The Third Sunday of Advent: A Voice in the Wilderness

December 14, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

—John 1:6-8, 19-28 (NRSV)

Saint John the Baptist and the Pharisees - James Tissot (Public Domain)

Let’s face it. John is an unconventional guy to say the least. As we heard in the lesson about John last week, he looks funny. He dresses weird. He has questionable eating habits. He’s always ranting at people mostly about the very uncomfortable topic of their much needed repentance. If any of us had brought home the likes of John to meet our parents they would have been horrified and we’d have been grounded for a month. John makes us uncomfortable until we understand why he’s here – and until we see ourselves on the same mission as John.

John says in the lesson today that he is not a prophet. I think his denial is based on him not seeing himself as a prophet. He didn’t see himself as a revered figure in the same vain as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosea or Moses those childhood heroes of his. But we tend see him as a saint and a prophet because of his distinct voice - not for himself but for God’s working in the world.

I love what Frederick Beuchner, one of my favorite authors, says about prophets. Prophets are spokesmen not future tellers. They have the audacity to speak for the Lord and Creator of the universe. The ancient prophets, he says, were drunk on God. With a total lack of tact they roared out against phoniness and corruption where ever they found it. They were the terror of kings and priests. Remember the prophet Jeremiah smashed a clay pot in a crowd of Judeans to illustrate what God had in mind for them. Nathan tells King David to his face that he is a crook and an adulterer. The prophet Isaiah, pondering the question of what the chosen people were chosen for, told them that they were chosen not to overwhelm the world in a showy military triumph but to suffer and die for love of the world.

And here’s something else important about prophets: No prophet is on record as having raised their hand to ask for the job. They universally asked out of it – Moses pointing out that public speaking was not his strength, Jeremiah saying I’m just a kid. But yet they can’t turn away. They say yes to God’s call.

Prophets feel fiercely and labor with the burden of prophesy that God thrusts into their very soul. Words of prophets, like we hear in John’s voice today, are stern and stinging. But behind them is God’s love and compassion for everyone.

So I think John fits nicely in their company. He feels fiercely and understands his role as God’s voice. And that everything he does has one goal and one goal only – to point everyone he meets towards God in the person of God’s son Jesus. He won’t be put into a box. He is not the Messiah or Elijah. He is the voice trying desperately to get their attention and direct it towards God’s light, God’s son Jesus. “Who are you?” he was asked. Each time his answer was no. All he could tell them about himself was that he was the voice sent to clear the way.

So the man we meet in the gospel today is not John the Baptist as in the gospel of Matthew, John the Baptizer as he’s called in Mark’s gospel or John the son of Zechariah as he’s called in Luke’s gospel. He’s simply John the Voice of God. The prophetic voice who puts his message into action exhorting everyone to make a path in their life and in their heart so that light can enter their darkness.

So I wonder - who are the prophets for us now? Who are the people who point us towards God? Whose voice is speaks to you now not out of his or her own authority or bravado or self-interest but out of God’s love for this crazy world and everyone and everything in it. Where do you hear that voice in your life?

We need to find our own prophetic voice. We need to be people who are vested in being lovers of others. That is witnessing to the light - in the way we live our lives every day and the way we treat each other. That is what Advent calls us to do. That is what John calls us to do. That is what Jesus Christ calls us to do as we wait for his coming again and again.

We are all John. We all have a voice to proclaim the presence of God standing in our midst and point God out to others. We are Andrea and JD and Glenn the Voice, who each point the way to God by the caring way they teach; we are Janice and Joan and Dottie and Sam and Ian the Voice who point the way to God by offering hospitality in the Soup Hour. Whatever we do, we each have a call to be a voice for the light of love that is on the way.

Just as John waited we also wait. John understood that everything that he was waiting for boiled down to waiting for God. Like John, we may be short on details about when Christ is coming. But we are not short on hope or wonder at this mystery in whose good hands we are in. Whatever happens to us while we are waiting, however dark it gets before it gets light, this is what we believe - that we are now and always resting in the light of God’s good hands. Amen.

The Second Sunday of Advent: God's Gifts to Us

December 6, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;

the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

—Mark 1:1-8 (NRSV)

As you probably have figured out by now, I enjoy humor. So, I have a little something for you. It might not be the funniest story you have ever heard but it sure fits in 2020. Here goes.

A shipwrecked mariner had spent several years on a deserted island, completely alone. Then one morning he was thrilled to see a ship offshore and a smaller vessel pulling out towards him.

When the boat grounded on the beach, the officer in charge, who was dressed in a mask and would come no closer than six feet from him, handed the marooned sailor a bundle of newspapers and told him: “The captain said to read through these and let us know if you still want to be rescued.”

Boy isn’t it the truth.

We are now in the twelfth month of 2020. The year is coming to a close. It’s also Advent, the beginning of the church year and a time for celebrating the hope found in Christmas and new beginnings.

It’s interesting to me that both the end of the year and the beginning of another can be happening at the same time. Perhaps as I think about it that’s just the way things work; as one period comes to a close a new one begins. In our case a year that will go down in infamy is ending in the hope that lies in the birth of Jesus Christ. Perhaps this year we will be led to pay special attention to that hope, and less time shopping and running about like crazy people.

In this morning’s gospel we find John the Baptizer in the wilderness preaching repentance. He is dressed like an old testament prophet. He eats locusts and honey. He uses baptism as his vehicle finding a new way of life. He also announces to all within hearing that another is coming, someone much more important than him, one he is not worthy to tie their sandals. And people are flocking to see him. We wonder why that was.

Personally, I believe they were looking for help from God. Things were hard and their hope might have been that perhaps they might be able to get God to intervene in their lives. If only they could learn what to do to coax God into helping them.

Life in the first century in the Holy Land was hard. We have talked about it before but a little refresher might be in order. When you were born you had a fifty-fifty chance of making it to age seventeen. In order for the population not to decline a woman needed to give birth five or six times. You could easily become a grandfather by age thirty. As soon as you could reproduce you started. If you drank the water it might kill you, hence they drank wine with their water to purify it. Two thirds of those in the Roman Empire were slaves. The odds were strong that you were one too.

And then there was government. The Temple leaders only had the power the Romans allowed them. They were in cahoots with Rome and were busy collecting the Roman taxes along with a couple taxes of their own. This helped those in charge, despised by most common folks, to feather their own nests. Meanwhile the majority of people suffered.

And so, they asked the big question. How come God doesn’t fix what is going on? We have been promised a messiah. Where is he? How much longer must we suffer? When is God coming to our rescue?

Well, as we know God’s idea of helping them didn’t match their expectations. Instead of getting a military leader to throw the Romans and their minions off their backs they got Jesus Christ and eternal life. They received an example of what God is like, God’s nature if you will. And they learned that God loved them and wanted to be part of their lives no matter how miserable they might be.

And so, their daily living didn’t change as they had hoped. Instead they received what God thought was more important for them to have. AND as a result they learned that no matter what happened to them in their daily lives God would be there beside them. AND having survived hardship with God as their loving companion they learned there was nothing in this world that could defeat them.

Now let’s fast forward to Advent 2020. Things have been a real mess this year. I think most of you would agree. In my lifetime I haven’t seen anything like it. I don’t know if our situation can come close to the suffering experienced in the first century. But I do know that our suffering is real. It’s sort of like when the nurse asks you where on a scale of one to ten your pain is you reply a nine. Our pain may not be the same as first century pain, but it’s still a nine to us.

If you find yourself depressed and anxious don’t feel alone. It’s going around and it’s catching. We find ourselves asking the same question asked in gospel. Why doesn’t God fix what is going on?

There is a huge lesson to be learned from first century history in the Holy Land. They were looking for a messiah to lead them out of their troubles. We know they got one, but it wasn’t the one they were looking for. We too are looking for the messiah’s arrival and I guarantee God is coming, but I also guarantee not in the way we would prefer. It will be in a similar way God has always come I am sure. And God will come bearing the same gifts as always.

We will have eternal life. We will be loved. We will be invited into a greater relationship with God. We will learn that nothing is more important than being in partnership with God. I have often thought that one of our greatest gifts is the fact God rarely intervenes in the details of our lives. Through that gift of not interfering we learn that when we encounter difficulties, we remember that we have prevailed before and that we will again. The issues don’t drag us down because of that experience.

I came across a poem by an unknown author that I believe speaks to this special gift from God. I’ll read it for you now.

Photo from Pexels — Photo from **Pexels**

I Asked God

I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve.

I asked for prosperity and God gave me a brain and brawn to work.

I asked for courage and God gave me danger to overcome.

I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help.

I asked for favors and God gave me opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted and I received everything I needed.

It’s Advent. God is on the way. Be ready to recognize God when God gets here. It won’t be like you expect. It wasn’t twenty centuries before either.

The First Sunday of Advent: Active Waiting

November 29, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Jesus said, “In those days, after that suffering,

the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,

and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

—Mark 13:24-37

Happy New Year everyone! No, my calendar isn’t broken. Today is the start of the church’s year. It’s our New Year’s Day and the first Sunday in the season of Advent. Starting today we begin to tell our story. It’s not a story – yet – about a virgin birth, angels and shepherds. It’s about the power of God in massive ways and in tiny ones. It’s a story that starts in the cosmos and finishes in the manger.

Where ever you grew up there’s some natural event that is so powerful and unpredictable that the very idea creates anxiety. Here, of course, it’s earthquakes. When I was growing up in Oklahoma the thing I was most fearful of was tornados.

Summer was tornado season. On some level you were always waiting for the next one, a more powerful one. Today there are doppler weather storm trackers that can tell us where a tornado is, which way it’s moving, how fast it’s going. The conversation is about “there’s a tornado watch” where you do just that. Or a tornado “warning” – and you know it’s getting closer to you. And then you might be told that it’s coming your way and you should take cover. What luxury to have this information – truly God’s gift of science to those in tornado country.

When I was little, we only had what we could see and feel and the lived experience of our elders. The air would get very still and weirdly quiet. The sky would be a cloudless haze. You stopped what you were doing and paid attention. Even children stopped playing with friends and rode their bike home as fast as they could. You waited with your family to see if the wind came up so fierce that windows rattled and everything that wasn’t tied down blew over fences and down the street. The watching could go on for hours. As a child, I lost interest and fell asleep. But my parents were always on watch.

Finally we might hear the one “official” warning we would get – the tornado sirens would blow all over town. That meant that someone had actually spotted a twister. This was earsplitting noise and yet it could barely be heard above wind.

The house I lived in didn’t have a storm cellar. But the neighbors across the street did. And we were welcome to go there whenever the sirens blew. This happened a handful of times. But the one most vivid in my memory happened in the middle of the night.

The sirens woke me up and right away my father scooped me up in his arms, ran down the stairs, into the driving rain across the street to the neighbor’s cellar. Soaking wet, both of us, with my mother and brother huddled in this bunker-like space waiting for who knows how long. I asked my father if our house was going to blow away. “I don’t know, babe. But we’ll be fine.”

It was the closest event that comes to mind when I read about sun and moon darkening, stars falling and the shaking of the powers in the heavens. The immense power of it cannot be described, only the awe. I never recall it without also recalling my father’s assurance in the midst of the storm that everything was going to be okay. I wonder if he believed it. Or if what he said was his prayer.

