Good Morning!
And Happy First Sunday of Advent!

Except Advent isn’t all shine and rainbows.
When you look “Advent” up in the dictionary:
The first two definitions are obviously about the Coming of Jesus:
Jesus’ first Advent:
in his human birth.
And his second Advent: which is still yet to come.

But advent, NOT capitalized:
Literally means “a coming into being.”
Or a “Coming into use.”

Advent is:
Something coming: but not yet quite here.

And the images in advent:
As we will see in the coming weeks:
Aren’t really glorious images of the beautiful hope that is to come:
(or of the sweet Christ-Child in the manger.)

Before that:
There are all sorts of images of unfinishedness:

Unfulfilled-ness:
Even images of destruction and despair:
Before the great glorious “coming into being” that is yet to be realized.

Even JESUS talks about this in today’s Gospel.
He says, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
And on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea
and the waves.
People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world,
For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

These words from Jesus sound less than happy.
They sound terrifying.

Part of the season of Advent is acknowledging this terrifying reality.
The terrifying reality of things not being as the should be:
The hard road of coming into being.
(Or as we heard a few weeks ago: the beginning of the birth pangs).

So there’s that sort of terrifying reality that is a piece of Advent.

And the other part of Advent:
Is the expectant hope:
The expectant SOLID BELIEF:
That the current terrifying reality is not the end:
That something better is coming into being.

And Jesus points us in this direction:
He says, “Now when these things begin to take place.”
(Meaning this terrifying stuff about distress among nations, and fear and
foreboding.)

When these things begin to take place:
Stand up and raise your heads:
Because your redemption is drawing near.”

The point of all of this is:
That Advent isn’t just about waiting for Jesus to be born
(although it is that)

It’s ALSO the time of waiting:
THROUGH the despair and the destruction:
For something more to come into being.

In Jerimiah:
We heard today:
That God promises that the days are coming:
When a righteous Branch will spring up and bring about true justice and
righteousness.
But this hasn’t happened yet.

And the faithful people:
In Jeremiah’s time and ours:
Are called to patience and hope.

But not in a trite way:
In a true:
Steadfast belief that it WILL happen.
DEMANDING that it will happen:
That the true Advent WILL come:
That the entire world will come into being as God intended.

And ALSO:
This has implications for us right here at St. John’s.

We’re obviously waiting in this season of Advent:
For the Christ child to be born.

And we’re obviously waiting:
For the moment where Jesus comes again:
To bring the entire world into being.

But it’s also more local than that.
Maybe even more imminent than that.

I believe that we, at St. John’s church in New London:
Are also waiting for our own coming into being:
Into what God intends for us.
Our own sort of revival.

I think that God wants something more for us.

LONGS for something more for us:
And it’s our job to invite and welcome it in.

It’s our job to shout and scream “Come lord Jesus.”
Not because Jesus isn’t already here:
But because we want more:
Because we believe there can be more:
We can even DEMAND MORE.

And there’s a lot of darkness and destruction in today’s world.
In our own lives,
And sometimes even clouding over our own beloved church.

It seems to me:
That this season of Advent is the perfect time for us to begin to pray out the
darkness and destruction:
And to invite in the light.

It’s the perfect time:
to pray for renewal:
for Revival:
To believe that it is possible:
And to maybe even DEMAND that it take place.

Our opening Collect:
(which was read today in every Episcopal Church across this country)
acknowledges this:

We prayed, “Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works
of darkness, an put upon us the armor of light.”

But I want more even more than this one prayer offers.

So we’re going to keep praying it.
(But with different words)

We’re going to welcome in the light:
Demand the light of revival:
For as long as it takes.

And It will almost certainly take longer than this season of Advent.

Our own Advent:
At St. John’s New London:
Our own renewal and revival will not suddenly appear for us on Christmas
morning.

We’ll still rejoice in the birth of the Christ Child:
AND:
we’ll keep praying:
Keep demanding:
A renewal and revival from the Holy Spirit:
Right here in this space.

But for now:

During this Church season designed for expectation:
For waiting:
And for prayer:
We’ll light our Advent wreath every week.

We’ll pray the light in.
We’ll cry “Come Lord Jesus.”

We’ll sing O COME O COME EMANNUEL:
(And we might even sing it so many times that we get tired of it.)

Because we must.
We must demand the light to come over us:
And to drive away all signs of darkness.

Please join me in this season,
And well beyond:
As we wait for our own Advent:
Our own new “Coming into Being.”
Which only God can bring to us.

Amen.

Holy and Gracious God,
Maker of all things:
You alone are the source of light and life:
And for that we are supremely grateful.
Send us your light and your truth.
In the name of Jesus:
Dispel the darkness covering us,
Destroy the darkness around us.
Drive out all evil:
And bring us your eternal flame of light.
We cry out for you and your great light.
Come Lord Jesus:
Come heavenly light:
Come celestial brightness.
Renew us.
Enlighten us.
Revive us.
Bring us into being:
And create in us something new:
All in the name of your glorious Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Throughout history:
Christians have lived in and under:
All sorts of political arrangements.

