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Homily – Psalm 63.1-8, Lancelot Andrewes, September 26, 2013

05 Saturday Oct 2013

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Today we honor Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester in the early 1600s. Andrewes was the favorite preacher of King James I.  His eloquent sermons were admired by many, and known as witty, grounded in Scripture, and exhibiting his massive learning.  Andrewes was a distinguished biblical scholar, and one of the translators for the King James Version of the Bible.  He was dean of Westminster, educating many noted churchmen, including poet George Herbert.  He was also known for his piety, for defending the catholicity of the Church of England, and for generally being a model bishop.

What is challenging for us today is accessing Andrewes as modern readers.  His eloquent sermons were so academic that they make difficult reading for modern people.  I remember reading Andrewes for a theology class in seminary – and though I loved his work, I did have to slow down significantly to read his work. That often happens to us – something gets so academic or heady that we stop reading or listening, cutting ourselves off from the potential for learning.  As a church that praises learning, sometimes we are not always diligent with challenging ourselves beyond our comfort zones.

That is why I love our Psalm lesson today.  The psalmist says, “O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.”  The psalmist knows a kind of pursuit of God that is passionate, all-consuming, if not desperate.  The psalmist longs for refreshment from parchedness, because the psalmist knows how incredibly satisfying finding God can be.

This kind of passion for seeking God is the same passion Andrewes had for God. This is the passion that the psalmist and Andrewes would want for us too.  We may not seek God in the same ways or through the same books or experiences, but the psalmist and Andrewes invite us into a more passionate seeking of God in our lives.  When we say we are a community seeking, serving and sharing Christ, this is the kind of passion with which we do that work.  May your soul thirst for God today.  Amen.

Homily – Psalm 78.3-7, John Henry Hobart, September 12, 2013

26 Thursday Sep 2013

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The portion of the psalm that we read today tells a familiar story from Scripture.  From the beginning of our being a people of God, we have been instructed to tell the story – to pass from one generation to the next the salvation story of our God.  In the early days, before there were written Scriptures, I think it was actually easier.  People communicated through oral histories – the stories were burned in their brains and were as natural and familiar as breathing.  Even once the histories were written down, only a few could read, so the oral histories were essential.

Today we have lost that sure familiarity with Scripture.  It is a rare Episcopalian who can quote Scripture to anyone.  Though we have multiple copies of the Bible lying around, very few of us have ever read the Scriptures cover to cover – and if we have, we are surprised when we hear certain stories.  So given our lack of familiarity with Holy Scripture, it is no wonder that our ability to share the Good News is difficult for us.  We struggle not only to pass along the story to our children, but especially to pass along the story to total strangers.

John Henry Hobart, whom we celebrate today, had no such reservations.  Born in Philadelphia in 1775, John became a priest in 1801.  After serving in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Long Island, he was eventually consecrated Bishop of New York in 1811.  In his first four years as Bishop, John doubled the number of clergy and quadrupled the number of missionaries in the diocese.  Before his death in 1830, he planted churches in almost every major town in New York State.  He helped found General Theological Seminary and helped name Hobart College. John revitalized the church, and his zeal was respected by all.

Though John lived more than 200 years ago, his story still speaks to us today.  Along with our scriptural ancestors, these figures invite us to remember with zeal the God who loves us, who gives us life, and who saves us.  John and our ancestors invite us to reignite our passion for Christ and to let that passion overflow without self-consciousness or fear.  Why wouldn’t we want to share the Good News of all that God has done for us?  Our invitation is to remember, reconnect, and revitalize our faith today.  Amen.

Homily – 1 Peter 4.7-11, Matthew 20.1-16, Gregorio Aglipay, September 5, 2013

26 Thursday Sep 2013

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Today we honor Gregorio Aglipay, priest and founder of the Philippine Independent Church, a church in full communion with the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion.  Gregorio was born in 1860 and orphaned at an early age.  He worked as a boy in the tobacco fields during the Spanish Occupation and bore hard feelings toward the Spanish colonists.  He was eventually ordained a Catholic priest, but eight years later the Philippine Revolution began.  At that time the church and state were deeply intertwined, so any revolutionary activity impacted both.  Gregorio sided with the Filipino nationalists and rallied fellow priests to support the revolution.  Of course, he was eventually excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church, but Gregorio formed a new national church that eventually came into full communion with the Anglican Church.