Today we see Jesus not as a teacher or a healer but as a true prophet offering both vision and compassion. Our story today of stars falling, the sun darkened and a moon that will not shine connects us with ancient people. Their lived experience, their storms were as captives of one empire or another over hundreds of years, struggling to survive, weary and longing for rescue by the one God will send. Now is the time, they cry, for God to come down, tear open the heavens, break it all apart and make everything new.

For the listeners of Mark’s gospel this image of the Messiah coming in and setting right everything that has gone wrong has been their cry for hundreds of years. That’s a long time for people to continue to believe that the Messiah is coming. It’s a long time to continue to believe that if they trust God and wait saturated in trust, that God’s promises will be fulfilled. But that is exactly what is asked. To continue to believe. And, based on that belief, to prepare heart and mind for that very event.

So I have a question for all of us -- what are we waiting for? Are we waiting for Christmas or are we waiting for Christ? Obviously we know when Christmas will arrive. It’s on our calendars measured by the number of shopping days that are left. And when it arrives we know what it will be like even in this unusual year.

But waiting for Christ to come is different. It asks something more of us. Jesus, over and over again in the gospels, asks us to stay awake and prepare our hearts and minds – that’s how important it is! He asks us to be constantly preparing and watching because we don’t know when he will appear. He asks us to wait actively.

It’s a little like a fisherman who sits at home all winter waiting for spring when he can finally grab his tackle and head to the stream. He can wait passively until spring arrives. Or he can wait actively – getting his equipment in good shape and tying flies. Once he’s fishing he’s still waiting. But it’s completely different. It’s full of expectation. He waits and watches with excited anticipation, without regrets, because he knows he’s done everything he needs to do to bring him to this moment when the longed for fish come along. This is the kind of active waiting Jesus asks of us.

Whatever storm is raging right now, our assurance is that Jesus is coming in power and glory - a power to ignite the sun, brighten the moon and throw stars into the heavens to gleam more brightly than ever. We’ll be prepared if we are waiting to receive him with open hearts and minds. And that’s the Good News today.

Let us pray:

Meet us in the darkness O Lord, and be our light. Help us to know and believe that in you we have nothing to fear. Even if our eyes cannot see, even when we cannot know what is to come, we can know that you are with us. Strengthen us to prepare. Be with us in our waiting. Move over the face of our darkness, O God. Trouble us, comfort us, stir us up, and calm us, but do not cease to breathe your presence into our souls. Amen.

Christ the King Sunday: On Being a Better Person

November 22, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

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Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

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Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

—Matthew 25:31-36 (NRSV)

This is Christ the King Sunday, a name I bet Jesus would just loathe since he said he came to serve not be served, but that’s a sermon for another day. However, since it is Christ the King Sunday, I want to share a little humor before we begin.

The Kings Servant was walking towards the castle, when he saw a man lying on the side of the path. The servant asked if the man was ok, and he replied.

“Oh, hi, I'm Will. Nice to meet you! Would you like to buy me?

“What, you mean like a servant?” said the King's servant.

“No, just to have me around”

The servant was lonely, as he had to work day and night for the king, which he hated. He wanted to have a friend for once. But he had no money.

“Sorry man, but I'm very poor.”

To which Will replied, “You know what, you can have me for free.”

The servant thanked him and told him to follow him to the castle. As he entered, the King bellowed at the servant to give him a foot rub.

“No! I won’t do it”, the servant replied.

“I’m ordering you to!”, yelled the king.

“I don’t have to do what you tell me to now, ‘cause I have a free Will!”

Today’s gospel at first sight is a tough one and seems to commit a bunch of people to a very hard time in eternity and another group of people to a much better ending. But we should be aware it is a story about something that hasn’t happened yet. That gives us hope that something is going on we may not immediately see. In fact, maybe the story is another parable from Jesus as he tries to teach us an important lesson. I hope so. I’ll let you decide for yourselves.

Here is a quick paraphrase. Christ has returned and and everybody who has ever lived, or is currently living, is standing before him. That’s a pretty good-sized crowd. The purpose of the gathering according to the story is to separate the good folks from the bad, the sheep from the goats if you will. And so, Jesus directs the sheep to his right in the story and the goats to his left. Those on the right are righteous and those on his left are not.

What strikes me about the story is that everybody in both groups are confused about how they got to be a sheep or got to be a goat. Neither knows how it happened. Jesus replies that the decision was based on how they had treated him when he was in need. If they had treated him with compassion, they were sheep, and if they had treated him poorly, they were goats.

So, the big question gets automatically asked. “When did this happen? When did we treat you nicely or when did we treat you poorly?”

Jesus answers. Again, I paraphrase. “All people are members of my family. When you treated other people with compassion it was the same as treating me with compassion, and when you didn’t it was the same as treating me poorly.”

And so now we ask our own question. We understand Lord that we are to treat people with compassion as if they were you, but it seems hard to do consistently as we think about it. In the story you told some did treat others with compassion and some didn’t. They didn’t even know the importance of their actions it seems. So how can we avoid being goats and be sheep? How can we develop the compassion habit that you are obviously looking for?

One of my favorite movies is As Good as it Gets starring Jack Nicholson. In it he plays a writer who has all sorts of trouble being a human being. He appears to care only for himself in the most egocentric way possible. He has lots of money. His neighbor is a gay man having a rough life and Nicholson’s character couldn’t have cared less. In fact, he made fun of him constantly.

Anyway, Jack goes to the same restaurant for breakfast every day and apparently orders the same meal every time. Now Jack has all sorts of problems. He won’t step on a crack. He must always sit in the same booth. His breakfast must be identical every day and he insists on the same waitress each and every time.

The waitress is played by Helen Hunt and watching their relationship is the key to the storyline in the movie. Bottom line Jack is smitten with her but has no idea how to tell her or how to act when he is around her.

Helen has a child with some extreme problems. It is through that child that we begin to see that Jack underneath that unbelievably callous exterior indeed does have a heart as he provides the money and resources to do some special things for the child that will change the child’s life. But he is still Jack and demands a pay-back for what he has done. He wants Helen to go out with him and the truth is she is drawn to him in some very weird way. So, she agrees to go at the urging of her mother.

Several very funny and sometimes poignant scenes follow, but finally she has had enough of Jack’s crassness. He has crossed one too many boundaries and has been his nasty self, one too many times. She demands that he give her a compliment or she is going to walk out of his life forever, and what he says is the highlight of the movie.

“You make me want to be a better man.” Isn’t that great? Well naturally she is taken aback and forgives him.

How many people in your life have made you want to be a better person because you have had a relationship with them? Well I have a few. My grandmother comes to mind immediately as do my parents. I have had friends who have influenced me to be better and to do the right thing. Several of my teachers fall into that same influential place in my life.

And of course, Jesus Christ is the most important one. I cannot imagine the person I might be without my regular exposure to Jesus. It’s kind of scary to think about. But I do have that constant contact through church, my prayer life, the scriptures, Christian authors, and with like thinking people. Jesus rubs off on me. Exposure to him makes me a bit like Jack. I want to be a better man. I want to be one of the sheep.

So, our invitation today I think is to consider the impact Jesus has and can have in our daily lives. Are we spending enough time with him? Are we aware of the difference he makes? Are we a sheep more often than a goat? It’s interesting and worthwhile to think about and take an inventory. Spend some time with it. See what you find out.

The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost: What We Make of God's Gifts

November 19, 2020 Andrea Schmid

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Jesus said, “It is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

—Matthew 25:14-30 (NRSV)

If you were listening to the gospel, read a few minutes ago, you are probably busy mentally scratching your head right now. Don’t feel alone. It’s a tough one to comprehend in any way that allows it to sound like a story Jesus would tell. So in a Bible Study sort of manner let’s talk about it.

A man was going on a journey, apparently a trip of some duration, and he asked three of his slaves to come and see him before he left. The first he handed five talents, the second two, and the third one.

Now please understand that a talent was a great deal of money. In that day the common man would have had to work fifteen years to earn the equivalent of one talent. The first slave therefore was entrusted with a fortune of seventy five years wages, the second thirty years wages, and the third fifteen. These are unimaginable sums, tremendous wealth.

Then we hear that the master of the slaves went away on his trip. Immediately the first slave went to work, and using his master’s money doubled it so that he now was in possession of ten talents. The second slave did the identically same thing, doubling his master’s money from two to four talents. Interestingly though the third slave chose to dig a hole and hide the single talent he had been given where he felt it would be safe.

Now let’s inject a little cultural history before we continue. What the first two slaves did would have been seen as offensive to a Jewish audience because they committed a grave sin, called usury, by making money with money. Worse, they did it immediately, with no hesitation at all, until they doubled their investments.

Contrarily, during the first century, Jewish culture taught that if one was entrusted with something of great value, one should bury it in the ground for safekeeping. So, from a cultural standpoint, the third slave is the one who did the most appropriate thing with the fortune he had been given.

We now have two indications that Jesus is up to his usual trick of blind siding us with the unexpected. The first indication is that no one in their right mind is going to entrust this kind of money to a slave. The sheer amount of money entrusted has some sort of meaning.

The second flag is what the slaves immediately begin to do with the fortunes that they have been entrusted with. Yep, I can see you nodding your heads already. The slave who did the correct thing by burying the money ends up being criticized and the ones who did the wrong thing by investing it get rewarded. We know for sure at this point that Jesus is about to turn common wisdom on its head.

So let’s continue. Back comes the slave owner from his trip. Sure enough he rewards the first two slaves for making him a bunch of money, even though they have done the opposite of what current wisdom would have suggested. As a matter of fact they doubled what had been given to them.

And the poor slave who did what his culture had suggested? Well he’s in trouble. He said he knew his owner was a tough and selfish guy and was afraid of him. So he did the wise and safe thing and made sure the owner’s investment was protected, to which the master told him he should have at least given the money to the bankers and made a little interest. What the third slave has done is so bad in fact that we next hear a summation of what has happened. For those who have much more will be added so that they have everything in abundance, and from those who have little even what little they have will be taken away.

Well isn’t that fun? Now be honest. Haven’t you suspected this idea of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer to be true from time to time in your lives? Yes, I think we all have. But that’s not what Jesus is talking about.

I would suggest to you that what Jesus is talking about is our conceptions of God versus the true nature of God. Jesus is talking about life in the Kingdom of God.

Let’s each of us think for a moment how we see God. Is your conception of God an old man with a long white beard sitting in a massive chair a long ways away? Is it some guy who created the world and then set it in motion and walked away from it? Is God for you a scorekeeper? Does God reward you for good things and punish you for bad, all the while making notes about you in a big black book? Is God an angry God? Is God a jealous God? Might God be somewhat unfair at times it seems to you?

I know some of these ways of thinking about God might sound a little dumb, but silly as they are, for most of us, some of these ideas are ingrained deeply within us and hard to let go of.

This is when we are like the third slave and we imagine a God that is pretty scary, a God we have no real relationship with. Please note that there is no indication that the master in the parable is a bad guy. We only hear about that from the third slave who believes that God is a scary God and gets the God he dreamed up. The God he knows about is the God of his imagination. This is the tragedy of the story.