In empires and under emperors,
In democracies with presidents and prime ministers:

In monarchies with kings and queens:
With dictators in repressive regimes:
And in open societies with lots of rights and privileges.

Christians have lived in all of it.
And not a single one is explicitly “Christian.”

What has united all Christians throughout time:
Is that regardless of what earthly powers ordered Christians daily lives,
Those political regimes were only a secondary allegiance.

In truth:
All Christian’s throughout all time:
Owe their allegiance to Christ the king and the Kingdom of God.

And today:
Is Christ the King Sunday:

The final Sunday of the church year before advent begins.

So before we begin contemplating the baby in the manger:
We celebrate and place our allegiance:
In Christ the King.

When we think about Christ as king:
(If we even do it at all)
Many of us may have in mind the images of Jesus of a king with great
power:
Giving us the impression that he is similar to all other earthly kings,
Except maybe more powerful.

But our Gospel today brings into stark relief:
Who Christ’s kingship and his kingdom:
Are in contrast with any and all earthly power.

Today’s gospel reading is one that is often misunderstood.
With Pilate facing off against Jesus as almost a tragic figure, or even a sort
of antihero.
But make no mistake:
Pilate represents the monstrous powers of the earth:
The way that humans wield power and control over others through
violence, repression, and domination, standing in for the whole Roman
Empire.

It is fascinating to begin with that we don’t even have a king to king
showdown:
But instead, King Jesus face to face with Caesar’s REPRESENTATIVE:
Since Caesar himself is too high and mighty to approach his people (in
contrast to our incarnate King, Jesus.)

In the story:
Pilate asks if Jesus is a king.
But this question is complicated in translation.
(Remember that the Bible was not written in English!)

The real way that Pilate asks this question is sort of mockingly,
Like, “What? YOU? a king?!?”

How can this homeless man:
Not even a citizen:
Claim to be a king, when we have the great Caesar?

And yet:
This is still:
Even in its mocking scorn:
A matter of life and death.

To claim kingship contra Caesar:
Was to invite the death penalty.

And here’s another contrast between Caesar and Christ as king.

Caesar only has power at the expense of other people.
Jesus, though:
Is so powerful that we are invited to become more and more like him:
Drawing us closer to him:
Rather than making the separation greater.

But back to the story:
After Pilate asks the question:
Jesus answers, not directly, but affirmatively.

“My kingdom is not from this world”
Now again: There’s some translation issues here.
Some translations say “My kingdom is not OF this world”

OF or FROM:
Both are possible from the original Greek:
But saying “My kingdom is not of this world”
Gives the sense of it being otherworldly:
Not impacting our lives now:
Only dealing with an inner spirituals state or time after death.

But this is not what Jesus is saying.
The Kingdom of God is always crashing into our current reality:
Challenging and superseding it.

What Jesus is saying:
Is that his kingdom is based on:

Gets its power an authority from something higher.

His point is that he does not need violence to establish or maintain his
kingdom.
It is based in power far greater than that.

As we will see:
It is based in the sort of power that can conquer the seeming weakness
and failure: and suffering death on a cross.

Jesus then affirms his kingdom is rooted in truth:
Which is met by Pilates famous response:
Just after what we read today.
Pilate says:
“What is truth?”

But this isn’t a philosophical question (even if it seems that way)
Its again the mocking scorn of one who is power hungry and power
poisoned.

It’s more like he’s saying:
“what even is truth? And who even cares?
Truth doesn’t move the world:
Power does.”

And this gives us the final significant distinction:
Between the Kingship of Christ:

And the Kingship of earthly powers:

Christ’s kingdom is rooted in truth:
In speaking the truth:
And in seeking the truth.

In a world where power is built through misinformation:
This is a radical affirmation.

And we know:
That Christ will:
In his resurrection:
Become the king enthroned above:

But not before he is first enthroned on the cross:
A feat that no other earthly power is willing to experience.

The takeaway for all of us:
Is that Christ the King:
Is our ultimate power and authority.

We are under his dominion,
And we are called to follow our allegiance to him and no one else.

We are called to live lives of peace:
To be rooted in truth:
And to seek out that truth and follow it:

Even when it’s inconvenient and difficult:
Even when it goes contrary to our comfort.

And ultimately:
We are to become more and more like our king:
Recognizing that we too may be called to follow the way of the cross:
In witness against the powers of this world:
And in witness to our only true king.

Amen.

Good morning! And happy November!

The air is getting cooler,
The days are getting shorter:
And yet: the month of November is a steady celebration of harvest, abundance,
and gratitude.

