Sermons 'n' Things

Choose Life

2012-01-28T15:37:00.000-08:00

29 January 2012/Epiphany 4B – Mark 1: 21-28 – The Reverend Kirk A. Kubicek
Live Well With Others
One is immediately impressed with the economy and compactness of Mark. Like the short stories of Raymond Carver or Ernest Hemmingway, the narrative moves quickly and efficiently with short declarative sentences from one episode to the next. Very much like the region of Galilee itself – “The Sea” is really more of a small lake from which one can see the other side quite easily without instruments of magnification. And one can easily walk from the shoreline where we saw Jesus calling pairs of fishermen to follow him into the city of Capernaum in matter of minutes. Across the way one can see ancient healing springs – spas – where people flocked from all over the ancient world to find “healing.”

As you enter Capernaum today a sign on a chain-link fence announces, “Capernaum – The City of Jesus.” As I entered the gates I thought to myself, “That sounds rather hokey and touristy.” Yet, one does not have to spend much time in the excavated city of Capernaum to know deep inside that yes, Jesus walked these streets, taught in these synagogues, spent time in Peter’s Mother-in-law’s house, and spent much of his time there exorcising demons of all kinds.

This how Mark pitches the story: Jesus is presented as teacher and exorcist. We do not spend a lot of time these days thinking and speaking about Jesus the exorcist. Exorcism has largely been relegated to the world of Hollywood movie lots rather than core Christian reflection and discipleship. But this is the Jesus of Mark from beginning to end - Mark who is credited with originating the “gospel” genre of Biblical literature.

Unquestionably Mark borrows the word “gospel” from Second Isaiah, the source of hope and encouragement for Israel in Exile in Babylon: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!” (Is 52:7) Now applied to Jesus of Nazareth, Mark opens with the words, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Jesus is the very embodiment of this good news, which once upon a time meant freedom from captivity in Babylon, but by the time of Jesus was understood as captivity specifically to demonic control – whether in the form of demons of all kinds, or the demonic occupation by Rome. Mark asserts in no uncertain language that all first century citizens of Israel would understand, that a new reign of God was at hand to usurp and replace the enslaving regime of Satan and the demonic in general; that good news will be the work of an agent of God anointed (messiah) with the Spirit for the task; and that this liberation will entail repentance from Sin and reconciliation with God. Mark manages to say all this in chapter 1 verse 1 for those who are familiar with the Old Testament narrative and language.

Now we post-enlightenment, post-modern readers and hearers of the Word might tend to snicker at the very mention of Satan and demons, but we do so at our own peril. In our Baptism we renounce Satan, the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God, and all sinful desires that separate us from the Love of God – which of course is anything that separates us from one another. It is fundamental to admit that we not only believe in Satan and demons, but that whenever we snicker at such belief we are in fact doing the work of Satan!

Now what is breathtaking about Mark is that although we hear that people are astonished with Jesus’ teaching, there is no explication of what he taught. But in portraying the exorcism of the demon from the man who entered the synagogue with an unclean spirit, Mark announces once and for all who is in charge. As the gospel unfolds, Jesus is engaged in a battle for authority and control that dogs him to the very end. Hostility, betrayal and misunderstanding follow him wherever he goes, whatever he teaches, whatever he does.

Brendan Byrne suggests that both his authoritative teachings and the exorcisms that follow are “exercises of liberation: lives can be controlled by false images of God, by being anchored in hopes and fears belonging to an age that is passing. Jesus’ teaching is ‘new’ with the ‘newness of the Kingdom’ that will bring into being for the first time the Creator’s original intent for human beings and the world.” Byrne, A Costly Freedom, p 45.

This newness, by the way, is contrasted with the teaching of the religious experts, whose method of teaching relies principally on disputatious interpretation of scripture. Surely the man with the unclean spirit had heard much of this kind of teaching and remained unmoved until Jesus announces that the “time has come” for the reign or rule of God to begin.