You see in parable after parable Jesus presents God as generous and often throwing a party. Yet in the parable of the Prodigal Son the older brother refuses to come inside and join the party because he thinks God is unfair. The workers that came at the first of the day got the same money as the ones who came later in the day, again seeing God as unfair. The guy that wouldn’t wear a wedding robe, and wanted to do things his own way thus getting tossed out, probably saw God as unfair too. Yet in each and every case we, on the outside looking in, recognize the unbelievably giving God Jesus is presenting.

It’s the same here. Slaves have been given incredible fortunes to do what they will with it. Jesus presents God as a riverboat gambler, showering those who have virtually nothing with untold riches and there is no fear that the money will be lost. There’s not even a consideration of the possibility. You see it’s not important. What’s important is the recognition of the type of God to whom we are subjects, and the kind of trust God has in each of us. God has trust in us we do not even have in ourselves. God wants us to get out there and do something with the gifts we have been given. Do not be afraid. Don’t listen to the world around you and don’t listen to the voices inside that tell us we can’t.

There once was a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a climbing competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.

A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants.

And the race began…..

Honestly, no one in the crowd really believed the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. Heard throughout the race were statements such as, “Oh, way too difficult,” “They will never make it to the top,” “Not a chance they will succeed,” “The tower is too high.” “They will all fall down” “It’s impossible!” “Who do they think they are, Spiderman?”

Sure enough, the tiny frogs began collapsing, one by one—except for those who, in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher.

The crowd continued to yell, “It is too difficult! No one will ever make it!”

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up.

Most believed that the crowd was probably right….”It’s impossible!”

But one little frog continued to climb higher and higher.

This one refused to give up!

The crowd continued to berate and snicker at him. But this frog just wouldn’t give up!

At the end of the race, all had given up climbing the tower except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

Thrilled, all of the other tiny frogs wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it. They asked him how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal.

It turned out…… that the winning frog was deaf.

Don’t listen to the world around you. Don’t listen to your own doubts. Listen instead to the God that believes in you and trusts you. The gifts God has given each of us are not the same, but each of us has been entrusted with a fortune. Make something of it.

All Saints Day: "Blessed are Those..."

November 1, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

—Matthew 5:1-12 (NRSV)

There are certain special days we celebrate every year and All Saints Day is one of them. I think of Christmas and Easter as the most well-known of these days but All Saints is especially important too. In fact, here at St. Matthias we even have a special service at Five PM on this date, The Feast of Lights. If you aren’t familiar it is an Evensong service during which we remember those that have gone before and speak their name aloud.

Now please remember that last night was Halloween. All Hallows Eve is the name this night started with. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. Later the church in the 8th century began the celebration of All Saints Day to finish the story if you will.

Ok. I can’t help myself. Here is my favorite Halloween joke.

There was a man walking home late one night. As usual he took a shortcut through the graveyard. Since it was especially foggy, he didn't see a freshly dug grave and fell headlong into the pit. He tried for over 20 minutes to climb out but couldn't manage to escape. As he sat there pondering his options he was startled when someone else, apparently also using the same shortcut, fell in the grave. He sat unnoticed in the corner and watched the man try to climb out. Hoping to save the man some trouble he said, "You're not going to be able to get out." But he was wrong about that. He almost flew out of there!

The gospel today is a famous one. It’s the Beatitudes. I am not sure why the powers that be chose it for All Saints Day but there you go. It’s still a fun scripture to chat about. And you know what? As I write this, I realize it’s a perfect lesson for this day, two days before a volatile election in a very difficult time.

So, let’s talk about that. Let’s set a contemporary stage. We are in the middle of a surging pandemic. The economy is a mess. We are having a contentious election. The country seems to be split right down the middle. People of color are demanding to be seen and heard. Social media and the news channels are on fire shouting about everything that is going on. It seems like we can’t find quiet and solace anywhere. I am sure all of us are aware of the societal hurricane in which we are all enduring.

And along comes Jesus with a commentary about everything that is happening. Now before we look at what he has to say let’s clear up one very important translation once again. It concerns the Greek word ευλογημένος. Somehow that Greek word got translated as “blessed”. That might have made sense centuries ago but it makes none today. A better translation is “enormously happy”. So please listen as I read the Beatitudes with this correction.

"Enormously happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Enormously happy are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

"Enormously happy are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

"Enormously happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

"Enormously happy are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

"Enormously happy are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

"Enormously happy are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

"Enormously happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Enormously happy are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Now I think it’s important to remind ourselves who is talking. This is Jesus Christ who had, and even more importantly continues to have, a special relationship with the God we worship. He was there at the beginning of creation. He rose from the dead and made eternal life possible for each of us. He has a perfect understanding of God’s nature and how God conducts business. When he says something, we can take it to the bank without reservation.

Within this speech to the people when he gave it, the speech we have since named the Beatitudes, he has made some incredible promises. I will pick out a few. You can be happy even though you are down and depressed because the Kingdom of Heaven will be yours. If you are mourning please know God cares and God will comfort you. Maybe your self-esteem is not what you would like but know that all of creation will be given to you one day. If you are seeking righteousness be happy and know you will find it in God. If you are merciful and a peacemaker God will show you mercy and God will acknowledge you as one of God’s children. Even if people make fun of you because of your faith and way of life be happy because your reward in eternity will be fantastic.

Photo by Spencer Selover from Pexels — Photo by **Spencer Selover** from **Pexels**

And so, we realize the speech was perfect for the first century. The people in the Holy Land needed desperately to hear it. Now what might it sound like if Jesus gave the same speech today, November the First, 2020? Let’s take a listen.

Enormously happy are those in this surging pandemic for God shall provide the needed answers for its resolution and greet those that are lost with God’s love.

Enormously happy are you who suffer economically because your relationship with God is much more valuable and is yours forever.

Enormously happy are you that worry about the election for you shall render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and what you render unto God will return to you again and again and again.

Enormously happy are you that fear those with a different viewpoint as in time only God’s viewpoint will matter.

Enormously happy are you that feel downtrodden and ignored as God knows you and loves you and your day of reckoning is coming.

Enormously happy are you that are surrounded by frightening news for God promises that peace and security will be yours.

Enormously happy are you when others say you are wasting your time serving a God that no longer matters. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

God loves us. God cares for us. We have God’s promises. I quote the Apostle Paul: “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?”

Halloween, Day of the Dead and The Episcopal Church

October 31, 2020 Andrea Schmid

Our sacred faith and the creepy holidays are a natural fit

By Ben Corbitt

To look at Halloween today, with its carved pumpkins and grinning witches, it can be easy to lose sight of the spiritual and religious notions which have always been tied up with the observance. This is a shame, because it would be hard to find a more suitably religious holiday.

All forms of spirituality and religion are concerned with one question – how to properly orient oneself in relation to the inescapable reality of death. Their suggested solutions might differ, but the problem is universally recognized.

The evolution of Halloween, from ancient Celtic harvest festivals to adoption by the early Church as All Hallows’ Eve to the secular event of our time, is well known. In addition, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) has emerged as a well-known blending of Mexican indigenous traditions and the Christian All Saints’ Day, celebrated the day after Halloween. Whether secular, holy, or somewhere in between, these traditions share one thing – a focus on those who have preceded us into the grave.

These festivals can also take unique forms within the Episcopal Church. All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena has lent its altar as a traditional ofrenda or “offering” for honoring departed family members on Day of the Dead/All Saints’ Day. For mainline churches housing a suitably spooky old pipe organ, musical events (often promoted as Pipe Screams) allow their organists to showcase the organ’s mood-setting abilities around this time of year.

The Episcopal Book of Occasional Services contains a liturgy for All Hallows’ Eve, along with suggested readings. Among these are quite frankly some of the creepiest passages in the Bible, like Saul’s visit to the Witch of Endor in I Samuel, Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, and the War in Heaven as told in Revelation. Witches summoning ghosts, living skeletons, and dragons fighting angels: Whoever designed this Halloween liturgy clearly had a sense of humor. Of course, underlying all these tales of strange powers and spooky happenings is a consistent message about deferring to the power of God in the face of all manner of weirdness.

I grew up in a conservative religious tradition, where the celebration of Halloween was seen as taboo. I now see this as a missed opportunity. Any faith tradition that shuns the grotesque imagery of death misses the point entirely. Whether we like them or not, those grinning skulls in the Halloween shop or on the ofrendas of Hispanic homes aren’t going anywhere. Their silent toothy grins tell a truth which must be accepted. We all must experience death, not just our own but the deaths we grieve while alive. Any faith worth its salt has to look this reality in the face, unpleasant as it may be, and help us prepare for it.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels — Photo by **Andrea Piacquadio** from **Pexels**

And sometimes, if we’re in a particular state of mind, we might even find the wherewithal to look death square in the face, knowing full well that it waits for each of us, and laugh – maybe even throw on a skeleton costume and have a party to really drive home the point. Happy Halloween.

The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost: Seeing the Holiness in Each Other

October 25, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

—Matthew 22:34-36

Jesus is going to be quoting two scripture passages about love today and so in that vein here is a quick story about Fred, a bachelor seeking a loving relationship.

Fred is 32 years old and he is still single.

One day a friend asked, “Why aren't you married? Can't you find a woman who will be a good wife?”

Fred replied, “Actually, I've found many women I wanted to marry, but when I bring them home to meet my parents, my mother doesn't like them.”

His friend thinks for a moment and says, “I've got the perfect solution, just find a girl who's just like your mother.”

A few months later they meet again and his friend says, “Did you find the perfect girl? Did your mother like her?”

With a frown on his face, Fred answers, “Yes, I found the perfect girl. She was just like my mother. You were right, my mother liked her very much.”

The friend said, “Then what's the problem?”

Fred replied, “My father doesn't like her.”

Before we begin thinking about today’s gospel, I want to make a point, an important point I think about Jesus. And it’s something I would like for us to keep in the back of our minds as we go along. It has to do with the attitude of those “in the know” as they encountered Jesus. Jesus was considered an unlearned, laboring class itinerant teacher from Galilee. His critics, on the other hand, were professionally trained, sophisticated people of high standing in Israel's spiritual/economic life. The Pharisees, and other groups such as the scribes and Sadducees, were studious practitioners of every detail of Torah law. They believed he was on their turf, and that he really had no right to be there. For him to challenge them, or attempt to teach them anything about scripture was unseemly and probably displeasing to them. He was from a lower societal class and had no right to do so. When they called him teacher it was probably said dripping with sarcasm.

And so, we begin. Jesus, as we heard just a few moments ago in the gospel, was asked the following question by the Pharisees. What is the most important commandment in Scripture? He answered the question with these very famous words, quoting passages from Deuteronomy and Leviticus. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

His answer to the question is interesting. They asked for one commandment and he gave them two, a primary and most important commandment and another of almost equal importance. Then he commented that “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” All the Law of Moses, as taught in the Hebrew Scriptures, begins with these two commandments about love.

Then he committed what would have been an unpardonable sin in the eyes of the Pharisees. Jesus asked them a couple questions in return. The first was a set up question that armed a trap, and the second was a question they had no way of answering. Here is the set-up question. “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son, is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”

And now the trap is sprung. He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying; ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”'? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?”

The gospel story says no one was able to give him an answer.

Jesus has made the Pharisees look bad, and he has done it in front of a crowd. Just for the record Jesus is referring to himself in the question, and we remember that Jesus is from the lineage of King David, and God has said at his baptism that Jesus was God’s son, of whom God was well pleased. The riddle is solved.