And in the church:
This season begins with a very important celebration:
The celebration of All Saints day.

It’s a day of gratitude:
where we remember and honor the saints who have gone before us:
Those faithful and famous:
And those who we knew in our own time and lives.

As we celebrate All Saints day, we gather to remember those who have died,
And we anticipate the glorious resurrection that is yet to come:
For us, and for all who have gone before us.

It’s particularly special today,
Because we have these stones:
Formed out of the ashes of our brother Joe:

One of our own faithful departed.
These stones are a significant reminder that those who have died are still with us:
Still united to us in what the church calls “The great cloud of witnesses.”

On all Saints day:
We remember that we are not just individual followers of Jesus:
We are all united and connected to one another through the living God:
Or as our collect says today:
We are: “knit together in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of
Christ our lord.”

As we remember, honor, and pray for those who have died:
It feels funny at first to also talk about money.

That’s the other thing we’re doing today.
Kicking off this month of gratitude, with our stewardship Sunday.

Initially, I thought “how am I going to connect these two things?”
All saints and stewardship?
It feels so weird:
To honor those who have died,
And also talk about money.

Money seems meaningless in the midst of grief and death.
It’s why they say that old adage, “You can’t take it with you.”

It seems gauche to ask you to fill out a pledge card,
While also remembering those who have died.

But the more that I thought about it, and prayed about it:
The more it began to make sense.

Actually in a real “Jesus” Sort of way:
Everything I initially thought, got turned upside down:
And the Spirit brought new life:
To think about things more deeply, and differently.

There are, of course, practical reasons for asking you to give a portion of your
income to the church.

Practically speaking, we need income:
to keep the doors of this church open.
To keep the lights on,
To heat and cool the building:
To have a space to worship the living God,
And to provide grace, mercy and healing to each other, and all others.

And practically speaking:
We invite people to pledge their giving for the year,
So that we can set our budget:
And know what we can expect to work with to continue our ministries.

These practicalities are important, and they’re real.
But they’re also “first glance thinking”
(Until the Spirit turns it all upside down.)

It gets flipped upside-down when we realize that the knitting together of all the
faithful followers of Jesus is the whole point of the church.
That’s what All-saints day is.

This holy: All-saints celebration:
Is basically the epitome of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
To be knit together to all the faithful:
Placing our hope in the ultimate resurrection of the dead,
And the eager anticipation of our own glorious resurrections.

What I’m trying to say:
Is that the church exists in order to carry the legacy of Jesus, and all of his faithful
followers throughout the centuries.

So when we give to the church:
We’re preserving that legacy.
The legacy of Jesus which knits us together:
To those we love who have died,
And to those faithful that we’ve never met.

And if we’re being honest:
It makes sense to connect this honoring of those who have died,
With the financial responsibility to continue the mission of the church.

It is, after all,
At the moment of death:
Either or own, or that of our loved ones:
That we most long for the mission and legacy of Jesus: which is revealed to us
through the church.

It’s why an unresponsive loved one,
On a deathbed,
Might show signs of response during the recitation of the Lord’s prayer.

It’s why the 23 rd Psalm is such a comfort in times of grief and loss.
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death:
I shall fear no evil.”

It’s why Mary:
In today’s Gospel:
Weeps and says to Jesus “Lord! If you had been here, my brother would not have
died.”

And it’s these moments:
Of death and resurrection:

That are most pivotal to the life of Jesus:
To the life of the church:
And to the eternal life promised to us, and all the faithful departed.

But one more thing about this famous story of the raising of Lazarus.
While Mary and Martha are overcome with grief over the death of their brother:
Jesus cries out with a loud voice:
And Lazarus: Who was dead:
Came ourt:
Once again alive.

Except:
This was not resurrection:
In the way that Jesus was resurrected.

Lazarus is going to die again:
A human death,
Like each one of us.

His sisters (If still alive) will mourn and grieve him yet again.
But the message of Jesus:
The legacy of the saints, and all the faithful departed:
The hope of the church:
Is that death never has the last word.
Death is never the end of the story.

Because the end of the story is a new beginning:
A new heaven, and a new earth:
Resurrection of the body,
Life everlasting,
With all those who have gone before,
And all those who will come after.
United and knit together by Jesus himself.

But that new beginning isn’t here yet.
And it’s our job is to continue the legacy:
Carry the legacy of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
Pass on the legacy of the mission of the church:
And hold the legacy of all the saints:
Including those we have loved and lost.

I invite you today,
To two different ways that you can carry these united legacies.

You have two small cards today:
One a pledge card:
And one a blank card.

You know what the pledge card is for.

Offering up some of your income to continue the legacy of Jesus through the
mission of the church.

But the blank card is a little bit different.
I invite you to write the names of your own faithful departed:
Those loved ones in your life who have died:
So that we can honor and pray for them today:
Continuing their legacy:
As we wait for resurrection in the new heaven and the new earth.

