Weekly Lessons and Sermon
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always
acceptable in your sight, oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
acceptable in your sight, oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
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May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always acceptable in your sight Oh Lord
my strength and my redeemer. We’re going on a journey today. The 40 day journey of Lent: Which began on Wednesday, But got shuffled up due to the snow storm. So we’ll mark the beginning of that journey today. The journey from death to life: Beginning with the ashes and dust of death, And ending in the journey to Easter: To the resurrection. Traditionally, the season of Lent is also the journey to baptism: (Which makes sense in a journey to life.) In the Early Church: People were baptized on Easter: At the Easter vigil. Lent was a time of preparation for baptism. Which is part of why: whether we have a baptism or not: We renew our baptismal covenant on Easter Sunday. And if all goes according to plan: We WILL have a baptism on Easter! (Stay tuned!) One of the questions in our baptismal covenant is: “Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, Whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?” This question is particularly relevant today, On this first Sunday of Lent: When we hear stories of sin and temptation. First, we hear the famous story of Adam Eve: Which describes sin and death entering the created world, As Eve is tempted by the crafty serpent: And both Adam and Eve eat from the forbidden tree. In the second reading, Paul describes Jesus as a kind of Second Adam: Who brings righteousness and abundant grace: Transforming the trespass and condemnation brought on by the sin of the first Adam. And then the story about Jesus: After his baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness: To be tempted by the devil. It seems kind of crazy: That Jesus was “Led by the SPIRIT: To be tempted by the devil.” Why would the spirit lead Jesus to the devil? To temptation? To sin? There must be a lesson there. A lesson about baptism: A lesson about sin. During this season of journeying from death to life. And maybe that lesson is this: While Baptism points to new life in resurrection: Baptism doesn’t make this life any easier. Even after baptism: We continue to persevere in resisting evil. We continue to fall into sin: And we still have to repent and return to the Lord. For forty days: Jesus fasted in the wilderness. Forty days: The same amount of days that are in the season of Lent: And on the Lenten journey from death to life in the resurrection. In the Bible: forty is always “The time in between” It’s not a literal specific number: It’s a time of waiting before renewal. Whether it’s forty days or forty years: The number forty is the time in between: It’s marked in the bible with The rain of Noah’s flood, Moses on Mount Sinai, Israel in the wilderness, The spies scouting out Canaan, Israel in the hands of the Philistines, The taunting by Goliath, The reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon, Jesus’ fasting and temptation in the desert wilderness. And even Jesus’ appearance after Easter before he ascended into heaven. And now for us: We too wait in the wilderness, In our “Time between” As we move from death to life, And tell the truth: About our own sins: Our own temptations: About the things we have done: And the things we have left undone: As we repent and return to the Lord. In this time in between: We tell the truth about the fact that baptism doesn’t make life easier. It wasn’t easier for Jesus: And it isn’t easier for us. Actually, baptism sometimes makes life more challenging: Because it calls us into a new way of living. Because it pushes us to tell the truth: To repent, Return, And try again. Again, and Again, and again. Constantly striving to be better: More like Jesus. One of the ways that we mark and notice Lent as a “time in between” Is in the absence of “alleluia’s” in the liturgy. Traditionally, As the season of renewal, repentance and preparation before baptism: The church takes all references to “alleluia” out of liturgy until Easter. It feels funny. And sad. But it’s important. Because it’s a concrete reminder of the time in between: A concrete reminder of our active journey from death to life. So while we’ll try our best to refrain from our usual “alleluia’s” in the liturgy: We’ll also take a minute today to pack up our Alleluias. You all received a paper on your way in. And when you come up to receive your ashes in just a few minutes: I’ll invite you to also drop your paper into this box. We’ll close the box up, and leave it here throughout our Lenten journey. And on Easter, We’ll bring them back out. Because while we’re packing them up today: They WILL be back. Jesus promises abundant life: Even after death. And just like baptism: That doesn’t necessarily make it all easier. Death isn’t made easier. But it is a promise that we can cling to. Hold onto: And remember that Jesus always keeps his promises. Amen.