But please, today let’s not get hung up in the riddle. Let’s think about Jesus of Nazareth, a way station to nowhere, who is commonly known to the Pharisees as an itinerate preacher and former common laborer, a man several notches below them socially and scholastically.

And this common laborer has just made them look bad and demonstrated a knowledge of scripture that was more complete than their own. Put yourselves in their shoes. Their anger and self-doubt must have been all consuming. Just who is this guy? How did he come by this incredible knowledge and understanding?

Theologians too wrestled with this question for the next three hundred years or so. And they arrived at a doctrine that describes it. Here is that doctrine. Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine. No, I don’t know how this could be as it makes no mathematical sense, but it fits. It explains how Jesus could experience everything we experience and yet could handle his life in a way only God could.

I like what is said in the gospel of John. I will paraphrase. God tore the fabric of reality and put on a tent of human flesh, thus becoming one of us and also remaining the spirit of God. Jesus had the spirit of God within him and it radiated from his human form even as he lived a human life and died a human death.

And now my point. Hang on to your hats. The spirit of God is in you too, and within every human being on the planet. Every human being is God’s creation, and every human being has the spirit of God within them. It is not as present or as obvious as it was in Jesus but it is there, make no mistake about it. Think about that for a moment. Let the reality of God’s presence within you sink in. I will give you a moment or two.

How did Jesus become such a tremendous scholar when he was born within a lower-class family and made his living as a person who worked with his hands? It was because the presence of God was within him. It made all things possible for him.

You and I are not like Jesus Christ except in two meaningful ways. One is that we are human as he was. Second, we have the essence of God within us. We were created as holy creatures. He was fully divine. We are not fully divine. But we also must not minimize the gift of God that already exists within each of us.

It means that we too can be more than perhaps we or others think we can be. It means that when we are in relationship with others, we are invited to become aware of the holiness that resides within them and to realize their potential too. It’s a way to view ourselves and each other that can make a difference.

I am not in the habit of quoting people but today I will break my personal way of doing things. I quote Thomas Merton because he said it better than I can on this subject.

“In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world.

This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud. I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”

And this is our invitation. Yes, I tell you. You do shine like the sun. Look around you; so does everyone else. It’s a great time to remember this truth.

Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels — Photo by **Ingo Joseph** from **Pexels**

The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost: "...And Unto God What is God's."

October 20, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Bartolomeo Manfredi, Il tributo a Cesare (Public Domain) — Bartolomeo Manfredi, *Il tributo a Cesare* (Public Domain)

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

—Matthew 22:15-22 (NRSV)

We just heard a gospel with a famous line that most people remember. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.” So, I thought since we are talking about taxes, I would relate a couple of IRS funnies before we get serious. Here we go.

A nervous taxpayer was unhappily conversing with the IRS auditor who had come to review his records. At one point the auditor exclaimed, "We feel it is a great privilege to be allowed to live and work in the USA. As a citizen you have an obligation to pay taxes, and we expect you to eagerly pay them with a smile."

"Thank God," returned the taxpayer. "I thought you were going to want cash."

A young child had swallowed a coin and it got stuck in his throat, and so his mother ran out in the street yelling for help. A man passing by took the boy by his shoulders and hit him with a few strong strokes on the back, and so he coughed the coin out. "I don't know how to thank you, doc...", his mother started. I'm not a doctor", the man replied, "I'm from the IRS".

Ok. I am going to confess to something really weird. Hang on to your hats. I enjoy preparing for and doing taxes. I expect a lot of accounting folks do too but I am not nor ever have been an accountant. I wonder how many of you are plagued with this same issue. I enjoy putting together deductions throughout the year and I enjoy planning ahead so that I minimize my tax obligation. It’s me versus the government. Now I believe in paying taxes unlike some people I have heard about, but I also believe in using the tax laws to minimize what I owe. It killed me when I recognized several years ago that I needed the services of professionals to finish them correctly and completely. My taxes had gone beyond my ability to complete. I was actually quite sad.

The gospel today is based in taxation. There were two types of taxes in Judea during the first century. The first was the Temple tax. Nehemiah introduced an annual one-third shekel tax for the running and maintenance of the temple. This was later increased to a half shekel, which was worth about two Denarius, the equivalent of two day’s wages. All Jewish males, except the priests, were liable to pay this tax, but it was mostly only the Pharisees who did so.

The second was the tax paid to the Romans and collected by the High Priest and those he chose to help him. The tax collectors were much despised by the Jewish population as they were making their living, and living quite well, off the vigorish of collection. Josephus estimates that the revenue from the Judean male population was between 600 and 800 talents per year. A talent was an immense amount of money. If the population of working males in Judea was around 250,000 as we think it was, then each man effectively worked for about three to four weeks every year for the Roman state. (Don’t you wish we had it so good? Our tax freedom date this year was April 16th. That’s a whole lot longer than three or four weeks.)

In today’s gospel the Pharisees and Herodians are trying to trick Jesus into saying something that will get him into trouble with either the Romans or the Jewish people. Here is the question. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?", they ask.

His answer is a classic after requesting a coin and asking whose image is on it. "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." This was not what they had expected and their plot had failed. They retreated to fight again another day.

But having said that it remains a question that has continued to be an important one down through the centuries ever since. And it seems to me an especially important question on October 18th, 2020.

For hundreds of years there was no separation between church and state. In fact, the state found itself beholden to the church and this led to no end of issues including the creation of an extremely corrupt clergy. Europe found itself in the clutches of the church in Rome. Great chunks of real estate were governed by clergy. Things were a real mess.

All of that ended at the close of the Thirty Years war and the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Please make a note as there will be a test later. 😊 The church and the state were disconnected at this point as was philosophy and the church. For the first time in human history, with the exception perhaps of ancient Greece, political and cultural emphasis was placed in human reason rather than the instruction of the church. The pledge made by the signers of the peace was that going forward human reason would be independent and primary in the guidance of society. Our country was created in this atmosphere.

In the grand beginnings of this country they attempted to apply the winds of philosophy and reason into account and insisted that for a democracy to survive and flourish there needed to be a separation between church and state.

And here we make an important note to ourselves. As with most things it appears Jesus was way ahead of his time. Give to Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God’s. The separation of church and state were clearly in his mind at that time.

So how has the primacy of intellect worked? What follows is my opinion only. For me the pendulum has swung totally the other way. Besides becoming fabulously successful at killing incredible numbers of people religion has been robbed of almost any authority in the ways of most human beings. The ethics presented in religion has almost no meaning in the affairs of state. Ethics have given way to what is legal rather than what is ethical it seems to me.

And that impacts how we answer the question Jesus asks. Let me ask it another way. What is the State’s influence and what is God’s influence? So now let me ask myself and you an individual question. Bill Garrison you spend a lot of time working on the preparation of your taxes for the state, are you spending equal time thinking about the stewardship of what is God’s in your life? Does God impact your thinking during the week as much as on Sundays? Is God getting equal time? Are you even coming close to rendering unto God what is God’s?

Unfortunately, I know how I answer that question. How do you answer it? I think our invitation is this. Why don’t we think about this divide between God and society to which Jesus refers? Is God getting equal time and thought in each of our lives? If not how might an increase in God’s significance impact things? Might our lives be enhanced? How about our community, how might it be enhanced? Let’s think about it.

The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Preparing for the Banquet

October 11, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Parable of the Wedding Feast. 2014. Canvas, oil. 110 x 170. Artist A.N. Mironov

Once more Jesus spoke to the people in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

—Matthew 22:1-14 (NRSV)

You might be surprised to hear a story about an athlete and his coach from me rather than from Fr. Bill. But I can’t think of a better way to speak to the gospel today than to tell you about Lou Alcindor and John Wooden. You might be more familiar with the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the awarding winning superstar of the Lakers. At 7’2” tall he dominated professional basketball winning MVP honors, playing on All-Star teams, leading the team with his famous Skyhook slam to multiple NBA championships. He was a centerpiece of the Showtime era of the Lakers.

But before that, he was Lou Alcindor, a kid who grew up in the projects in New York. He was made for basketball. He was 6’8” tall in the eighth grade and dominated the local game with his skill. Everyone knew he was going to be an amazing college player. And over 200 colleges wanted him. Locals hoped he’d stay home and play for St. John’s and he almost did. Until he went on a recruiting trip to sunny Los Angeles, walked into newly built Pauley Pavilion and met UCLA Coach John Wooden. UCLA had won national championships under Wooden. So Lou accepted a scholarship to UCLA and in the fall of 1965 was ready to play, ready to learn from this incredible coach with the winning record who was already becoming a legend in coaching.

So how did their season begin? On the first day of practice, Coach Wooden told the team, “Gentleman, today we’re going to learn how to put our shoes and socks on.” Alcindor thought this was crazy. His momma taught him that. What about offense and defense? What about the X’s and O’s of fast break game they were known for?

Not so fast. Coach Wooden calmly explained that most players are benched for blisters, and the easiest way to avoid them is to prepare by paying attention to the basics. Coach would meticulously show players how to roll up their socks and tighten their laces. “I wanted it done consciously, not quickly or casually,” he said. “Otherwise we would not be doing everything possible to prepare in the best way.”

You see, all the wondrous things about playing a high profile sport at a top-tier school, all the excitement and glory and accolades weren’t going to happen for Lou Alcindor if he ended up on the bench because he didn’t consciously prepare. The gospel reading today has the same sense about it – encouraging us to prepare our hearts and minds to receive God’s invitation to us.

It’s a parable of extremes - wonderful offerings and some harsh behavior. It starts out with some imagery of celebration and excitement. But then it turns tragic. Those who were invited to the banquet apparently didn’t think much of it. Their hearts and minds were focused on their regular lives. And God seems to go crazy at their behavior.

I hope we won’t take these portions of the parable too literally and perhaps instead see them as Jesus wanting to make a very distinct point to his listeners who were the leaders of the Jewish community.

I also hope that we will not read this parable strictly with the idea that we are preparing ourselves only for the Kingdom of God coming later, the next life. Of course that’s true. But remember that Jesus declared at the onset of his earthly ministry with his very presence that the Kingdom is at hand -- right here, right now, with each other, with all of creation.

Let’s think about our own metaphor for a banquet for a moment. What would an extraordinary banquet table look like to you? What array of treats laid out in front of you would really excite you, make you absolutely awestruck at the very sight of it? Make your mouth water?

For me, it would be, front and center of any banquet, my grandmother’s sour cream chocolate sheet cake with pecan fudge icing. And a large container of vanilla ice cream. And my mother’s butterscotch pie, a New York cheesecake covered in strawberry sauce and the entire contents of a See’s Candy store. I could go on and on. What does yours look like? Maybe it’s not a table at all but a giant grill covered in filet mignon and lobster tails. Whatever it is, sit with those thoughts for a minute.

And I want to suggest to you that each of the banquet items we’ve all imagined for ourselves is just a shadow of the incredible things that God offers us. God offers us exponentially more than we can imagine in God’s son. The banquet, ready and available to each of us to feast on every minute of every day, is piled high with the gifts we see and experience in Jesus Christ: unceasing love, boundless joy, compassion as deep as a canyon, forgiveness, mercy, redemption, reconciliation and eternal life all laid out on a table of grace. Can you picture that? We feast at God’s table and we come away satisfied in every way, never ever to be hungry again. That’s what’s on offer here.