(Please write as legibly as possible, so that I can pray the names out loud.)

And when you’re finished,
With one or both of the cards:
You can bring them to the altar:
And when the time is right:
I’ll lead is in prayer:
Prayer for all the faithful departed:
For those you name on your cards,

We’ll pray over Joes ashes:
And commit them to the living God.

We’ll pray for the continued mission of the church,
And we’ll pray for ourselves:

As we strive to continue and carry Jesus’ legacy.

For the last several weeks,
We have been traveling through Mark’s Gospel:
And learning lot about discipleship.

The stories we’ve been hearing have been about what it means to be called, and
to follow Jesus.

And we heard some stories about people that you would THINK would be ideal
candidates for good discipleship.
In order to understand today’s story:
We have to review the stories from the last few weeks.

Remember that story a few weeks ago?
A young man comes to Jesus.
He’s eager to learn.
HE’s wealthy.
He knew the law: he followed all of the ten commandments.

This guy was eager, well-read, and well-resourced:
(We would want this guy to join our church!)

But Jesus calls him to give up everything:
To recognize that eternal life does not come from having it all:

But rather about giving yourself fully over to Jesus:
Letting Jesus determine everything about how life is lived.
The man walked away in deep, deep sadness:
Because he just couldn’t give up the things that separated him from God.

When at first he appeared to be the perfect candidate for discipleship:
It turned out, he wasn’t.

Then least week, we heard about James and John:
The sons of Zebedee.
They too appeared to be the perfect candidates for discipleship.
After all, they already HAD given up everything to follow Jesus.
They were spending all of their time with him.

And yet:
When they reveal their desire for fame and glory:
It’s clear that they haven’t really heard what Jesus was teaching.
They sort of thought that they were hedging their bets:
By giving up everything to later get that power and glory.

Two followers of Jesus:
Who appear to be the perfect candidates for discipleship:
Turn out to fall quite short of the task.

And then Mark:

The Gospel writer:
Takes us to this story today.
Right before Jesus enters Jerusalem to suffer and die on the cross,
He encounters this blind man.
Not only a blind man:
But a beggar.

You’ve seen beggars:
Panhandlers on the street.
This guy is hardly one that anyone would consider an ideal disciple.

He’s on the outside:
Quite literally:
On the side of the road:
Outside of the city.

And here’s a really important point:
In Jesus’ time:
This blind beggar, was not only an outsider:
It also would’ve been assumed that he::
Or his family: were great sinners.

People assumed that’s where blindness came from:
As a punishment for sin.

So all in all, this man is the lowest of the low.

At first glance, no one would expect this man to be a model for discipleship:
But that’s exactly what he is.

In the story,
He recognizes that Jesus is the son of David,
And calls out to him.
He doesn’t call out for anything in particular:
Just for mercy.
A pretty solid disciple.

He doesn’t come to Jesus until Jesus calls him.
So he recognizes the authority of Jesus’ call.
Another characteristic of a true disciple.

And in coming to Jesus:
He leaves behind his cloak:
His only possession:
Something that represented him doing what that rich young man could not.

He gives up ALL he has to come to Jesus:
And this isn’t just an issue of “he’ll come back for the cloak after he’s healed.”
Because at this moment in the story:
Jesus is on the notoriously dangerous road from Jericho to Jerusalem:

The same road referenced in that story of the Good Samaritan:
Where the road was full of murderers and thieves.

This blind beggar is not ever going to see that cloak again.

And when he finally gets to Jesus,
He doesn’t not ask for power or wealth.
He doesn’t ask to have the glory seat in eternity.
He asks to have his sight back:
So that he might be able to follow Jesus further.
An unlikely model disciple.

The point seems to be that when we think that we’re the disciples:
we should be awfully careful.
Because things aren’t always as they first seem.

Real disciples beg for mercy:
Like this blind beggar.
Disciples are prepared to repent of our failures:
And put following Jesus as truly the highest good.

And we should also expect examples of discipleship to come in the most
unexpected places:
Among those on the outside:
Among the truly lowest of the low:

And among those least likely in our minds to be disciples.

But there’s one more twist to this unexpected reality.
(Mark likes to put little subtle ‘twists’ into his gospel)

Mark portrays this blind beggar as the model disciple:
Although unexpected.
He’s more of a disciple than those who are actually CALLED Jesus’ disciples (like
those brothers of Zebedee, or all the wacky times that Peter just doesn’t get it.)

Even this model disciple falls short in the end.
We know this:
Because at the end:
At the cross:
Every one of these disciples abandons Jesus.
(Except for some women, of course.)

And remember how the blind beggar called Jesus “The son of David?”
That was a marker of conquering, earthly power.
The direct opposite of what Jesus called himself, which was “son of man.”
Even Blind Bartimaeus thought that Jesus should be more glamourous, glorious
and powerful than the lowly “suffering savior” on the cross.