Even the demons know the jig is up, their time of control is coming to an end. “What is there between us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” The demons make a last ditch effort to control Jesus by naming him. It does not work. The demons are dispatched; the man is free to go in Peace “according to your Word.” Notice is served in the synagogue of Capernaum where scribal teaching has failed to chip away at the rule of Satan that a new rule, a new era has dawned. The demon’s convulsing the man betrays the demons destructive intent – the loud cry both an acknowledgement of defeat and a protest that the regime of the demonic in human life, and the life of the community of God, is coming to an end. We shall hear a loud cry once again and see that destructiveness in a far more extreme degree as Jesus dies on the cross. We are those people who know, however, that the moment of apparent triumph of the demonic on the cross will be the moment of its defeat and the exorcism of the world.

So what we have before us is a text that offers a choice very much like the one Moses proclaims way back in Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 15-20: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life that your descendants may live.”

Christians are called to be those people who understand all of this. As Paul writes, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something [like the scribes for instance] does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by Him.” 1 Corinthians 8: 1b-3

Joan Chittister in her exposition of the Rule of Benedict writes, “God is calling us to more than the material level of life and God is waiting to bring us to it. All we have to do is live well with others and live totally in God. All we have to do is learn to listen to the voice of God in life. And we have to do it heart, soul and body. The spiritual life demands all of us.” Joan Chittister, OSB, The Rule of Benedict, p 31

In this remarkable octave of our Annual Meeting, Meeting with the Bishop, to today’s lessons, the choice is still ours to make- we can choose life, choose to live well with others, choose to live totally in God. Or, not. We can remain anchored in the hopes and fears of the passing age, or anchored in the newness of the age to come, the age of Christ. The future of those who come after us depends on the choices we make. Amen.

Come and See!

2012-01-14T14:54:00.001-08:00

15 January 2012 / Epiphany 2A - Psalm 139/John 1:(31-42), 43-51
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter's at Ellicott Mills
Come and See
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it... 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. So begins the First Chapter of the Fourth Gospel. It ends with angels ascending and descending upon the son of man. Much of this chapter has to do with declaring who Jesus is, and how we are to respond to his presence among us.

Our portion records the second of two days of Jesus gathering disciples. The way in which John sees this happening, however, is that someone like Andrew meets Jesus, and is so excited he goes to find his brother Peter. Then in Galilee Jesus finds Philip, invites him to "follow me," and then Philip finds Nathanael. This is what disciples do throughout the gospel of John - they, not Jesus, go out to gather more followers. Disciples, like Philip, are constantly reaching out to new people and saying, "Come and see!" This is the normative pattern for growing the Christian community, says John. No slick marketing schemes, no seductive programs - one person experiences Jesus in his or her life and invites others to come and share that experience. The text means to challenge us, asking, "Just how often do we do this?"

Another discipleship theme is the recognition of Jesus' identity - from verse 35-51 Jesus is called "Rabbi"(v38), "the Messiah"(v41), "him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote"(v45), "Son of God"(vv34,49), "King of Israel"(v49), "Jesus, son of Joseph of Nazareth" (v45), to which Jesus adds his own, "Son of Man"(v51). All contribute important attributes of who Jesus is: one who fulfills scripture, one who answers Israel's hopes for a future leader, a new king like David or a prophet like Moses. All attributes people were looking for in the first century, and none of which or even all of which sum up who Jesus is. And none of them is identical to what the prologue has already told the reader, that Jesus is the Word-made-flesh, and the Word is God, and the Word is Light, and the Light is the life of the world!

We pray today to be illumined by this Light through Word and Sacraments so that we might "shine with the radiance of Christ's glory." It is easy to forget - Jesus is the Word, Jesus is the Sacrament. When asked at a liturgical conference how many sacraments there are, a nun replied, "Two: Christ and his Church. There are currently seven manifestations of these two sacraments that form the life of the Church." We are the Body of Christ, we are the sacrament of Christ for the world. Again the text means to ask: Are we shining with the radiance of Christ's glory?

The call of Nathanael by Philip stands out. It is the first time that witness to Jesus is met with resistance. "We have found the one....Jesus, son of Joseph of Nazareth," says Philip. What Nathanael thinks he knows about Jesus - that he is from Nazareth - is enough to determine what he can expect of Jesus ("Can anything good come out of Nazareth?") This too becomes a theme in the Fourth Gospel - people's preconceptions about Jesus can stand in the way of people's experience of Jesus.