The last guest and everything about his particular story is a puzzle. What is this wedding garment that he has neglected? Why is he silent? The author of Matthew doesn’t tell us. But in early Christianity, converts found new identity in putting on a new set of clothes. In this tangible way, they understood themselves as giving up their former way of life and clothing themselves in their Christian beliefs. So the first listeners to this gospel might have understood this party-goer as someone not yet willing to give up the old ways. He has no response because he has not made preparations. His head and heart are ambivalent. His downfall comes in the moment he is asked to account for himself and he has nothing to say.

Perhaps the letter to the Colossians gives us the best idea of the way to prepare ourselves for the banquet: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience. Bear with one another… forgive each other… Above all, clothe yourselves with love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

God will go to extraordinary lengths and seek us out in every corner of the world to extend an invitation to God’s extraordinary goodness. By clothing ourselves the same way as Paul instructs the Colossians, the outward effects of gospel choices will finally settle in our hearts. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Amen.

Ministries at Saint Matthias: The Soup Hour

October 6, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Wei-San Mohindar

The Saint Francis Patio, Home to the Soup Hour

I started volunteering at the Soup Hour many years ago because I wanted to do something to give back and thought that the Soup Hour would be a good fit. So Rahul, my husband, and I would show up at 1 pm and try to put together a meal for about 100-120 people working with the canned goods we have in the pantry and any other fresh protein or produce that had been donated. We learnt very quickly how to cook a large amount of pasta or rice as a basis for a “casserole” and would put in canned or fresh protein and produce to make it as appetizing as possible.

With the help of other volunteers we usually manage to have a large casserole and maybe a green salad as well as donated sweet things to serve along with Ben’s punch and coffee at 3 pm.

Through all the years of cooking and serving in the Soup Hour I have been left with no doubt as to who is in charge. Not me, not Ben, not Dottie or any of the other volunteers. GOD is in charge. When we have no protein to add to the casserole, a donation shows up. When a refrigerator dies another is donated. If we run out of pasta, someone will show up with cooked spaghetti and when we need volunteers to help out, someone will show up to do community service or just to volunteer.

Christ fed 5000 with 5 loaves and a few small fishes and He continues to do so today through the Soup Hour. He fed the multitude with loaves and fishes but today it is pasta or rice or sandwiches with fruit and a carton of juice. The menu may have changed but God is still feeding those who are hungry and in need of a meal. That has not changed.

This post is part of our 2020 stewardship campaign. Click the banner below to fill out a pledge card or to learn more.

The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Jesus, the Cornerstone

October 6, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

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Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

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Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

—Matthew 21:33-46 (NRSV)

We are talking about seeing and recognizing what is in front of us today. So, to kick things off I want to tell you a story about that. Who knows, the story I am about to tell you might even have happened, but I doubt it.

Back in the early days of the ordination process for women in the Episcopal Church there was a congregation that needed an additional priest. There were already two priests there, but the congregation had grown to the point it was too much for them, and they were getting on in years.

Well wouldn’t you know it, the bishop sent a newly ordained woman to interview. The two old priests were not happy campers, not at all. It was all they could do to be civil to their bishop when he gave them her name.

They thought they would make the interview impossible for her. They felt certain that when they got through, she would want nothing to do with their parish. They decided to take her fishing as part of the interview.

Well, she showed up for the interview right on time, and they announced they were all going fishing. She, being a good sport, said how much fun that was going to be. On the way to the lake they fired questions at her and she answered every one of them, but then they would pick her answers apart. They were really being picky. But she was a plucky gal and just kept being pleasant.

They got in the boat and got out on the lake and sure enough they had forgotten the bait. She promptly said she would go back and get it. The old priests knowingly smiled at each other.

Then she got out of the boat, walked across the top of the water, and disappeared on shore as she headed to the bait shop. One old priest turned to the other and said, “You might have known she wouldn’t know how to swim.”

Last week we talked about Jesus in the temple teaching and he was giving the people in authority a bit of a tough time. In fact, he was making them look pretty foolish in front of the crowd. He had ended with something to the effect that they had seen but still hadn’t believed. Just like the old priests in the boat, they had seen but still refused to believe.

In our gospel today we return to the temple and the same scene we were a part of last week. The crowd is looking on as Jesus continues to talk negatively about the authorities even though they are standing right there. He tells them and the crowd another parable, this one an allegory, easily understood by all. It must have been an incredible scene.

He likened a vineyard to the land of Israel and says that the landowner, God, has left the current group of folks in charge. When it came time to collect the fruit of the vineyard those in charge mistreated the slaves, who represent the prophets, even killing some of them. Finally, the landowner sent his son, a representation of Jesus, hoping the leaders would at least respect him and not harm him. But obviously they didn’t respect him and ended up doing him great harm. Jesus is predicting his own death at the hands of the leaders. They were refusing to recognize Jesus for who he was. The crowds believed what they saw and knew Jesus was special. The leaders refused to see, and continued to refuse to accept him.

For me the most important part of the gospel comes now. The kids in Sunday school will be wrestling with it. Jesus asks this question through his quotation of scripture. “Have you never read in the scriptures, `The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'?”

Those in charge have failed to see what was right in front of them. We can only surmise why. Perhaps they were protecting their own self-interest. Perhaps they felt complete within themselves and didn’t feel they were lacking anything in their lives. Perhaps their arrogance got in the way of their vision. Whatever it was they lacked the clear sightedness of the common person. Those that had experienced Jesus up close and personal had seen that he was more than just special. Many suspected that he was the messiah, the Christ. Some understood the metaphor of the cornerstone he had just quoted and it clicked for them.

You see the cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry building. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. It is the most important stone in the building and all other stones find their place in reference to this stone.

Jesus has just told everyone listening that he can be the cornerstone of their lives. As such he will bring sense to their lives. He will provide structure. Their lives will fall into place if he is in that position. His presence can inform everything else.

Now the great thing about the metaphor is this. It’s a metaphor. In real life you can only set the cornerstone once. In a metaphor it can be set any time and can be reset as many times as is needed. If Jesus is the cornerstone of one’s life that is great. If Jesus, at the moment, isn’t the cornerstone we can put him back in the place in which he belongs by removing whatever it is that we have put there and reinserting him in the place of honor.

For me and I imagine for you this is great news. We are not perfect. We often get our priorities confused. There are many ideas and things we come to believe that should be the cornerstone of our lives. It’s understandable as we spend our lives coping with the society in which we live. Some of the cornerstones suggested sound pretty good and are very convincing. But they mostly don’t work out in the long run. We find ourselves lost and lonely. When that happens it’s time to remember our cornerstone and put Jesus back where he belongs.

Finally, as we encounter this gospel it’s hard not to make a comment on 2020 as it relates to the message Jesus has sent our way. To say the least we live in trying and confusing times that just continue to get weirder. We can’t change that. What we can do is make sure our cornerstone for living is Jesus Christ. If he is the cornerstone of our life things will make more sense, we will make more coherent decisions, and we will have the confidence in the future that we need. So that’s our invitation today. Unlike those in power twenty centuries ago do we see Jesus Christ for who he is? Is he the cornerstone of our lives? If not is it time to remove whatever is there and put him back where he belongs?

Faith-Filled Generosity

October 1, 2020 Andrea Schmid

Fall is the season when we, as a church, discuss stewardship—how we use the gifts that God has given us. Our stewardship campaign officially runs from October 4- November 22, but you may have already received a letter from Fr. Bill on the topic.

The Episcopal Church develops a theme for each year’s stewardship season, and this year's theme is “Faith-Filled Generosity.” Over the coming weeks, we encourage you to explore and examine your own role in achieving our mission at Saint Matthias, where, as our church mission statement says,

“We are called to seek God with an open mind, serve all in the spirit of Christ, and share God’s love with a kind heart through open discussion, common worship, and compassionate action.”

What does this mean to you? Prayerfully consider how you can contribute at Saint Matthias through your time, talent, and/or treasure.

Faithfully,

Mary Jean Christian, Christopher Lavagnino, and Andrea Schmid

2020 Stewardship Committee

Click here to visit the Stewardship Campaign 2020 page and submit your pledge card.

The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost: What Do You Believe?

September 28, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

—Matthew 21:23-32 (NRSV)

Today we are talking about beliefs. Here is a little story about a man who comes to believe something to be true that might not be.

A fellow was hitchhiking in Arizona at night and it started to rain, and rain hard. Time passed slowly and no vehicles went by. It was raining so hard he could barely see his hand in front of his face.

Suddenly he saw a car approaching, moving slowly and appearing ghost-like in the rain. It slowly and silently crept toward him and stopped. Wanting a ride very badly, the guy jumped into the car and closed the door. Only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the wheel, and no sound of the engine to be heard over the rain.

The car crept slowly forward and the guy was terrified. The guy saw that the car was approaching a sharp curve and, too scared to jump out, he started to pray and beg for his life. He was certain the ghost car would go off the road and crash.

But just before the curve, a shadowy figure appeared at the driver's window and a hand reached in and turned the steering wheel, guiding the car safely around the bend. Then, just as silently, the hand disappeared through the window and the hitchhiker was alone again.

Paralyzed with fear, the guy watched the hand reappear every time they reached a curve. Finally, the guy, frightened nearly to death, had all he could take and jumped out of the car and ran through the storm to the nearby town.

Wet and in shock he told everybody about his supernatural experience.

A silence came over those listening and everybody got goose bumps.

They realized the guy was telling the truth.

About a half hour later, two fellows walked into the cafe and one said to the other, 'Look Joe, there's that character that rode in our car while we were pushing it in the rain.'

Well there goes that belief doesn’t it?

Photo by Ann H from Pexels — Photo by **Ann H** from **Pexels**

So, let me ask you a question. If a stranger asked you what you believe about God what would you say? I love another old question that goes like this. If you were on trial for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you? It’s not exactly what we are talking about but it’s in the same ballpark.

Have you thought about your personal theology lately? In order to answer the stranger’s question about our beliefs, we would need to be prepared. That would require some forethought and study. Only if the serious work of thought and study had been done could we expect to be able to answer the question.

As an example, I imagine most people assume I went to seminary to become a priest. I didn’t. I went to seminary so that I could have access to the books and the professors that would help me answer this very question about my understandings of God. What did I truly understand and believe about God? I thought when I finished school, I would have the answer, but I find I haven’t finished. My belief system continues to develop as I encounter new insights. I often have to revisit this question, and do some more spade work, as I continue to develop as a lifelong student of this important subject.

In the first half of the gospel today the folks in charge are attempting to trick Jesus and he knows it. Their question, “by whose authority” is a trap to get him into trouble so he asks a question he knows they will struggle with. “Answer my question and I will answer yours”, he says. And they can’t answer it because they haven’t truly thought about it or it isn’t politically expedient to admit what they know to be true.

Yet the common people know the answer. Jesus has asked about John the Baptizer’s authority. Where does it come from? It’s clear to the average person that it didn’t come from humankind. From their experience with John they know his authority clearly had to have come from God. If Jesus had asked them, they could have easily answered his question. They had thought about their beliefs and were certain what they understood to be true.

In the second half of the gospel two sons are asked to go to work. One says he will and doesn’t, and the other says he won’t yet does. In Sunday school the kids today will be thinking about this part of the gospel this morning.