The cross challenges and destroys all our expectations:
Even the expectations of the best disciples.

Jesus calls us to give up everything to follow him:
To follow him all the way to the cross.
And here’s the thing:
No matter how good or bad we are:
We will fail at it.

We will have to:
As the baptismal covenant reminds us:
“repent an return to Christ.”
Even if we’re model disciples.

But don’t worry:
There’s great hope:
Indeed, GOOD news.

There’s good news for the disciples who followed Jesus (like James and John)
There’s good news for the blind beggar,
And there’s even good news for the rich young man.

There’s good news for ALL of us:
That even when we fail at discipleship:
We are always able to repent and return.
Begging for mercy:
We will receive it.
Amen.

Jesus said: but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.

How many times have we heard this throughout our lives?
Or some form of it?
Like: The last shall be first, and the first shall be last?

For the son of Man came not to be served, but TO Serve?

We’ve heard this teaching so many times that sometimes it’s almost lost on us.
We don’t really know what it means:

Except for that maybe the end of the line is the best place to be?
Those who serve are luckier than those in power?
And lovers of God get less status and not more?
Or that the lowliest job is the one to covet?

But that’s pretty weird too:
The idea that we’re still wanting:
Still coveting something:
In order to get the great reward at the end.

The famous preacher Barbara Brown Taylor likens this idea to an “intermediate
stage”
Like a boot camp, or limbo, or parole:
Where you do your time as a servant with no whining and then in the end you
WIN the game: you get eternal life,
and if you do it better than every one else, you might even win the best seats in
the house.

But that’s just the thing.
It’s not a game.
There is no winning.
And whenever you try to be the “best:”
even if you’re trying to be the “Best servant”
You’re still missing the point.

And Jesus himself is proof of this.
Jesus is not pretending to be a servant until the time comes for him to rip of his
disguise and climb onto a golden throne.
He is a servant through and through.
Forever and Ever, Amen.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
Famously ask Jesus to let them sit at his right and left hands in glory:
(Like:
at the end of the “game” :

The end of this earthly life:
they want to be crowned next to Jesus at the top.)

And Jesus famously says back to them: “to sit at my right hand or at my left is not
mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

If Jesus is the servant:
Through and through:
Forever and ever amen,
Then the winning seats are not his to give.
He doesn’t even have one himself.
Because there’s no winning.
Because it’s not a game.

Jesus isn’t in it for a trophy.
He isn’t in it for a reward.

He IS in it for the love God:
Which promises him nothing.
(Except for the opportunity to give himself away.)

And more than that: When Jesus says “to sit at my right hand or at my left is not
mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared,”

He isn’t speaking about glory or reward at all.

He’s doing the exact opposite, and alluding to his death.

He’s pointing toward the moment where the best seat he’s going to get is the
throne of a cross:
With splinters, and blood, and agony.

And it wont be the Zebedee brothers at his side:
It wont be any of his disciples.
Instead, It will be two unnamed criminals:
One at his left and one at his right.

The glory seat next to Jesus:
(if you can even call it the glory seat)
Was the seat of execution:
With the literal lowest of the low on each side.

Like: Literally.
These guys weren’t trying to be the lowest in order to get the reward at the end.
They weren’t even PRETENDING to be the lowest.
They literally were the lowest of the low:

The kind of people nobody wants to be next to:
The kind of people nobody wants to hang out with:
Let alone, share a throne with.

Now: I’m obviously not saying that we should all become criminals in order to
gain the reward.

Because AGAIN:
Then we’d still doing something:
Trying to become something that we’re not:
In order to just win the reward.

What I AM saying:
Is that just when we think we’ve got it figured out:
Just when we think we know that we have to be less to be most:
Or to be servants in order to win:
We’ve already lost.

Because we’ve still made it about us.
(even under the guise of “service of others”)

When we serve others in order to ultimately serve ourselves,
It’s not really service.

If our eyes are always on the prize:
The trophy at the end of the game:
Then our eyes are not really on God.

When Jesus says that he came not to be served, but TO serve:

The emphasis is on the ongoing action:
Not the endgame.

When James and John ask Jesus to let them sit next to him in his glory, Jesus says
some important words that we often forget:
“The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am
baptized, you will be baptized.”

It’s not about what’s at the end.
It’s about the whole process:
The whole journey.

It’s about the actions:
Drinking from the same cup as Jesus:
Being baptized with the same water and spirit.

So The next time you participate in an act of service:
Pay attention to what happens:
Pay attention to what happens within you:
And around you:
In the whole process:
Not just how it “feels at the end.”

Focus not on the reward:
But on the act itself.

And when you come to the altar today:
And drink from the cup:
And taste the bread on your tongue:
Focus on that action:
Eating and Drinking the bread and wine of Jesus:
Not as a reward:
But in the action itself.

