—& when Jesus took them, looked up to heaven, blessed & broke the loaves & gave them to the people, there was sufficient for all & 12 baskets left over.  Does this sound something like our Eucharist?  The allusions to the Lord’s Supper are certainly intentional, & we must share both our spiritual bounty & physical amenities with those in need.  Let us pray for how Christ is calling Hope to extend God’s abundance beyond our walls, & then let us have the courage to act generously.

Pentecost 6

Sermon for Hope Episcopal Church
The Reverend Martha Frances
Year B, Pentecost 6, Proper 10
16 July 2006

Text:  Mark 6: 7-13
Other Readings: Amos 7: 7-15; Psalm 85: 7-13; Ephesians 1: 1-14

     Jesus called the disciples & began to send them out 2 by 2, giving them authority over unclean spirits.  In last week’s gospel, Jesus visited a synagogue in his own home town, & neither his family nor his neighbors took him seriously because he was too familiar to them.  He was a dismal failure there at home, for he was just the neighbor boy.  Mark tells us he could do no mighty work in Nazareth—except to cure a few sick people.
     However, undeterred, Jesus has moved on to other villages & towns, continuing his ministry where he is better received.  Further, he calls the 12 together & assigns them each a partner & the duos the task to spread the Gospel in all the villages & towns of Israel.  Can’t you just hear the disciples now?  “Already, Jesus?  Are you crazy?  We’re not ready yet.  We haven’t gotten our degree in gospel story-telling yet.  What do you mean, authority over unclean spirits?  Surely you don’t expect us to heal & exorcise already.  What can we do?”
     All these excuses remind me of Amos’ hesitation when he was thrust out of his comfort zone & out of his home in Judah to prophesy into Israel.  Amos lived in a prosperous time, so it was doubly hard to tell strangers living the good life that soon, their land would be desolate since they were self-satisfied & did not care adequately for the poor & disenfranchised in their land.  Perhaps it’s a lot like Americans’ reactions some time ago when Europeans warned us that we would soon pay $3.00 for gasoline.  Why should we consider changing our driving habits as long as we had the cheapest gas in the world?  Now the Europeans are saying, “We told you so!”
     When God called Amos, Amos had told God just what he now told Amaziah:  “I’m not qualified for this job.  I’m not a prophet, don’t come from a prophet family, & don’t know how to speak.  On top of that, I’m a foreigner, & no one will listen to me!”  Of course, God didn’t take no for an answer which is why Amos ended up standing up to Amaziah & giving him the what-for about prophesying just exactly what King Jeroboam wanted to hear instead of what God wanted the king to hear.
     Jesus doesn’t take no for an answer either but sends out his disciples in pairs with specific instructions.  They don’t have to have the Gospel down pat to get out & share it with others—neither do we.  They are always on a journey & invite others to travel with them.  They go in twos to assure the validity of their witness as well as to represent the community of faith.  We Christians aren’t supposed to be Lone Rangers but part of a community.
     Why on earth does he send them out with only a staff & a pair of sandals?  They can’t even have a change of tunic—what we would call underwear!  The emphasis here is on the urgency of carrying the message & for the disciples’ total reliance on God.  It takes a lot of trust to believe that God will provide the necessities you aren’t carrying with you, doesn’t it?  These folks are to travel light & focus on the ministry they have to do.  God is still asking us to do the same:  travel without encumbrances & portray the Gospel of Jesus Christ not only with our lips but in our lives.  What keeps us from doing just that?  Whatever does is an encumbrance.
     The disciples are to rely on the hospitality of others, staying where they are offered lodging rather than shopping around for more luxurious quarters.  And what should they do if the people don’t accept their message?  Shake the dust from their feet just as Jewish travelers did when they returned to the Holy Land.  They aren’t to judge those who aren’t hospitable but leave that to heaven & move on.  They are to recognize when they’ve done all they can & let go of guilt feelings for not accomplishing more.  I have a hard time with letting go when enough is enough.  Do you?