Gregorio’s story feels very familiar to Americans.  We too have fought against our colonist roots; we too have had to sort out the complexities of church and state, especially as Anglicans; and we even know the stories of people forced to work in the fields.  But those stories are from a long time ago, and many of us distance ourselves from the nastiness of those times.  This is why I find the Epistle lesson and Gospel lesson so interesting today.  Here you have two stories:  one of loving one another and one of a sense of justice.  The two are interrelated: had the early workers seen the late workers through the lens of love, their protest would have been nonexistent.  But the kind of love the epistle asks for is hard:  being hospitable without complaining; serving one another; looking not to oneself, but to God.  This kind of love is the most difficult – something we want to do, but rarely accomplish.

Part of me wonders how much Gregorio embodied this love.  He did revolt against the colonists and Roman Catholic Church – how much love did he really have for them?  But I think where he showed love was through his self-sacrifice.  The easy way would have been not to fight.  The Roman Catholic Church even offered him a bishop’s position with enormous resources at this personal disposal.  But Gregorio understood that true love meant sacrificing himself and the easy way of life for something much harder and scarier.

This is the sacrificial, non-self-serving life Jesus invites us into today.  It will not be easy or clean.  Our only assurance is that if we are all in this loving journey together, the journey is a lot less scary.  Amen.

Homily – Psalm 34.1-9, Luke 1.46-55, St. Mary the Virgin, August 15, 2013

26 Thursday Sep 2013

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Today we honor St. Mary the Virgin, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.  What I find so fascinating about our lessons today is that they are filled with praise.  Mary’s song, or the Magnificat, we heard in Luke, the words from Isaiah, and even the psalm are all about our praise of God.  But if you think about Mary’s life, Mary could have easily and justifiably been quite angry with God.  Not only is she a young bride to an older man, she enters into marriage being pregnant in a traditionally shameful way.  Then her life with Jesus, though with moments of joy, is full of pain:  Jesus pushes her away, she watches him die on the cross, and suffers through his life and the days after his death.  The song of Mary could have been a song raging against God.

More often than not, I think our prayer life with God is like this.  We get angry with God when God doesn’t seem to be responding to our petitions.  We dwell on the things that are going wrong in our lives, in the lives of our loved ones, and in the world.  When we come to God in prayer, it is rarely for thanksgiving; it is usually with petitions and frustrations.

But today, Mary shows us another way.  She sees in her pregnancy blessing not a curse.  She sees the magnificent big picture of what God is doing in the world through her, not to her.  She can dream about what this Messiah can do, and she stays by his side, knowing God can do more – even in the throws of death.  Mary is able to do what the psalmist does: “I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall ever be in my mouth.”

This is our invitation today – to find our way back into praising and blessing the LORD.  I was recently reading about a spiritual discipline of prayer where the person looks back on each day and offers to God at least one thing they are grateful for.  The practice seems so simple, but already the practice is changing my prayer life and my attitude toward life in general.  This is the shift Mary invites us into today – to bless the LORD at all times and to let God’s praise ever be in our mouths.  Amen.

Homily – Matthew 20:20-28, St. James the Apostle, July 25, 2013

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

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Today we honor St. James the Apostle.  James, his brother John, and Peter formed that inner circle of disciples who saw Jesus’ Transfiguration, the raising of Jairus’ daughter, and the agony in the garden.  Like anyone given preferential treatment, we find that James sometimes let his status go to his head.  As we hear in the gospel lesson today, James’ mother comes to Jesus Christ, asking whether her sons might sit at Jesus Christ’s right and left hand in the kingdom.  I have always imagined the boys put their mother up to this.  Alternatively, I can also imagine the boys endlessly arguing about preference and the mother just wanting to shut them up.

We have all had James moments.  We have imagined ourselves with a bit more esteem than we should.  Whether in our schooling, our work, our parenting, or even our church leadership, we have had those moments when we have thought of ourselves as more important than we should.  Even the most humble among us have fallen into the trap – we figure out how to master something and we prefer others to do it our way too.

To us and to James, Jesus says: Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.  James learned this lesson the hard way.  James, who proclaimed he was able to drink the cup Jesus was about to drink, found out hat he really would have to by laying his life aside for others.  He found out that being great meant dying for the Good News.

St. James is especially revered in Spain.  Pilgrims for centuries have walked the Camino to honor James in his final resting place.  The Camino, the walk, is much like the spiritual journal of James too.  He went from being a puffed-up disciple to a martyr in Jesus’ name.  He journeyed into the kind of humility Jesus demanded from the beginning.

The good news for James and for us is that we continue to journey toward embodying this humility.  We too are invited along the “way.”  We may not be able to make it there immediately.  But if we journey with James on this way, we might find the way a little easier.  Amen.

Homily – Luke 11.5-10, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman, July 18, 2013

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

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I have always loved this passage from Luke:  I love the image of the tired friend shouting out the door to leave him alone because he is already in bed.  And I love that the man will not back down.  Only through this annoying, persistent pleading does the man get the friend to finally get up and help him.  From the friend’s perspective, the man is annoying and troublesome, but for the man, he just keeps pushing until his friend does the right thing.