Revel in that moment.
Taste.
See.
Smell.
Hear.
Pay attention to it all.

Not for the endgame:
But for the love of God offered to you at this very moment.

Amen.

Did you hear the collect for today?
That’s the prayer that the priest says right before the reading of the lessons.
A collect is a prayer that “collects” the thoughts.

It comes at the end of other prayers:
Or in the case of the “collect for the day”
It collects the intentions for the day together.

Today’s collect addresses God saying:
“God, who art always more ready to hear:
than we to pray.”

It’s SO insightful.
God is always more ready to hear:
Than we are to pray.

But what does that have to do with the rest of our lessons for today?
Especially in our gospel reading today:
Which has two (somewhat) separate teachings.

An uncomfortable teaching against divorce:
And a rather comforting teaching on the welcome of little children.

And we might feel this tension:
The uncomfortable and the comforting.

At first glance:
It appears that there’s not much commonality with these two teachings.
But I think there is.
I think Jesus’ concern here is on valuing community:
Valuing our need to be in relationship:
And valuing our need to be healed.

And for all of that:
We need God’s help.

Jesus: always more ready to hear:
Than we are to pray.

So first:
Let me address Jesus’ welcome of children.
I mentioned last week that this isn’t some sweet adorable story that we’ve come
to expect.
There are real actual implications of this teaching from Jesus.
It’s a SHOCKING:
Counter cultural assertion that God’s kingdom belongs to it’s weakest members.

It’s an assertion that even children have something important and meaningful to
both say and to offer.

So maybe: We should listen to them….
To CHILDREN:
Because, we:
Unlike God: who’s ALWAYS more ready to hear:

We are often: quicker to speak:
Than to hear….
Sometimes quicker to judge…
Than listen…
Sometimes quicker to fix…..
Than to pray….

Jesus urges us to listen:
With open and welcoming hearts.

Jesus urges us to be willing to hear:
To learn:
To grow:
And sometimes even change because of what we have seen, heard, and
witnessed.

Too often:

Our world and society:
Revolves around fixing, judging, taking control:
And normalizing the “breaking of relationships”

Our culture teaches us to turn others away:
Especially others who think differently than us.

But here’s Jesus:
Our gospel tells us that he was INDIGNANT:
Toward the disciples who spoke sternly to the children:
Turning them away.

And at the SAME TIME:
Jesus continues to welcome his disciples:
Just as he welcomes the little children.

And this, too: is our task.
But a hard and complicated task it is.

Because, as humans we are prone to break relationships:
We are prone to be quick to anger:
Prone to be quick to judge.

And in today’s world of fast paced news:

Social Media:
And instant declaration of our beliefs and political viewpoints:
We are more prone than ever to broken relationships.

We are more prone than ever to hurt one another through our words:
And Jesus knew this.

Jesus KNEW how easy it is for us to break relationships:
To refuse healing:
To refuse forgiving:
To refuse to listen to one another.

But Jesus names this brokenness:
And STILL, at the same time, He willingly associates with us:
the broken:
The hurting and the vulnerable of all kinds:
Including children,
The divorced,
And the unjustly wronged.

And as the Letter to the Hebrews says:
Even in our brokenness:
“Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters.”
Even in our brokenness: God is ALWAYS more ready to hear:

Than we are to pray.

DESPITE our brokenness:
DESPITE our broken relationships:
“Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters.”

How can we, too, live unashamed:
Unashamed to call one another brothers and sisters?
Whether we agree or disagree?
Even if we have been hurt or wronged?

Jesus’ teaching on divorce is not merely about divorce.
Marriage is just ONE place where humans have the OPPORTUNITY to live out their
baptisms:
To serve God and God’s people in meaningful relationship:
To Serve:
To listen:
To speak truth:
But to speak it with compassion.

Jesus is talking about more than divorce:
He’s talking about ALL our relationships.
And ALL relationship failures are hurtful tragedies:
Spaces of unrealized hopes:
Whether its friend and friend,

Husband and wife,
Child and parent…

Because our relationships are meant to be the places where we live out God’s
mission:
Where we live out the Good News:
Where we honor the Creators image in ourselves,
And in each other.

God has given us the gift of community:
The gift of being together.

And this gift is one that humanity longs for:
That humanity desperately needs.
And we have to accept this gift.
We have to say YES: to this gift of being together in relationship and community.

And let me be clear:
To be in community with each other:
Does not mean that we need to agree on everything.
(Do a husband and wife ever agree on EVERYTHING?)

When we’re striving to be in relationship with one another:
We do not need to agree.
But we do need to listen to each other:

And we need to find those places:
Where we can be unashamed to call one another brothers and sisters.
Whether we’re in crisis, or in blessed joy.