After all, whatever the disciples do is not to their own credit but to God’s.  I don’t know about you, but when people reject what I have to offer, I get pretty put out with them.  My 1st reaction is to assign blame.  It’s either my fault or theirs.  Jesus reminds the disciples before they even set out that their job is to be faithful whether or not they are successful.
     The last part of the passage summarizes how these disciples ministered, & we can learn from them.  After all, they had walked & talked & lived with Jesus in the flesh, so they proclaimed a living, breathing Gospel as they traveled.  They preached repentance for things people shouldn’t have done, & they promised life eternal for the penitent.  However, the disciples were to be concerned not only for the souls of those they met but also for their earthly needs.  They cast out demons & anointed the sick with oil & healed them.  We see the disciples ministering much as Jesus had cared for others, providing hope for abundant life now in this life & in the next.  It’s almost as if Jesus sends the disciples out for a trial run so they will know they are capable of continuing Jesus’ ministry even after his death.
The missionary journey of the disciples was actually quite successful.  Most places in his Gospel, Mark portrays the disciples as quite dense, not really catching on to what Jesus so patiently tried to teach them.  Yet here, they seem to have gained enough of Jesus’ good news that they are able to pass it on.  You know, we’re given the same commission as those disciples long ago to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  How do we go & tell?
First, each of us has a story, a time or times in our lives when we have experienced God’s presence—God’s love—in a totally new way or to a new degree.  Those times might include moments of conversion or the time when we hit bottom & were willing to be vulnerable enough that Jesus could change our lives.  As we identify those moments, we need to learn how to tell about them, to see & share with others how our stories intersect with The Story, the Gospel Story.  Our own experience is our most authentic & effective evangelism tool!
Secondly, we must learn to be good listeners.  Today’s psalm celebrates our listening to what the Lord God is saying, & listening for Christ’s voice in our hearts & lives (often through the voice of another person) is a significant way we grow in trust of God.  But we also need to learn to listen to other people’s stories.  We need to honor God’s work in their lives & help them see God’s hand in their life journeys.  Most people are thrilled just to be listened to, that something they have to say is important enough to pay attention to.  I suspect much of the healing which Jesus, & later his disciples, did was as a result of really listening to others.  We can give others that gift, too.  We need never forget that it is not ourselves we proclaim but Christ Jesus—crucified, dead, & then risen.  We don’t act as individuals either but as a member of a team, a community of other Christians with whom we worship, share our lives, & lift up one another in love.
Perhaps you, too, say—like the disciples—who me, Jesus?  But I’m not ready yet!  I don’t know enough!  I’m only a lay person!  Once again, Jesus doesn’t take no for an answer.  Jesus calls each of us to active discipleship.  Our credentials are our baptism.  And our education for ministry is lifelong—worshipping together each week, praying & studying in small groups, taking part in training sessions like we are beginning in two weeks on the 30th—all on-going in-service in preparation to be ever-more-effective representative/ambassadors for Christ.  Over & over we begin here in community:  proclaiming the Christ story we share, gathering at the Eucharistic table in thanksgiving, recalling God’s amazing love in creation & redemption, breaking bread together, & stepping forward into the future in hopeful expectancy.