Not much has changed in that regard. Not only do we all come with our own preconceptions about Jesus, but we all harbor preconceptions about one another. Note carefully that Jesus, on the other hand, who has every reason to be insulted by Nathanael's remark sees only the good that Nathanael can be and is - an Israelite without guile, as the King James had it, or without deceit, as we get it today. Nathanael is appropriately flummoxed - how do you know anything about me at all?!? Still somewhat antagonistic. Jesus starts talking about one of his favorite go-to topics, fig trees, indicating only that if you are the Word of God and you are God, you are expected to know these things!

Besides if you think my knowing that there is good in you for the building up of God's kingdom is something, you ain't seen nothing yet. You will see heaven opened and angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. This is a reference to the Son of Man language of the book of Daniel, and to Jacob's vision of angel's ascending and descending a ladder, or staircase - something like the ziggurats of central and south America. Which is to say, this is where earthly and heavenly, human and divine, meet. Jesus uses traditional Old Testament language and imagery to announce that God is in the neighborhood. This is what "the Word became flesh" ultimately means - God with us, Immanuel.

It is interesting to note that William Temple's translation regarding Nathanael has it, "Behold an Israelite in whom there is no Jacob." Jacob is the very prime representative of guile and deceit - he who was born grabbing his brother Esau by the heel in an attempt to be the first-born, he who stole his brother's birthright, he who was accused of stealing his father-in-laws best animals - Jacob who after wrestling with whom? - an angel of the Lord? The LORD God himself? - is renamed "Israel" meaning something like "he who has striven with God and survived." Jacob, who is the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, the archetype of the Twelve Disciples. Jacob who, through a series of credit arrangements and mortgage foreclosures leads his people, all 70 of them, into Egypt to escape famine and become slaves for the next several hundred years. Jacob the deceiver becomes the Israel of God. God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called!

Jacob saw angels ascending and descending a ladder as a sign of God's immanence, God's nearness to us. Now it is just Jesus and the angels, no intermediary structure is necessary: no ladder, no steps. Jesus is that intermediary. Jesus is the structure. Jesus who is with us even now, at this moment, in this Eucharist, present to us in bread and wine as his Body and Blood.

At the end of the day, it is all about God's nearness to us. God is at home, it is we who have gone out for a walk. There is the story of the preacher going all over town shouting, "Put God in your life, put God in your life!"' One day the local Rabbi stopped him and said, "God is already in our lives. God is already here! Our task is simply to realize that!"

Psalm 139 says as much. There is no way that we can distance ourselves from God. No matter to what ends of the earth or sea we might go, no matter how dark the darkness is, "You press behind me and before, and lay your hand on me." God searches us out. God knows us. God is with us wherever we are. Jesus, God's Word, God's Eternal Word of Love, came to be with us as one of us. I once was told that if you read Psalm 139 once a day for 30 days your life will change.

All this seems to suggest that until we believe that God is with us in the radical and intimate way in which Psalm 139 has it, we cannot even begin to set aside our preconceptions about Jesus and about one another. And until we set aside these preconceptions about God in Christ and one another, we cannot begin to know who Jesus is. And until we know and experience Jesus for who he really is, it is not likely that we, like Andrew and Philip, will run around town urging others to "Come and See!" It all begins with accepting God's eternal love and living out of that love. We have now just a short time to do this, but it is enough to enter the Kingdom of God. Amen.

Breathing Lessons

2011-12-31T09:41:00.000-08:00

1 January 2012 The Feast of the Holy Name
Or, The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. You can look up its history in Wikipedia. You will find that it has been celebrated on many different dates. January 1 is quite possibly the most logical, since in the Jewish tradition of Jesus, baby boys are circumcised and name on the eighth day, and January 1 is the eighth day after Christmas.

Naming is important throughout the Bible. The opening acts of creation are the naming of things, beginning with, “Light!” That is what God says. The “Let there be….” is added to make it “sound better” in English.

Then in Deuteronomy, I believe, God orders the building of a more permanent domicile than the “tent of meeting” or “tabernacle” – a Temple is to be built to exacting specifications: “Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; there shall you bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow unto the LORD.” Deut 12:11

Note the important distinction here. Unlike other temples in the ancient world of the Hebrew people, God does not dwell in the Temple – only God’s name.