Too often we are unlike the man knocking at the door.  We worry about asking for help or bothering someone, and so we go without or we suffer.  We become paralyzed by the fear of rejection, so we cannot even knock on the door.  Or, at the first sign of adversity, we back off.  We do not want to be rejected twice, and so we scurry away.  We are unwilling to do what our gospel lesson encourages – to ask, to search, or to knock – even though Jesus promises that when we ask, it will be given to us; and when we seek, we will find, and when we knock, the door will be opened for us.  Despite those promises, we find ourselves lost in fear.

That is why today we celebrate Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman.  Truthfully, each woman deserves her own feast day.  Elizabeth helped organize the first Women’s Rights Convention in 1848, and she challenged the church for using Scripture to oppress women.  Amelia, known for wearing pants – a scandal at the time – also challenged the church for its manipulation of Scripture to oppress women.  Sojourner, born as a slave, became a voice for the oppression of not just women, but black women especially.  She fought for women’s rights and for abolition, even speaking at Elizabeth’s Women’s Rights Convention, where she gave her famous speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?”  Harriet, also born a slave, not only escaped slavery, but also returned to free more than 300 people.  She too navigated the fight both for women and for African-Americans.  I suppose the reason our lectionary combines these extraordinary witnesses is because these women had no fear of asking, no opposition to searching, and no hesitation about knocking.  They were just like the man in our gospel lesson today who just kept at it until his friend did the right thing.

Today we are invited into that boldness.  We are invited to let go of whatever holds us back and to ask, to search, and to knock.  Jesus promises all will be given to us, all will be found, and all will be answered.  Amen.

Homily – Proverbs 2:1-9, St. Benedict of Nursia, July 11, 2013

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

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When I was at Mepkin Abbey last month, I took a tour of the monastery grounds led by a volunteer.  At some point, she started talking about the monks and wondered out loud how they do it – cut off from the world, without even TV shows.  At first, I totally sympathized with her thought – I wasn’t sure how long I could go without texting, Facebook, checking NPR, etc.  My tour guide concluded that for her, the answer was that she could never do it.  But the question got me thinking about the monk’s motivation:  Though connection with others is hugely important to my life, what do I miss out on when my life is so full?

Benedict of Nursia had a sense of what was missing.  In the early 500s, Rome was being taken over by various barbarian tribes.  Benedict’s response was retreat – to be closer to God he had to retreat.  In the years to come, he wrote the rule that has influenced all of Western monasticism.  He structured the day around liturgical prayer, spiritual reading, work, eating, and sleeping.  That was it.  Simple and focused.  His rule became the rule that countless others would continue to follow.

Though I love monasteries, clearly I never chose to stay in one permanently.  I love the clarity and wisdom I have found in keeping the hours, but for those of us who do not live the monastic life, is that clarity and wisdom and insight unavailable to us?  Proverbs sheds some light on the matter.  The author gives us three “ifs”:  1) If you accept my words , 2) if you cry out for insight, and 3) if you seek understanding like silver.  If these things, then, 1) you will understand, 2) you will find the knowledge of God, and 3) you will be given wisdom from the Lord.  

Our invitation today is to figure out how to do these things in a setting that bombards us with distraction.  One gift Benedict gives to all people is the concept of a rule.  You may not follow his rule in his way, but we probably all need a rule to help us accept God’s words, cry out for insight, and seek understanding.  The abundance of this world is truly a gift – but if we allow ourselves to get lost in that abundance, we can find ourselves no longer longing for a connection to God.  Benedict and Proverbs assure us we can still find a way to God and insight, even in the midst this life.  Amen.

Homily – Amos 5.14-15, Cornelius Hill, June 27, 2013

03 Wednesday Jul 2013

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Cornelius Hill, who we celebrate today, was the first Oneida chief to be born in Wisconsin in 1834, after the U.S. government forced the Oneida peoples west from N.Y. State.  As a young man, he was formed at Nashotah House in the tradition of the church.  He was known for his intelligence, courage, and ability to lead and was made chief as a teenager.  He was active in politics, helping his people navigate controversies like land allotment and fishing rights.  Eventually, Hill turned to the church and was ordained a priest.  He saw the Christian faith as a way to help his people grapple with the profound and rapid changes that faced them.  His ordination also helped him bridge the gap between the Oneida and white culture.