Pentecost 5

Sermon for Hope Episcopal Church
The Reverend Martha Frances
Year B, Pentecost 5, Proper 9
9 July 2006

Text:  Mark 6: 1-6
Other Readings: Ezekiel 2: 1-7; Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12: 2-10

This story of Jesus’ return to his hometown of Nazareth reminds me of the retired schoolteacher being examined for jury duty.  First, the prosecuting attorney asked her, “Mrs. Russell, do you know me?
She responded, “Well, of course I know you, Johnny Smith.  I had both you & your brother Jerry in 8th grade.  And frankly, I’m disappointed in you.  By now, I thought you would be a judge or at least a state representative.  I haven’t seen you in church in a long time either.”
Then the defense attorney queried the woman.  “Mrs. Russell, do you know me?”
Again, she shook her head in confirmation.  “You were in my class, too, Tommy Washington.  A fine violinist you would have made if you hadn’t been so eager to make money as a hot-shot lawyer.  What’s this I hear about your running around on that pretty wife of yours?”
At which time, the judge called both attorneys to the bench.  He exclaimed to the two of them, “Gentlemen, if either of you asks Mrs. Russell if she knows me, I’ll hold you in contempt of court!”
Like the people in this story, Jesus grew up in a small town, Nazareth, &, upon returning home, was asked to speak in the synagogue.  For once, the issue was not his healing on the Sabbath but rather a matter of his very identity.  Just like Mrs. Russell, they all knew him.  Here was Jesus, the hometown carpenter boy who had gone off as an itinerant preacher, back home again sounding like a rabbi, like an expert.  But they all knew this was Jesus who had worked in the carpenter’s shop making a living for his mother, brothers, & sisters after Joseph died.  This was Jesus, Mary’s son, who had made tables & door frames & windows for their homes & yokes for their oxen.  Who did he think he was, coming back home & teaching like he’d gone of to Jerusalem University & gotten a degree or something?  Sure, he sounded wise, but this was just Jesus.  They all knew him.
And with this story, we see human nature in all its glory.  We’re reminded first of Jesus’ humanity.  Jesus is the carpenter, the son of Mary, brother of James & Joses, Judas & Simon & at least 2 sisters.  Remember how he was left behind in Jerusalem the year he was 12?  How he worried his mother that time!
Second, we see the natural tendency of the townspeople.  They disbelieve that this common working man from their own home town could possibly be anyone special.  He isn’t even from one of the best families.  How could one of theirs know so much about the things of the Spirit?  Why, he’s only a layman!  Many of those who hear him are astounded.  In fact, they “took offense” which means they are scandalized—his being a hometown boy was a stumbling block for them.
And in the end, Jesus himself is amazed at their disbelief.  Not only is he amazed; their disbelief actually becomes a stumbling block to his effectiveness to minister there in Nazareth.  Mark has been describing Jesus’ many miraculous deeds in the previous several chapters: calming the storm, healing the woman who had had a hemorrhage for 12 years, & raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead.  Pretty amazing actions, don’t you agree?  Here, in contrast, Jesus can do no work of power except for healing a few sick people.  This rejection by his own people restricts his ministry & causes him to move on, his work ended in Nazareth.  One commentary calls this an “unmiracle story.”
I pause here to think that, in 2 weeks, we will have one of our own back here at Hope to talk about her new book & sign copies.  Cecile Holmes was not only the religion editor for the Chronicle & a member of St. Michael’s; she also taught the EFM class that folks from Incarnation as well as St. Michael’s attended.  Now she’s gone off to teach at university in South Carolina & has written a book, Four Women & Three Faiths. There was even an article in the Chronicle yesterday about it. But what does she know?  She’s just a hometown gal.  Will we be open to what Cecile shares with us?
For some of you, my coming among you as priest might have been like Jesus coming home to Nazareth.  I had known a few long before I was ordained & then more of you when I was supplying both at Incarnation & St. Michael’s.  However, you have brought me into your fold as shepherd & teacher & friend.  We have worked together to meld this community into one & have done an amazing work over the past year.  We are coming to a familiarity & comfort with one another which now allows us to begin to grow deeper spiritually together & reach out to the larger world, both in our neighborhood & beyond.  
The lesson of our Gospel today applies to all of us as we strengthen our parish for mission & ministry.  Starting the last Sunday of the month, we are beginning a series of sessions in which we will be equipping ourselves for effective ministry, both within this parish & beyond it.  We are inviting one guest speaker to share with us, but most of the facilitators will be from within this church family.  We ourselves are endowed with many gifts & skills which are essential as we go forward in hope as Hope Episcopal.  I am excited about the work which our design team is doing to empower us all as disciples.  Each one of us is called to be a disciple by our baptism, & we are now gaining the skills & momentum to venture forward as a revived community of faith.  Let us affirm those who are willing to come forth as mentors & grow together to do the work which God is calling us to do in this place.
In the past few weeks, we’ve talked a lot about our providing the financial resources necessary to live into God’s call to us.  Indeed, we must be fiscally responsible & give generously for the work of Christ in this place.  I urge you to reach as deep as possible into your pockets for the ongoing ministry here at Hope.  And equally, I ask you to delve deep within your hearts, open yourself to how God is inviting you to grow as a person & a disciple in this community.  We’re all needed; none of us has the leisure to be an on-looker.  What will it cost?  Only your whole being.  What are the benefits?  An exciting & enriched journey which I understand leads into eternity.  Let’s travel together.