We are both sons, aren’t we? We often change our minds just like those two sons. (Hopefully the first son wasn’t lying from the beginning because that’s a whole other problem.) For our purposes we realize that this metaphor is describing a change of heart, and a new understanding of God and our relationship with God.

Jesus says the bottom layers of society understand it better than those in power. They need their relationship with God and know they need it so they have spent time thinking and praying about it. Those in power need it too but they just aren’t as ready to recognize that need. They think they can get through life alone. It’s truly a first world problem, one many people suffer with today too.

After I finish this conversation with you JD Neal will be inviting us to recite a first century creed we find in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Some of the people reciting the creed in that day had first-hand experience with Jesus, and after his resurrection, the Risen Jesus. Paul is quoting a creed written by people who had that experience. They recited it in their mid-first century worship as we do the Nicene and the Apostles Creeds today. JD will have something to say about it before we begin. I invite all of you to listen closely to the belief structure as we recite it.

As we daily encounter the world today it is hard to reconcile a Christian belief structure to what we experience. And things are getting crazier by the day. There has never been a better time I believe to examine the question being asked by our theoretical stranger. What do we believe about God?

Do we believe in a God of love, humility, forgiveness, and reconciliation? To find out we are invited to do the work of theology, to examine what we know, and to study what we can learn about God in scripture, in prayer, and from each other. Only then are we capable of coming to our own conclusions about God. And we also know that as new information about God is encountered, we are free to rethink and update that understanding. In fact, God hopes we will I am convinced.

And then finally, when we are done and ready to answer the stranger’s question let’s take a look at the world around us. Is there a contrast between the God in which we believe and what we are experiencing in the world? Whose lead do we then personally choose to follow, God’s or humankind’s? Are we like the son that said he wasn’t going to work and then changed his mind and went? We can hope so.

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Wages Beyond Value

September 21, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels — Photo by **Oleg Magni** from **Pexels**

Old Testament Reading

When God saw what the people of Nineveh did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.

The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

—Jonah 3:10-4:11 (NRSV)

Gospel

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

—Matthew 20:1-16 (NRSV)

Today we are talking about our priorities versus God’s priorities.

Buddy and his wife Edna went to the state fair every year. Each year during their visit Edna would say, “I’d like to ride in that helicopter over there.”

Buddy always replied, “I know Honey, but that helicopter ride is fifty bucks, and fifty bucks is fifty bucks.”

Last year Buddy and Edna went to the fair and Edna said, “Buddy, I’m 85 years old and if I don’t ride that helicopter, I might never get another chance.”

To this, Buddy replied, “Edna, that helicopter ride is fifty bucks, and fifty bucks is fifty bucks.”

The pilot overheard the couple and said, “Folks, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not say a word, I won’t charge you a penny! But if you say one word, it’s fifty dollars.”

Buddy and Edna agreed and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers but not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks over and over again, but still not a word. When they landed the pilot turned to Edna and said, “By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn’t. I’m impressed.”

Edna replied, “Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Buddy fell out, but you know, fifty bucks is fifty bucks.”

I think it’s fair to question Edna’s priorities, don’t you?

We live in a culture in which we are taught to put ourselves ahead of anybody else for the most part. In fact, that is demonstrated for us constantly isn’t it? We are told we must “satisfy our needs” and we are told that we need to be in relationships that “satisfy our needs”. How often are we told that owning the biggest home in the right neighborhood, driving the most expensive car, eating in the finest restaurants, and keeping up with the Jones’s and away from those “other” people is the road to happiness? So why in the world would a people choose to put others ahead of themselves even in a pandemic, like the people of this church do every week in the care each other and of those less fortunate?

To address this question let’s start by examining the priorities of God as opposed to those taught by society as presented in two of our scripture lessons today. The first is a reading from Jonah. I love the story and quote it often. Please allow me to summarize.

God told Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and tell them they were in trouble and God was upset with them. But Jonah didn’t want to do it. In fact, Jonah refused to do it, and decided to run away where God couldn’t find him. He booked passage on a ship to parts unknown. Well naturally we understand you can’t run away from God, so after they set sail a great storm arose on the sea and everybody was afraid the ship was about to sink.

To make a long story short the folks on the ship decided finally that Jonah was the problem because they recognized the power of Jonah’s God, and they threw him overboard. Well sure enough the storm ceased immediately. Then God, being God, sent a big fish that swallowed Jonah whole, saving his life, and the fish finally spit him up on shore, safe and sound, three days later.

These events helped to get Jonah’s mind straight. He decided to go to Nineveh as God had instructed, and tell them they had forty days left before God destroyed the city and did so.

Now the politicians of that day must have been very different from the politicians of today. Some of them actually listened because the King heard Jonah’s warning and decided to take heed. Can you imagine?

In any event the King repented and so did the entire city. And what happened? God changed God’s mind. God decided to forgive them their prior transgressions and didn’t destroy the city. And brother did that ever make Jonah mad.

“That’s exactly why I didn’t want to do what you asked. That’s why I ran away in the first place. Being a prophet for you just sucks. I knew you would change your mind and make me look bad. That’s the way you are. You threaten to punish someone and then change your mind making me look stupid. You know what? You are just too nice for the God business.”

Jonah stormed off in a funk as we heard in the story. Jonah knew what God was like. And we know a little more about God ourselves now having heard it. This story isn’t about Jonah and it’s not about a fish. It’s about God and the nature of God. It’s about God’s love for God’s creatures and God’s willingness and eagerness to forgive and get back into meaningful relationship with us.

And the gospel story is about the nature of God too. A landowner needs to hire some workers to toil in his fields and goes into town to find them. He goes first thing in the morning and promises each a day’s pay. He goes a little later and promises to do “what is right” for them. He just keeps going into town hiring people every couple of hours until late in the afternoon.

The rub comes at the end of the day when it was time to pay each of the workers their wages. They each received the same amount, a day’s pay. Those that came early to the field thought they deserved more than those that came later and were upset. I also imagine that those who came later were pretty happy having earned a full day’s wages for less than a day’s work. I can see both of their points of view, can’t you?

However, Jesus said that this story was a metaphor about God. The story is not about the workers. It’s about God. Jesus was trying to teach us something about God, and something about God’s nature, by telling this story. The point of the story is that what God has to give us, the wages if you will, is so valuable that we cannot possibly earn it whenever we come to work in God’s field and no matter how hard we work.

God is a generous God. Sometimes we are the workers who arrive early and expect more because we value our time and input (perhaps we are talking about those who have been members of the church for decades), and sometimes we are the workers that arrive late and are delighted with the unexpected amount we receive (perhaps these are the folks that just showed up or come occasionally). But in each case what we have received is more than we possibly could have imagined or have earned, and for the old timers they have had the privilege and enjoyment of working in God’s kingdom longer. This is the nature of God. God is grace. God loves us beyond our wildest dreams or expectations. The ticket to get on the train is of incredible value and is also free and cannot be earned no matter what.

So, let’s summarize. In the first lesson God is an incredibly forgiving God and can’t wait to be back in good communication with us. In the second lesson God’s wages, God’s grace, is of incredible value and all we need do is show up. If we get there early, we are blessed with even more time in the Kingdom.

And so, we come back to the question of our priorities. Why are we willing to help those in need? Why are we willing to put others ahead of ourselves? Our society sure doesn’t seem to want to reward that behavior.

Well we could honestly answer the question with a few answers. One of those would be that it’s a pleasant thing to do. It’s good camaraderie to work with other like-minded individuals in a common cause. Another answer would be that it brings happiness to those we help. Another would be that helping others just feels good, and it does. There is nothing like helping someone else to take your mind off your own issues for a little while.

I think the nature of God is the biggest reason. God loves each and every one of us more than we can possibly imagine. God loves the people we love and God loves the people we don’t love. In fact, God loves the people we can’t even stand as much as God loves anybody else. That’s a hard one to get used to, but true never the less. Each person standing in the Soup Hour line waiting to receive a meal is loved by God. God is absolutely crazy about that person. God walks with that person everywhere they go. God is hungry when they are hungry. God cries when they cry. God walks with them every step of their lives for better or for worse.

And we are the hands of God in this world. We are God’s partner in the care of God’s creation. We and God make this world a better place for all of God’s creatures. We are helping in God’s vineyard no matter when we arrived. We do what we do because of God’s love for us, and God’s love for all of humankind. We need no other reason. It’s all about the nature of God and the wages are beyond value.

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Forgiveness

September 14, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe

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Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.

When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

—Matthew 18:21-35 (NRSV)

As I read this gospel, I think it’s safe to imagine that Peter didn’t ask Jesus the question how often he should forgive in a vacuum. I wonder if he comes to Jesus exasperated with someone or some recurring situation, if he came to Jesus angry at injustice done to him by someone in the community and wondering how much more do I have to put up with? How am I supposed to be in relationship with this person? It seems Peter might have already tried to forgive a time or two or three. Peter whose emotions are always close to the surface is compelled to ask this important question.

But Peter has spent enough time with Jesus that he knows when he asks “how often should I forgive…” that Jesus is going to tell him something surprising, something unexpected. And he does – that famous reply “seventy-seven times.” Jesus in his interesting way is really telling Peter: don’t concern yourself with playing a numbers game. Live your life with a mindset of forgiveness. We are called to forgive freely from the heart and not begrudgingly from the head. We are called to genuine forgiveness not excusing, or looking the other way or forgetting. All of those do far more harm than good and are inconsistent with God’s desire for us to live together loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Easier said than done, isn’t it? We are told to forgive but not how to forgive. A desire to forgive, even a very deep, sincere desire, isn’t enough.

It’s something like this: What if we needed a new pillar in the church and I brought in a cement mixer and dumped a whole lot of cement where the pillar needed to be. Then I stood there and willed this pillar to take shape, willed this cement to become a pillar? It wouldn’t happen. But if I built some wooden forms and put in rebar and then poured the cement in we’d have a new pillar. A process for forgiveness can work them same way – we create structure so that God can pour in the real substance that will make a lasting experience of forgiveness in our lives.

I’d like to tell you about the life and work of the man who created such a structure. Everett Worthington was a practicing psychologist in 1995 when his mother was a victim of a home invasion robbery. On New Year’s Eve that year she had gone to bed early. In her 80’s, she had given up driving and partying. So when a man came through her neighborhood bent on burglary, he saw a dark house with no car in the driveway. He assumed no one was home. He broke in with a crowbar and was rifling through the contents of a drawer when Everett’s mom appeared in the hallway. His plan for an easy score was ruined. There was a witness to his crime. He was faced with arrest and jail. He panicked and made a terrible decision. He hit her several times killing her in that hallway.

Everett describes sitting with his brother and sister the next day seething with anger at his mother’s senseless death. And thinking about what he’d do to that man if he had a chance, the suffering that he would willingly inflict on his mother’s killer if he could. His anger and desire for revenge simmered. The injustice of it haunted him. Everett Worthington was a man for whom engaging a process of forgiveness was in the realm of fantasy. How could he possibly forgive?

A critical turning point came when he asked himself, “Whose crime is worse?” Is it this young man who reacted in a deadly way when his plan went sideways? Or was it Everett - the Christian man who spent considerable time thinking of revenge, of doing murder, being self-righteous about the man’s prison sentence and glorifying in his misery, who never even considered an option for forgiveness. He concluded that his sin was worse than the sin of the man who took his mother’s life.