And if that’s not enough:
May we remind ourselves that God is ALWAYS more ready to hear:
Than we are to pray….
Even in our brokenness:
Even in our failures:
Jesus is not ashamed, to call us brothers and sisters:
And may we strive for the same:
To pray,
To hear,
And to Listen.

Amen.

Welcome to this gorgeous morning!

And on this beautiful day:
We get to hear about our favorite topic:
SIN.
And FIRE.
And tearing, and breaking:
And worms and hell.
Lot’s of scary stuff.

But more precisely than that:
Three of today’s readings discuss the particular sin of selfishness and jealousy:
What I like to call:
The tale as old as time.

This tale:
This sin of selfishness and jealousy is even older than Moses.

But for today:
Let’s start there.

In today’s first lesson:
Moses is mad at the Israelites:
And he cries out to God Saying:
“Why have you treated ME: Your servant so badly?
That you lay the burden of all these people on me?”

He even goes so far to scream at God:
“If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once!”

We see Moses today, not as the brave, fearless leader we’ve come to remember
him as.
Instead, we see him as the real struggling human that he actually was.

Someone who is so frustrated, that he’s ready to totally give up.
And God’s response is pretty amazing.
God has Moses gather the elders:
So that the responsibility can be shared with others:
Not falling on Moses alone.

But that classic tale as old as time:
The sin of jealousy and selfishness takes over.

And these elders become jealous of one another:
Particularly of these two named Eldad and Medad.

The elders say of these two: “Who let them into our club?”
And Moses in his frustration basically says “Don’t be jealous!! We should want
everyone to be prophets of God!!”

God tries to spread out the work:
So that one person isn’t doing it alone:
And its met with anger:
Because some people don’t want OTHER people to be able to do God’s work.
Some people think that only THEY are good enough to do this work.

The sin of selfishness, (or even self-righteousness) It’s a tale as old as time.
And that’s not all.

In the New Testament reading today,

James let’s his readers (and us) know that God alone is the one who is ultimately in
charge.
The community he’s writing to were participating in that very same sin:
That tale as old as time.

They were planning their lives to suit themselves:
Regardless of how their lives affected others.

That same sense of selfishness continues long after Moses.
James says:
“Do not speak evil against one another…do not judge others.”

He warns them that riches will rot and that the poor will cry out against any of
those who would harm them.
Someone who knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it, commits a sin.
In vivid detail: James’ words should make us squirm:
Because he points to this real human reality that we have all experienced:
That tale as old as time:
The sin of selfishness.

And then finally:

When we think we’ve heard quite enough:
We hear Jesus speak some scary words:
About fire, and hell, cutting off body parts.

Today’s Gospel reading starts in a VERY similar way that the Old Testament story
ended.
A member of the “inner circle” or “the club”
Was upset because someone outside that circle was also able to use one of God’s
gifts,
And supposedly:
without the “right” credentials.

The tale as old as time:
Someone who is selfish and jealous of someone else (who is working for Good and
for God!)

Both Moses and Jesus were faced with the same problem:
Their followers just didn’t get it.
They didn’t get that what was offered to them:
Is offered to everyone.
That it wasn’t an exclusive club.

What the people in Moses’ time,
The people in James’ time,
And the people in Jesus’ time didn’t get:
was what it means to be a part of the “people of God.”

And that means shedding that tale as old as time:
The sin of selfishness and jealousy:
Looking toward God and neighbor:
And not toward yourself.

In last week’s Gospel,
Jesus picked up a little child and said,
“whoever welcomes a child in my name, welcomes me;
And anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Today, it might strike us as a charming thing for Jesus to do when he uses a child
as an image:
In that age, though, it was remarkable.

In Jesus’ time, Children had no status at all.
They represented the lowest of the low:

Not only the materially poor:
But the spiritually poor as well.

And here Jesus was forcing the adults to rearrange their thinking.
He was forcing them to understand that unless they allowed themselves to go back
to being as simple and innocent as children:
Unless they began to accept ALL of God’s people as part of their community:
Unless they began to live as if they really understood that the kingdom of God was
in their midst,
They were in danger of falling into serious sin.

But we don’t really want to talk about sin, do we?
It’s distasteful to us:
So we tend to ignore it.
But… It’s PART of us:
It’s the Tale as old as time.

And if we ignore it, we’re kidding ourselves.
So what do we do?

What can we learn from the lessons we have heard today?

Moses, James, and Jesus were all dealing with a disgruntled and ungrateful people:
People engaged in the sins of pride, elitism, Selfishness, and jealousy.

We can, as Jesus says, “Become like little children.”
Children: who are certainly not perfect:
Who stumble along and make mistakes,
but are generally open enough to learn more about the world and how to walk
around in it.

You know:
Like preschoolers:
Who see a new kid at the park:
A kid who might look very different from them.
And say “Hi! Want to play with me?”