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We welcomed Fr. Wilson Roane His sermon was based on this Moral Story Minute
There was once a mountain climber who wanted to climb every mountain. Once he was climbing a mountain in the night. He couldn’t see anything and hence he slipped on a rock. He kept falling down and down and realized he is going to die. But suddenly his safety rope caught him and he stopped falling. He stayed there dangling and praying to god. Then he heard a voice calling his name. “I am God, son. If you believe that I can save you, cut the rope you are hanging to.” He looked down and all he saw was pitch black darkness so he didn’t cut the rope. The next day he was found frozen to death by rescuers. But they saw he was hanging only two feet away from the ground. “Only if he had cut his rope, he would be safe and alive,” one of the rescuers said. https://moralstoryminute.com/two-feet/ Rev. Portia will return next Sunday, 2/26/2023 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always
acceptable in your sight oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen. The church makes many claims about God – about who God is and what God does and what God is like. One of the biggest claims of all: One that is at the very core of the rest of our claims: Is that God is love. We talk about it all the time. We sing songs about the God of love: We pray to the God of love: We offer the gift of ourselves to the God of love: We follow the God of love: We love, because he first loved us. And then this morning: Which happens to be the Sunday before Valentines day, We hear these lessons that are largely about law. We may be taken a back, As the God of love sounds a bit harsh today when he says phrases like: “If you call your brother or sister a fool, and insult her, You will be liable to the hell of fire.” And, “If your right hand causes you to sin: Cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.” It’s not the most good-feeling-reading in the Bible. And there isn’t a way to get around it. These are words from the God who is love. We can’t throw these words out, And since we can’t get around it: We need to go through it: To get to the very heart of it: To get a glimpse of the heart of the God who is love. And this gospel reading says a lot about what we would hear: If we would listen to our hearts: And If we would listen to the heart of God. We hear the sounds, and feel the beating of the heart all of the time. We’ve felt, even heard the sounds of our own hearts beating in excitement. Some of us have heard the beating of an unborn baby’s heart. Touching a loved one, we might feel their heart beating. While the heart is a vital physical organ: The word “heart” is also used to describe the core of our selves. We talk about the human heart as the seat of loving, Of compassion, tenderness, and courage. We can see it in our language, when we say, “take heart.” Or in speaking of a change of heart, we mean that there has been a shift of perspective. The Heart is also the seat of memory. To know something by heart is to know it perfectly. The heart is the center of yearning and desire: To seek with your WHOLE heart: Is to pursue diligently, To strive for something with all of the perseverance you can muster. And so what does all of Jesus’ talk about the law have to do with our hearts, and the heart of the God of love? The answer is in the fact that our hearts are not perfect. While our hearts are the center of love, Our hearts also harbor fear, hatred, judgment, and selfishness. And yet: The God who is love, loves us anyway. And offers opportunity to mend our hearts: striving for a heart more like God’s own. In today’s Gospel story, Jesus is sitting with his disciples: Teaching them what it means to follow him. It’s a continuation of the famous sermon on the mount: Which we’ve heard pieces of the last few weeks. Last week, in particular, Jesus said that he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it: And that righteousness must be greater than the scribes and Pharisees in order to reach the kingdom of heaven. What we hear today, are the illustrations and implications of those statements. Today, Jesus talks about some of the big commandments: You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not swear falsely… And the disciples might say: Yes. We’ve heard this all before. We know that’s what God wants for us. But then Jesus goes on to breathe new life into these commandments, By explaining what they mean in their fullness: By getting to the heart of the matter. He explains what these commandments mean if we are to love as God loves: Because law tells us what is in Gods heart. The law exposes God’s fondest desires of how we would live with one another. And the law also shows us the difference between our hearts and God’s heart. The God of love: Wants more for us: Has higher expectations for us: Because of that love. Jesus came not to abolish the law: But to make it even tougher: Not as a punishment: But because God listens to our hearts: And knows just what our imperfect hearts need. God listens to our hearts, and knows that even if we can keep the commandment not to kill one another: We still hate and despise others. We are willing to kill relationships with others: To treat people as if they are dead to us. And so God fulfills the law: Makes it stronger: All for love’s sake. So that our hearts might become more like Gods. God listens to our hearts, and knows that even if we can keep the commandment not to commit adultery: We can still let lust overtake us, And allow it to disrespect others by treating them, or seeing them as less than fully human. And so, God fulfills the law: Makes it stronger: all for love’s sake. So that our hearts might become more like Gods. God listens to our hearts, And knows that even if we can keep from swearing falsely: We are still willing to manipulate others with our words: To lead others astray by what we say: To let our words be meaningless, rather than letting our yes mean yes, and our no mean no. And so, God fulfills the law: Makes it stronger: All for loves sake. So that our hearts might become more like Gods. Our hearts: Though we are made in the image of God: Do not keep time with the beating of God’s heart. Our hearts fall short. And so: In God’s great mercy: The God who is love gives us law-- Not as a punishment: But so that we might be better. So take heart. Do not be afraid: Because our God IS love. The heart of God knows our hearts: However imperfect they might be: And God continues to give us the opportunity to perfect our hearts through the law of love. Amen. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always acceptable in your sight, oh Lord my strength and my redeemer. Amen.