As to God’s name, Moses learns this at the burning bush: “4God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to you.” ’ 15God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”: This is my name for ever, and this my title for all generations.” Exodus 3:15-16

That would seem to have settled it, but alas, we humans are not so easily convinced. We have a need to name things ourselves, no doubt a carry-over from our ancestor Adam who was given the task of naming all the creatures in God’s creation in hopes of finding a soul mate. We didn’t stop there, and have multiplied the names of God out toward infinity, which is in itself a rather amazing if not puzzling concept.

The tradition of Jesus has as the most formal name for the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus four naked consonants: roughly YHWH in our alphabet, yodh-he-vav-he in Biblical Hebrew. Biblical Hebrew had no vowel markings. Reading the text correctly depended on oral tradition passing on the pronunciation from one generation to another. Further complications include that when the Masoretic text was formalized with vowel markings (6th – 9th centures ce), those in charge intentionally put the wrong vowels with YHWH since it has long been forbidden by tradition to pronounce the divine name in public. The vowels assigned are for the word Adonai, which also roughly means God for our purposes, but just is not the proper name. And so that is what is read in synagogue when YHWH shows up in the Torah texts. (This was mistakenly corrupted into Jehovah several hundred years ago by gentiles who had no idea what they were doing – Jehovah not being a “real word” at all.) Whenever Jesus says, "I am," his first century constituents would associate him with the great "I Am" of the burning bush.

Why all this background on this Feast of the Holy Name? It is fascinating to note that in less than the first hundred years after Jesus rose from the dead, he was assigned no fewer than 200 different names in New Testament literature! The first, of course, is Jesus, the name told to Mary and the Shepherds by the angel. “The Word,” or in Greek “The Logos,” is perhaps the most mysterious, assigned by the author of the Fourth Gospel in its majestic opening verses.

Emmanuel, or Immanuel, however, stemming from an otherwise obscure verse in the writings of the prophet Isaiah (7:14), may very well be among the most important names given to the child circumcised eight days after his birth. It means quite simply, “God with us.” That, as it turns out, is the sense of the opening verses of John – the Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. Jesus is God dwelling among us. This is the scandal of Christianity.

Now the Hindus and the Greeks were quite comfortable with the idea of manifestations of God living among humans, messing with us, cavorting with us and so on. The Hindus and Greeks were and are comfortable with “God” (eg Brahman) having many names, many manifestations. It turns out that when we look more carefully at our tradition, we share this same comfort. It is one of the curses of radical monotheism that we tend to convince ourselves that One God can only have One Name. Just google “Names for Jesus” and you will find over 200 options that accrued in the first century. The Quran lists no fewer than 99 names for the One God, Allah.

Among the names for Jesus is the idea advanced by Isaiah and John that Jesus, the Word, the Word that is with God and is God, is also Immanuel – God with us. Jesus is God. God is with us.

So the Holy Name we honor with this feast is nothing less than the Holy Name of God – Jesus, Immanuel, the Word, I am who I am, Yahweh. We throw “Jesus” around rather casually and indiscriminately. We pretend to know all about him, when in fact God is ultimately unknowable and yet knowable all at once.

I would like to end with this short chapter from Richard Rohr’s The Naked Now as it pertains to God’s Holy Name, YaHWeH, I am who I am, The Great Unspeakable Name:

"This unspeakability has long been recognized, but we now know it goes deeper: formally the word was not spoken at all, but breathed. Many are convinced that its correct pronunciation is an attempt to replicate and imitate the very sound of inhalation and exhalation. The one thing we do every moment of our lives is therefore to speak the name of God. This makes it our first and our last word as we enter and leave the world.
"For some years now, I have taught this to contemplative groups in many countries, and it changes people faith and prayer lives in substantial ways. I remind people that there is no Islamic, Christian or Jewish, way of breathing. There is no American, African, or Asian way of breathing. There is no rich or poor way of breathing. The playing field is leveled. . The air of the earth is one and the same air, and this divine wind "blows where it will (John 3:8) - which appears to be everywhere. No one and no religion can control this spirit.
"When considered in this way, God is suddenly as available and accessible as the very thing we all do constantly - breathe. Exactly as some teachers of prayer always said, 'Stay with the breath, attend to your breath': the same breath that was breathed into Adam's nostrils by this Yahweh (Genesis 2: 7); the very breath that Jesus hands over with trust on the cross (John 19:30) and then breathed on us as shalom, forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit all at once (John 20:21-23). And isn't it wonderful that breath, wind, spirit, and air are precisely nothing - and yet everything!
"Just keep breathing consciously in this way and you will know that you are connected to humanity from cavemen to cosmonauts, to the entire animal world, even to the trees and plants. And we are now told that the atoms we breathe are physically the same as the stardust from the original Big Bang. Oneness is no longer merely a vague mystical notion, but a scientific fact!"
- Richard Rohr, The Naked Now (Crossroad, New York: 2009) p. 25-26