We too can become like little children:
We can flip the script on that tale as old as time:
Those human tendencies toward selfishness and jealousy:
And thereby create the kingdom of God that is already among us.
Where whoever wants to step through the doors are welcomed:
And the sins of selfishness and jealousy are swept away.

Let’s re-write the tale as old as time:
The tale that God first intended when the world was created:
Where all are welcome:
All are beloved:
And the human tendency toward pride, jealousy, and selfishness, fade away.
Amen.

Fr. Wilson encourages us to read the whole book of Mark in one sitting, its more powerful that way!

A number of years ago,
Nicolas Sparks wrote a book called the Notebook.
Its popularity increased as it was adapted for a movie.

The story is a love story:
About a couple—with the wife dealing with Alzheimer’s disease.
She lives in a care facility, and her husband visits her regularly:
Always with a notebook in hand.

The husband reads from his notebook:
A series of flashbacks:
From when they were young:
Reading their love story over and over again:
In the hopes that his wife will remember some of it.

Many can relate to this story.
The love story.
Or even those who have loved ones with Alzheimer’s or dementia.

The wife in the story does not remember who she is,
And so the husband reminds her over and over again.
He tells her who she is, and who they are together.

Their story is important, not only to her, but to him.
It gives them meaning and purpose in the midst of tragedy.

How often do we need to be reminded of our own stories?
As we continue to grow and change as people faced with a variety of
circumstances:
We can lose sight of our true selves:
And we need to be reminded of who we really are.

In today’s Gospel: We hear a lot of things that we hear in the season of lent:
Actually, this is the same story that we heard on the 2 nd Sunday of Lent this year.

Jesus tells his disciples that he must suffer.
Then he will be killed.
And after three days, rise from the dead.

Jesus knows his own story,
And he does not make excuses about it.
In fact, Mark tells us that:
“He said all this quite openly.”

Jesus understood his belonging in God’s story:
And all that that would mean.

Later, Jesus says to his disciples:

“If any want to become my followers,
Let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it,
And those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save
it.
For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”

Jesus is Basically asking:
“Why would people gain the whole world, but lose their lives?
What will people give in exchange for their lives?”

One biblical translation called “The message” puts it in this way:
What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you:
The REAL you?
What could you ever trade your soul for?”

Jesus wants to know our stories:
Wants our stories to be a part of HIS story.
And the answers to these questions reveal who we truly are:
And what we believe about our stories and identities.

The answers to those questions also reveal who we believe Jesus is.
Do we believe in the story that he tells?
The Jesus that Peter says is the Messiah?
Do we believe in the Jesus that will be rejected by so many:

And left to die on a cross, only to be resurrected?

Do we really believe all of these stories?
Do we believe in the ministry of suffering and self-sacrifice?

It’s a tough one.
Either Jesus is crazy:
A con man:
OR:
What he says is TRUE.

In your own life:
If Jesus were to look at you and ask,
“Who do you say that I am?”
How would you respond?
If someone were to ask you who you are:
What story would you tell?

One could interpret Jesus’ words today as saying:
“Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead.
Don’t run from suffering. Follow me, and I’ll show you.”
“Don’t set your mind on merely human things:
Follow me: And I’ll show you the Divine things that are a part of you.”

This is a different message than what we hear from the world around us:
And even from our human nature that seeks to avoid pain at all costs.

God is calling us into a different way:
To be a part of a different story than the one the world is telling us.
The same is happening in the book of James today:
When James warns us about the words we speak:
How damaging our words can be if we’re not careful.

And that what we say: And HOW we say it:
Reflects our faith:
And ultimately, our very self.
What we say:
Reflects WHO we are.

God is asking us to offer our whole selves:
Our time, our talents, our treasures:
And especially our sufferings.
And to trust that we will be led into a more meaningful life than what we could
come up with ourselves.

Flannery O’Connor, An American writer put it this way:
“Just being who you are, not justifying or apologizing
it sounds so easy.
It’s a life work not to get caught in producing, performing, proving:

keeping accounts of indebtedness,
waiting for gratitude, reward, ambition:
manipulation, staggering self-pity.
but cultivating: the habit of being.”

It is cultivating a habit of being:
There’s that word again!
CULTIVATE.
It’s cultivating a habit of being:
That tells God’s story:
And Hearing it echo in our own.

It’s cultivating a habit of being:
That is able to just be:
To be where we are:
In all joy, in all suffering.

It’s cultivating a habit of being:
To be not only who we are called to be:
But to remember who we really ARE.

And like the couple in The Notebook,
May we remind each other of God’s story:
God’s LOVE story to us:

And to the whole entire world.
May we remember the love story that isn’t even over yet:
The story that is ongoing:

And even when we lose our way:
To have the courage to keep writing the story:
Bit by bit:
As we remember who we really are.
Amen.