The juxtaposition of celebrating Hill and the news from this week highlights how complicated our world continues to be.  I have been eagerly listening as Supreme Court decisions are released.  At times it has felt like justice is being served in our country and at times I have wondered where our country is heading.  And just as I try to sift through the mess, watching commentary has reminded me that half of the country has been overjoyed that justice is being served, while the other half feels devastated; and yet God desires for us to love one another and show grace to one another in the conflict.

I think we as a country and certainly Hill in his time are struggling to live into the words of Amos.  The prophet says, “Seek good and not evil.  Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate.”  As much as establishing justice may be our goal, my definition of justice may be very different from yours.  So how do we move forward and how do we live lovingly together?

I hear Hill’s voice in all this.  He saw the Christian faith as a way to help his people grapple with the profound and rapid changes that faced them.  We too must turn to our faith as we grapple with how to reestablish justice.  But we cannot stop at grappling – we are constantly invited to act.  Hill did not simply pray and grapple with his faith and politics – he advocated for justice and listened to opinions that were not always popular or were unlike his own.  He did not simply desire justice.  He, like Amos demands, worked to establish justice.  Our invitation today is to grapple, to pray, to listen, to seek good, and to establish justice.  Amen.

Homily – John 1.43-51, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, June 13, 2013

26 Wednesday Jun 2013

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Today we get the wonderful story of Philip and Nathanael’s calling.  I love Nathanael, partially because he is such a natural skeptic.  That may sound strange to say – who would want to idealize someone skeptical of our Lord and Savior?  I am not saying we should try to be more like Nathanael – I am saying we already are like Nathanael.  Somewhere deep inside of us, in places we don’t like to talk about, all of us have a little dose of skepticism about our faith.  Just think about the last time someone really tried to challenge you on your faith – the truth is, our story, the story of our faith is pretty fantastic and hard for our 21st-century minds to believe.  Nathanael’s skeptical and ultimately sarcastic tone can be found in all of us.

That is why we celebrate Gilbert Keith Chesterton.  Born in 1874, Chesterton was one of the intellectual giants of his day.  He was a writer of different genres, but he eventually focused on the defense of “orthodoxy” – the acknowledgement of the mystery and paradox of Christian faith in an age of increasing skepticism.  His writings utilized both his wit and religious fervor, and he often satirized those who saw faith as irrational and unnecessary.  Chesterton influenced many of the greats, like C.S. Lewis and Ernest Hemingway.

What both Chesterton and Jesus do today is a little light ribbing.  They tease those around them, who presume to know something about a God who, at the end of the day, is quite mysterious.  They remind others of their finitude and their limited knowledge, reminding them not to get too “puffed up” with their own assumptions.

I don’t think Chesterton or Jesus Christ are sending us a message to tear us down – quite the opposite, actually.  God endowed us with great minds that God expects us to use – much like Chesterton did.  But God also wants us to held in tension with our gifts a sense of humility and wonder.  Only when we hold our power and our humility in tension can we begin to fully engage the mystery of God and then share that mystery with others.  Amen.

Homily – Zechariah 1.7-11, Ini Kopuria, June 6, 2013

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

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Today we celebrate the life of Ini Kopuria.  Born in the Solomans in the early 20th century, Ini studied as a young man at an Anglican school, meant to train young men to teach their own people.  Though many sensed his calling early on, Ini first became a police officer.  He gained respect there for his dedication and witness.  Later Ini left the police force and was the first Elder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican order devoted to spreading the Gospel among non-Christian areas in Melanesia.  The order focused on simplicity and peacekeeping.

I just met with a Diocesan discernment committee for people discerning a call to ordained ministry.  What I have seen over the years is that discerning God’s will in our lives is never easy.  Often our paths go all over the place, taking unexpected turns, especially when we are avoiding God’s call on our lives.  Like Ini, we sometimes boldly choose paths that we later find do not feed us, or at least do not use all the gifts God has given us.  Discerning God’s call is hard, and takes much work.

What I like about Ini’s story is that he reminds us that even if we are not currently where we are called to be or have made missteps in our discernment, God uses all of our journey to feed us and others.  Though he served as a cop and later became an elder in the Brotherhood, the two vocations informed one another.  After keeping the secular peace, he later fought for sacred peace – a peace motivated by the God of Peace.  That last line in Zechariah reminds me of Ini’s life: the passage describes a vision of horses who proclaim, “We have patrolled the earth, and lo, the whole earth remains at peace.”  Ini’s whole life was about peace, even if it took different forms and shapes.

Though God uses us differently at different stages of our life, that does not mean we are not wholly ourselves.  The common thread of our identity remains true.  No matter what our vocation, God can use our specific gifts.  Our invitation is to be in discernment about how God can use us in this moment, in this place, with our specific gifts.  God can always use us for good, no matter what our current situation.  Amen.