So this is what The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus offers us: the insight that every breath we take from first to last is “saying” the Holy Name of God. Be attentive to each breath. God is with you. The Word dwells in our very midst. This is not only good news, it is the best news! What more could we possibly want? Amen.
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek
Saint Peter's at Ellicott Mills

Gaudete Sunday - Rejoice!

2011-12-10T16:16:00.001-08:00

11 December 2011/Advent 3B –Magnificat/Psalm 126/1 Thessalonians 5:16-24/John 1:6-8,19-28
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter’s at Ellicott Mills, Maryland
Advent Wreath: Part 1
Advent means “coming.” What is coming is the coming of Christ – as in “Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again.” For four weeks before Christmas Christians reflect on this promised return of Christ as we prepare to celebrate the feast of his birth – the baby Jesus, Emmanuel – God with us.

Ancient Northern Europeans often made evergreen wreaths long before Christianity. According to Wikipedia: “The circle symbolized the eternal cycle of the seasons while the evergreens and lighted candles signified the persistence of life in the midst of winter. Some sources suggest the wreath—now reinterpreted as a Christian symbol—was in common use in the Middle Ages, others that it was established in Germany as a Christian custom only in the 16th century.” With some scholars insisting it was adapted in 19th Century Germany. All that is clear is that it was first a so-called pagan practice adopted by the church well into the Christian era.

One notes that as we light a new candle each week in Advent, the days are getting shorter and darker. Until that day when a new light shines in the darkness – Christmas – the birth of Jesus, of whom Saint John writes that he is the light that shines in the darkness, the darkness has not overcome the light, the light is the life of men.

There is a story about the evergreen trees and shrubs. When the great Creator Spirit was creating the world, he wished to give a gift to each creature. He set up a kind of a contest to determine just what gifts would be most fitting for which living things he had placed upon the earth. In the deep of winter he ordered all the trees of the forest to stay awake and keep watch over all creation for seven days and seven nights, and those that did would receive a special gift.

Well, the trees were all so excited to have been given such an important task that none of them could even think of sleeping the first night. Over the next few nights, however, one after another started falling asleep, until finally on the seventh day only the firs, balsams, spruces, hollies, junipers, and laurels were still awake and keeping watch. The great Creator Spirit proclaimed, “You have done well! I will give you the gift of being green year round so that in the dead of winter other creatures may find shelter and care among your branches!”

Advent means to remind Christians that we are those people called and chosen by God to be watching and waiting, keeping guard over all creation – for so God did create us, male and female, in God's own image, that we might rule and serve all God’s creatures and all of creation.

We are called to be an Evergreen People – others are meant to take refuge among our branches. We are to watch over and care for those in need. God came to us as Jesus to help us to remember who we are and whose we are – who we were created to be in the first place. We are to be the light shining in the darkest days, ever green in the most barren, cold and difficult times and places. Advent is a time for us to think on these things as we watch and wait for Christ to return to our lives, our hearts and souls. Prepare him a place in your heart and become an evergreen person of God. Amen.

Advent Wreath: Part 2
Although traditional Advent Wreathes have red or purple candles, and sometimes a white “Christ” candle in the center, the Sarum usage at Salisbury Cathedral in England calls for blue candles – symbolizing “hope” and “waiting.” Advent is a time of hope and waiting – hope and waiting for the coming of Christ.

No one knew this better than Mary – a mere teenage child by today’s standards. Traditionally the Third Sunday of Advent shifts our focus to Mary, and often a rose colored candle is used on this Third Sunday. Called Gaudete Sunday – Latin for “Rejoice,” a key word in all of our scripture for today. Though one well might ask just what a young, pregnant teenage girl has to rejoice about!