You are Salt. You are Light. Jesus sometimes says some weird stuff. And Jesus often says stuff that have pretty serious consequences. This is one of them. You are Salt. You are light. The stakes are high. Seriously—like life and death. Because Salt and Light are necessary, universal, indispensable elements of human life. Salt and Light are what preserve life-- What make life possible-- And Salt and Light is YOU. Salt and Light are everywhere. Our bodies have salt-- Tears, blood, sweat—they’re all salty. Without salt our hearts would not beat. Our blood would not flow. Our muscles would not work. Life needs salt. And Salt is also precious. In Roman times, salt was used as money-- To actually pay workers. In fact, the word “salary” comes from the latin word “Salarium” which means “Salt.” You know the saying, “A person not worth his or her salt?” A person not worth salt, is not worthy of getting paid-- A person not worth salt is basically useless. And Salt also Preserves-- It keeps food from getting spoiled. Its preservation keeps what is old like new. And we can’t forget that Salt brings out flavor-- And if Christ had a flavor—you know it would be love. Salt—brings out the flavor of love into the world. Salt—brings Christ into the world. You are Salt. And what about light? Just like salt—light is necessary for life. Without light—we couldn’t see. We would lose our senses. We would be lost in darkness. Without light from the sun We would perish in cold darkness. Plants would not grow. There would be no food to sustain life. Light allows Christ to be visible-- Allows Christ to be seen in the world. You are light. Salt and Life are necessary for life. And YOU are salt and light. This is wonderful news. But also a great responsibility. As Salt and Light-- We are meant to be sustainers of life-- To provide to the world what is necessary for life-- We are to be God’s Preserving, purifying, and illuminating force in the world. This is who we are. This is who God made us to be. And this is who we are every day. Not just on Sunday’s Not just during Church. But Salt and Light—every day. Because salt and light are used by every human being, every single day. Without Salt and Light—every day-- There would only be death. You are Salt and Light-- YOU are LIFE. But you also have to BE and SHOW what you are-- Jesus is calling us to BE and SHOW that we are light-- That we are salt-- That we are life. We have to show it-- Through our words, and through our actions we must show what we are. Being Salt—Being light—being a DISCIPLE is about more than just believing. It’s about doing. It’s about BEING. It’s about being visible light-- It’s about being salty flesh. This is what Jesus is talking about when he says, “A city built on a hill cannot be hid.” And this is what I love about St. John’s and its ministry. We’re not just a church building. We’re a downtown food pantry: And a downtown thrift store. We’re trying to be visible—out in the open—bringing salt and life for everyone to see and taste. We cannot hide the light that we are-- Because then in the darkness, Christ could not be seen. We cannot hide the salt that we are-- Because then the preservation of life in Christ could not be felt. And the flavor of life’s goodness could not be tasted. These are big consequences. This is a big responsibility. God has given us the gift of life-- God has made us light-- God has made us salt-- So let us go out into the world: to be and show what we are. Amen. |
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