And yet as he wrestled with this dilemma, he knew that all he had to do to be forgiven was to ask God for forgiveness and he would be fully forgiven, that his chains would fall away. If he could be forgiven for the darkness if his heart, who was he to hold this young man’s sin against him? Everett was able to forgive him for taking his mother’s life.

This was the catalyst that started him on a lifetime study of forgiveness. Combining his interest and gifts in psychology, this great anger and also the words of Jesus to forgive and forgive, Everett found a way through it to forgiveness. And now he shares that process with the world.

His focus of Forgiveness is two-fold: Decisional Forgiveness and Emotional Forgiveness. Neither one is enough on its own. And together they are not enough without prayer and reflection.

Decisional forgiveness asks us to make an intentional decision that we are going to think of the person who harmed us differently. We decide to set aside ideas of revenge and treat them as a valued, valuable person. We decide to see them as God sees them.

Photo by Ricardo Esquivel from Pexels — Photo by **Ricardo Esquivel** from **Pexels**

Emotional Forgiveness asks us to replace negative emotions of hate and ill-will for those who harmed us with positive emotions of sympathy, empathy and love. It’s a lot to ask. If you have a wound of your own in mind and this seems like too much, Everett suggests thinking about the difficulty of carrying the negative emotions you hold. His research shows that holding onto “unforgiveness" leads to physical as well as emotional illness. It makes us sick and it separates us from each other and separates us from God.

Everett created a series of 5 steps to REACH forgiveness. R-E-A-C-H is an acronym to help us remember the process.

Recall the hurt—

As painful as it is, it’s necessary to recall the hurt. This is an opportunity to recall it differently, to recall it from a strictly factual point of view that scrubs it of the negative emotions. “The facts ma’am just the facts.”

Empathize with the person who caused the hurt—

In this step, we think about the hurt by thinking about what the offender might have been going through, what their situation might be. We might have an empty chair dialog with the person who hurt us drilling down on the circumstances and pressures that brought them into contact with us. Were there good-intentions gone wrong? What if the person who harmed who harmed us did it without intending to do harm? What if they wrote a letter apologizing – what would it say? In responding to these questions, empathy is generated and the negative emotions begin to melt away leaving space for positive feelings, for empathy and a caring concern.

Altruistic – Give an altruistic gift of forgiveness.

Once we can feel positive emotions of sympathy, empathy and love the offender seems more human, more vulnerable. To continue to build empathy, we’re asked to remember a time when we wronged someone and we were forgiven and how wonderful that felt. When we are forgiven by someone we have wronged, we are spared the dull ache of a guilty conscience and can feel our own belovedness.

Commit – to the forgiveness you’ve experienced.

Having been through three important steps, we’re asked to quantify how we’re doing at this point. Are we half way out of unforgiveness? More than that? Or less? There is always a justice issue when we feel that we have been wronged. When we’re moving towards forgiveness the gap of injustice begins to shrink. It’s variable of course. There is far more injustice in a situation like Everett experienced in the death of his mother than I might feel if I loan someone some money that is not repaid or a rumor that’s untrue was started about me or someone I cared about. Whatever the amount of perceived injustice, reflecting on the quantity of forgiveness we’re able to sense in ourselves lessens the powerful feeling of injustice done to us.

Holding On –

The last step is to hold on to our perceived and stated level of forgiveness and become comfortable with the REACH process that it can be re-visited to reinforce and increase our level of forgiveness. That’s not to say we won’t have triggers that take us to dark unforgiving moments. But we have the steps to work through and by the grace of God move forward. Working through the REACH model allows us to do what Jesus asked of Peter: Live always with a mindset of forgiveness.

We have the privilege of admitting our own wrongdoing and then being made free of all that we have done. There is no sin for which we cannot be forgiven. And we also have the powerful responsibility of turning over to our loving God those who have sinned against us and those we love so that God might deal with them in perfect restorative justice and mercy. There is no sin for which they cannot be forgiven.

Forgiveness is a blessing we have by the grace of God. It is a gift we can pass along to others to transform their lives and their families and their communities. Forgiveness is not an isolated virtue. It is inextricably tied up with justice, mercy and humility. It’s worth the struggle. Forgiveness is within REACH.

Let us pray:

“It feels impossible, O God, to forgive what has been done to me. You know my pain, you know the hurt I hold.

Surely you, O God – who in a moment of anger swept away all the earth in one great flood, leaving only old Noah and his boatload of ragged refugees safe from your rain-soaked rage – surely you know the storm within my heart.

But I am doubly caught in this bind - snagged on the sacred fence of my friendship with your son Jesus who has told me that I must forgive seventy–seven times those who injure me, who cause me pain.

Caught between pain and pardon, I wish to choose his way of pardon.

Nailed by pain to his cross, covered by the spit of scorners and whipped by his torturers he prayed the impossible prayer.

This prayer is one I now desire to make mine: “Father forgive him, her, them, for they know not what they do.”

O infinite Sea of Mercy, make this servant of yours the channel of your gift of pardon, that I may be healed as your forgiveness passes through me to others.” Amen.

The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost: What's God Up To These Days?

September 8, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

—Romans 13:8-14

We are going to be chatting about God this morning as we often do. Before we begin in earnest I thought I would share a cute story with you.

We find ourselves in an Episcopal Elementary school. The kids are lined up for lunch and at the end of one table was a sign pinned to an apple. “Please only take one apple. God is watching.”

As they moved along the line they came upon a pile of chocolate chip cookies. Sure enough there was another sign, but this one was obviously written by a child. “Take all you want. God is watching the apples.”

Do you ever wonder when you look around in the world where God is and ask yourself why God isn’t fixing all the things that are so obviously wrong? I certainly do. I have to constantly remind myself about free will. I wonder if God ever regrets giving us that gift.

On the other hand I do think that God gets involved in our messes in some way that we don’t recognize until we look in the rear view mirror. “Oh, ok, I get it”, we end up saying to ourselves. Looking backwards seems to be the most obvious way to observe God in action. So let’s look backwards for a few minutes as I think I can present an excellent example.

About 2025 years ago a little fellow was born by the name of Jesus in Nazareth. He grew up into quite a fellow. When he was about thirty years old or so he started talking about the Kingdom of God. He also preached to folks in the Holy Land about the nature of God and had some things to say about how we might interact with each other and with God. He turned out to be an expert in the Hebrew Scriptures and spent time interpreting them for his listeners.

But, sadly he upset a lot of people who were in charge of things and they decided he had to go. He was just too much trouble and if the people ever really started listening to what he had to say their positions of power might be threatened. So he wound up on the cross. Case closed. Problem solved. A loud mouth had been dealt with.

But it turned out the problem wasn’t solved at all. He just wouldn’t stay dead and the word began to spread that he was alive again. His followers began to spread the word to anyone that would listen. The story spread like wildfire. Three hundred years later Christianity was born and became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

In the meantime for those first few hundred years during this new religion’s gestation time life for the believers could be really hard. Life was already difficult but those in power even tried to make it even harder for the people of the way. Believers were rounded up and thrown in jail or worse. Many were killed in the most horrible ways. There was much suffering. Things were an incredible mess for a really long time.

But the Christian church had been born. It was only in looking back that people could see the hand of God in action. Who would have thought that Christ would be born in a backwater town in a backwater province under the heavy thumb of the Roman Emperor? Who would have understood in the midst of all the suffering that things were changing? Who could have seen at the time that they were in the middle of the birth pangs of a new understanding about God and God’s people?

It turns out that God’s way of birth is messy and painful and frightening in the extreme. Just look at Peter’s reaction that we heard about in last week’s gospel when Jesus told them they were all headed to Jerusalem and that it was necessary that he suffer and die. “No!”, Peter screamed. “This just can’t happen to you!” It scared him to death. Only in looking backwards after the story unfolded did he understand. He had been in the middle of God’s painful and messy birth process. Something new and fantastic was coming. There just was no way he could see it while it was developing.

I don’t know how good a metaphor actual birth is for what we are discussing but let’s try it out. During the time a couple waits for the actual birth of the child the woman’s body goes through some really radical changes. Then when the day arrives the birth itself is painful and messy. But the child that is born makes it all worthwhile. This is what we are talking about. God’s way of birthing is painful and it is messy, even as it applies to society.

There are some standards that God has insisted are in our best interest ever since the beginning of time. It seems that every once in a while something needs to happen to remind us of those standards and to improve how we are living in relationship with God and with each other. Everybody is aware of these standards and even agrees most of the time that life would be most wonderful and comfortable if they were followed. So let’s casually review a few of them.

Don’t take another person’s stuff. Tell the truth. Don’t kill anybody. Try not to wish you had somebody else’s things. Instead, try to earn your own. Get some rest regularly. Listen to and take care of other people, especially your parents. Do your best to have a loving relationship with the creator that already loves you. Give your best effort to have a loving relationship with the world and the other creatures God has created. Love and take care of your fellow human beings. Read about God’s prophets and especially God’s son if you are looking for examples of how to conduct yourself. Simple huh?

Phyllis Tickle was an Episcopalian, writer, lecturer, and editor. She passed away in 2015. She wrote a number of books, the most famous being The Great Emergence – How Christianity is Changing and Why. Her basic premise was that about every 500 years there was, in my terminology, a new birth in Christianity. It started with Gregory the Great, then The Great Schism, and was followed by the Reformation. She believed we are in the next birth process of the church.

Personally I agree with her but I think there’s more than just a process for the church here. If we study history we realize that society moves through these birth processes at the same time. And it’s messy. And it’s painful.

Photo by brotiN biswaS from Pexels — Photo by **brotiN biswaS** from **Pexels**

Let’s talk some recent history. Beginning in the sixties we had the awakening of the civil rights movement, the war in Vietnam, the awakening of women’s issues, the hippy movement, and the loss of some great leaders through assassination. Then as time went along there have been various armed conflicts, the rise of the personal computer, the internet, and the immense impact of social media. Today we are living through a pandemic, the reawakening of the civil rights movement, and the extreme polarization of government and society. Some of us are hanging on by our fingernails to what was and the rest of us are hoping for a very different future. And in the middle of all this messiness there exists great fear, much anger, extreme disappointment, incredible stress, gut wrenching sorrow, and tremendous loss.

Folks I personally have no doubt that we are in the middle of God’s birthing process. We may even be nearing the end, in labor if you will, waiting on the arrival of what is to be.

And I think what will arrive are things that are as old as time, things we are already familiar with that will be reemphasized. We will more likely leave other people’s things alone. Telling the truth will become much more the way of the world than it currently is. People will stop being so ready to hurt and kill each other. We will rediscover the healing wonders in rest, prayer, and recreation. We will take better care of each other, and take care of our parents who have tried to teach us so much. God will reemerge as the center of our lives and relationship with God will become more important to talk and teach about. We will start taking better care of the gifts God has given us. We might even love our neighbors as ourselves.

If we draw back from the mayhem around us so that we are able to see the forest and not so much the trees we discover God’s birthing process at work. It’s messy and it’s painful but the world that is going to emerge will be worth it. Hang on. We are almost there. In the meantime remember as were reminded in today’s gospel. When two or three of us are gathered together Jesus is among us. Let’s hang on to each other and to him.

Praying for Our Nation

September 4, 2020 Andrea Schmid

You are invited to join a 52 day prayer practice, The Nehemiah Prayer Vigil, praying for healing and unity for our nation. This prayer vigil initiated within the national Order of the Daughters of the King. Daughters and friends of Daughters all over the nation will be praying together from September 1 through October 22.

The Daughters at Saint Matthias welcome all in the congregation to join them in this scriptural and spiritual response to the woundedness of our nation. You are welcome to join whenever you like. (Though if you would like to complete your vigil by election day, plan to start by September 12.)

We will be gathering for group prayer via Zoom on Monday nights at 7:00 p.m. from September 14 through October 19 (Zoom link TBD). Additional information is available from Rev. Carole (carole@stmatthiaswhittier.org or (714) 878-0692), from any St. Matthias Daughter and in this Nehemiah Prayer Vigil handout.

Click this banner to visit the prayer vigil page for The Order of the Daughters of the King.

The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Carrying Our Crosses

August 31, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Then Jesus told 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 will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

—Matthew 16:21-28

This Gospel reading presents us with a significant shift in the story of Jesus’ ministry. From the hands-on, day to day work of teaching and healing, Jesus redirects our thinking to an understanding of discipleship. In a profound “teachable moment” he lets his disciples know what is at stake and what’s going to be required of them.

These are not easy words to hear. There are no easy tasks or pretty images here. The idea of the cross was terrifying in ways that we probably cannot imagine. No wonder that the devoted Peter cries out in defiance at the suggestion of losing his beloved teacher.

But did you notice that just a few short verses earlier, Jesus has blessed Peter and proclaimed that he is the rock on which the church will stand. What a contrast! What a demonstration of the challenges that we face – the conundrum of setting aside our personal claim on what is precious to us now and to choose the risk and reality of pain and loss for the sake of Christ’s love for the world.

There are some burdens that all of us we expect to carry. We know there will be changes - significant changes - in our lives in the natural course of things. We anticipate the loss of grandparents and parents and all that means to us. Some losses we hope to avoid take shape over time – loss of jobs, career plans that don’t go the way we hoped, marriages and relationships that don’t have fairy tale endings. These are weighty crosses to carry for sure.

Christ Carrying the Cross - Sebastiano del Piombo (Public Domain)

Burdens that are unexpected though are somehow worse. Finding ourselves shouldering a task for which we are not prepared, that we did not want makes us feel angry and resentful. Understandably so. But whether anticipated or not, the struggles that show up in our lives do us a favor. Because they tend to show us what is real. They reveal our illusions about our lives. And in a way they make us tell ourselves the truth.

Our internal image of the cross and carrying the cross tends to be one of overwhelming, crushing pain. And solely that. I know for me, this is reinforced in the images of Jesus carrying the cross on which he is eventually executed, images I have from artwork and from films usually of the stations of the cross. The terror of the cross is made real. It’s so heavy and so rough that we can see only that it is hopeless life taking and soul stealing.

But I’d like to offer you another way of seeing carrying the cross and the burdens we carry, another layer of the meaning of the cross. That reality of pain is a valid one. But pain is only one aspect of the cross. The other is hope. Another aspect of the cross is hope. As something dies, resurrection and new life is about to be born. We carry within our crosses great hope. We carry within our crosses resurrection to new life.

Joan Chittister has written some interesting thoughts on this: Whether anticipated or not, the burdens we carry begin with shock, with loss. There’s a radical interruption of what was certain and sure and eternal. We think “It will never end. It couldn’t ever end.” “My reputation could not be damaged. My relationships will never end.” But they do. Things change. Change, she says, means movement and movement means friction. It’s movement we don’t want and friction we think we cannot endure.

When we are in a peaceful, acceptable place in our lives with a degree of equilibrium, we feel secure. But, she says, the compelling need to have our lives set in stone is a great obstacle to truth. In these secure places we cannot grow. Change happens at every stage of our lives for the purpose of carrying us in to the next stage of our lives. Changes are invitations to ask what will come to take its place. Changes are invitations to struggle towards renewal. Here’s something critical: Renewal is not about going back to that “set in stone” place we came from.

The spirituality of struggle begins with our decision to recognize the opportunity for change and either grow or to retreat -- to live a little more or to die a little bit. It’s an important decision we all have to make, Chittister says, to become new rather than simply to become older. There is a gift hidden in the burden of forced change. But first there is an invitation to struggle with our ideas about who God is, God’s role in our lives and about our call to be disciples of God’s son.

Peter can’t imagine why Jesus’ earthly ministry has to end. It’s going so well. Why can’t all the healing and teaching that is doing so much good for so many people in distress under Roman rule just go on and on? The Good News today is Jesus’ invitation to the struggle of renewal, redemption and resurrection.

A story about a woman named Elizabeth: Elizabeth had been battling cancer for several years in one part of her body and then another and then another – a terrible cross to carry that had come on suddenly and was unrelenting. A chaplain asked her if she thought that the experience of suffering from cancer over and over again had shaded or colored her outlook on her life. She thought about it awhile and said “yes, but I get to choose the color.”

They chatted for a while more and as he was leaving, the chaplain asked her “what color did you choose?” Elizabeth was a life-long Episcopalian so the chaplain assumed she would choose some seasonal liturgical color. But instead she said, “Sparkles! I choose sparkles – every color there is moving in the light and shining like stars. My life is like a sky full of stars. Cancer is one star. But it isn’t the biggest or the brightest or the most sparkly one.” She had no idea what was ahead for her but she was certain of new life. Elizabeth faced into her cross carrying both pain and hope. And when the time came, she was made new.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering Paul tells the Romans. And in that process make the decision to do the loving thing and also to personify the loving thing as a devout disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’ll leave you today with a blessing by William Sloane Coffin

“May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short;

Grace to risk something big for something good;

Grace to remember the world is now too dangerous for anything but the truth and too small for anything but love.”

Amen.

The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost: “Who Do You Say That I Am?"

August 23, 2020 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

—Matthew 16-13-20

One of the things we will be chatting about today is the importance of names and how names can be given to a person in a way that informs who they are or what they become. Here is a quick story about that to get things started.

A relative newcomer to America who was a native of Sweden rushed his pregnant wife to the hospital. During the delivery he found out she was having twins, and then he fainted. He didn't come to for a few days so his brother was brought in to help name the children.

“My brother named my kids?!" he exclaimed when he woke up. "But my brother is illiterate. And he can't even speak any English. Oh my, so what did he name the girl?"

“He named her Denise."

“Denise? Well, that's not such a bad name. I kind of like it. And what did he call the little boy?"

“De Nephew."

Let’s think about today’s gospel and think about the questions we just heard Jesus ask of those with him. As we recall this is the first. “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

Let’s set a possible scene for the story. I can see Jesus and his disciples sitting around chatting and relaxing after a long day, recounting what had gone on during “working hours”. They were probably tired, maybe even a little sore. Certainly, their feet hurt. And their backs were probably aching too. But they were undoubtedly pretty proud of themselves; the way we can all feel truly first-rate after a hard day’s work, in which a lot has been accomplished.

There was probably some playful kidding going on too. I can see Jesus taking part with everyone else having some fun after a long day. Maybe a couple of the disciples were taking a little cat nap before dinner.

Reviewing Matthew’s gospel, regarding the events surrounding this evening’s reading, we observe Jesus healing all sorts of maladies in all sorts of people, feeding about five thousand men along with attendant women and children, teaching, answering questions, and traveling. I can only imagine the crowds of people that had to be attended to and managed by Jesus and those who were regularly with him. It must have been an amazingly busy time for all of them.

After thinking back over their conversations with those they had encountered, and recalling what people had said about Jesus, they responded to his question we heard a moment ago. “Who do the people say that I am?”

They reported to him that some thought he was John the Baptist or Elijah, or perhaps Jeremiah, or maybe one of the prophets. I imagine there was a certain relaxed cockiness in the room. They were close to Jesus, and everybody outside of their circle wanted to see him, and to some extent they were the gate keepers. I doubt they suspected the bombshell question Jesus that was coming.

Can’t you see Jesus sitting there quietly, his eyes calmly taking in the room? I imagine he encountered some self-confident smiles looking back at him.

And then he asked the second question. “But, who do you say that I am?”

I imagine myself as one of the disciples, not Simon the disciple that eventually answers the question. It hangs like smoke in the air. For most of us our breathing almost stops. The silence becomes pregnant with expectation and maybe a little fear. We look at each other. Jesus continues to relax while he awaits an answer. This has become all too personal. It’s no longer about the crowds and what they think and believe. It’s about us. What do we really think?

Thankfully Simon answers the question for the rest of us, getting us off the hook. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” We begin to breathe again.

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

This is the first time Simon has been called Peter in this gospel. Jesus has just renamed him. Let’s think about the name. In Greek it’s Petros, meaning stone. In Aramaic it’s Cephas. We hear Paul referring to him as Cephas all the time. If we were listening in English, we would understand that Jesus has just renamed him Rocky. It’s an affectionate name and it’s a name that describes the man. He is a rock. He is solid. We are reminded of the renaming God did of folks in the Hebrew Scriptures. Abram became Abraham. Sarai became Sarah. Naming in antiquity was important and told us that this person is being made new. He is different, and in some way improved. Simon has become Peter/Cephas/Rocky. He is new and improved.

The other important word to be aware of in the words of Jesus is Blessed. The Greek work is better translated “enormously happy”. So, Jesus has just renamed Simon Cephas, and has declared him to be enormously happy. Recognizing the savior of the world and saying it out loud would indeed make someone enormously happy we are quite sure.

Some of you may have noticed over the years that when we celebrate a Baptism, I ask the parents to “name this child”. It’s a holdover from the previous prayer book, and a salute to antiquity. A name has meaning. They, with God, have created the child and it is their duty to raise the child and take their part in the child’s becoming. The name has meaning. The child is becoming new and improved through the act of baptism. Peter is new and improved by Jesus in his renaming.

And so even though Peter has saved our bacon, answering the question Jesus asked in our stead, we come face to face with it again this morning. “Who do you say that I am?”

I would say it’s a question we hear on a regular basis. As Christians I believe this is not a question we answer just once and we’re good. Jesus confirmed our salvation on the cross already. That question is already answered. The question becomes what are we going to do in the current situation we might be addressing if we truly believe that Jesus is the Christ? “Who do you say that I am?”

In the reading from Romans today Paul lists gifts for each of us from God. We don’t all have the same gifts, but we all have gifts of one kind or another. I quote Paul. “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.” This is just a partial list. There are many more gifts to which Paul refers in scripture. Every gift needed in the church of Christ is already within her members.

We come equipped for service, each and every one of us. And the use of our gifts depends on how we answer the question Jesus asks, each time he asks it. “Who do you say that I am?”

If, like Peter, you answer that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, then the use of our gifts is pretty easy to discern no matter the situation. And please know that the question is asked of us again and again. Each time it is asked we have a new opportunity to answer. So, when Jesus comes knocking in the next situation you encounter, how do you suppose you will answer? Will you be able and willing to make use of your gifts?

And will Jesus say to you: “Enormously happy are you Bill. Enormously happy are you Carole. Enormously happy are you Tim. Enormously happy are you Mary Jean. Enormously happy are all of you that know who I am.”