The clues lie in our scriptures that reveal the history of our people, the people of God. Writes St. Paul to the Church in Thessalonika, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing....for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." For years I have found this to be the most mysterious and probably most important task we are given - to pray without ceasing! Pray always. May all of your life be a prayer. All that we do and all that we say is meant to be a prayer. How does one do this?

Mary knows. When all is said and done, the babe is born, the shepherds have shared the news with anyone who will listen, we are told that Mary ponders these things in her heart. I suspect she began her pondering back with the angel Gabriel announcing that she, a young girl, unmarried at that, would bear a child - and not just any child, but God's child. It is the kind of news that is likely to set you to ponder many things.

I have come to think that this pondering, or prayer without ceasing, finds its origins in something like centering prayer. And that once one has entered the realm of oneness with God and with others, all kinds of prayers begin to manifest themselves. Look at Mary. The Magnificat, The Song of Mary, bursts forth from her pondering heart.

Like Paul, she too speaks of Rejoicing "in God my Savior." All this pondering has helped her to feel blessed. And then she has a vision - the proud shall be scattered, the mighty cast down, the lowly lifted up and the rich sent empty away! It is an animating vision. One that were I to hazard a guess still animates people all around the world, from Occupy Wall Street, Main Street, Whatever Street, to the streets of places as far away as Russia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen.
For those of us who do not spend much time pondering, do we even recognize that what Mary sings about, what Mary's poetry proclaims, amidst a climate of military occupations, mortgage foreclosures, monstrous indebtedness and the like - do we even recognize that what she imagines the Lord can do is happening before our very eyes?

Gaudete Sunday is a time to Rejoice with Mary, with the Psalmist in Psalm 126, with Paul, and even with John the Baptizer who is pictured going to great pains to point out that he is not the one they are looking for, but The One is here. The Advent Wreath means to draw our attention to all this on this Third Sunday of Advent as we find ourselves once again sitting and standing before what is perhaps one of the strangest and yet most wonderful images of Christ's real presence - Jesus hanging in the palm trees.

Not so strange, however, in the middle east, in Israel, where date palm trees are the coin of the realm. The date palm is thought to be The Original Tree - the one "in the Garden of Eden." (Or, "Inagodadavida"...for those of a certain age)

When one is in Israel one notices that every olive wood crèche, large or small, has a palm tree in front of the shed. And that might not be something you notice all that much until you learn that 1) all the olive wood crèches are made by Muslim artisans in Bethlehem, and 2) the palm tree plays a key role in the Koran's portrayal of the birth of Jesus.

It may come as a surprise that Mary is venerated as a woman among women in Islam, and that as she is in labor she grabs onto a palm tree. A voice, thought by some to some from the child in her womb, tells her that there is a river flowing beneath the tree, and to shake the palm tree so dates will pour down to nourish and relieve the pains of childbirth. The tree shakes, the dates rain down, a child is born. The same story appears in an apocryphal gospel of Matthew as well!

So whether it is the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, or the tree that mid-wifed the virgin birth, Jesus is surely at home in those trees - perhaps even crucified on a date palm where he hands over his spirit, his breath, his life to any of us who will receive it.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Have a blessed Gaudete Sunday as we watch and wait for our Lord to enter into our lives. Let every heart, prepare him room so we are ready to receive him as he hands his Spirit over to us. Amen.

In Memoriam Myra Maureen Frazier

2011-12-09T17:11:00.000-08:00

In Memoriam
Myra Maureen Frazier 1968-2011

Martha and Mary were sisters. Their brother Lazarus had been sick. They had called for their dear friend Jesus, knowing that He was of God. The text is clear, it says “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” He delays going, and when he does go his disciples try to talk him out of going because the region around Bethany was too dangerous with people trying to stone him and others already conspiring to have him arrested. As further sign of his deep love, Jesus replies, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”
Meanwhile, Martha and Mary are at home sitting shiva, the Jewish custom of mourning. Friends and neighbors surround them, much as we come to be with Myra's family and one another as we seek comfort and consolation at having lost “our friend,” Myra. Word comes to the sisters that Jesus has approached the outskirts of Bethany. Always the practical one, always the one seeing to it that others needs are met, Martha goes to meet Jesus before he gets to the house. She has some business with him that is better kept at a distance from the house and those who are comforting the family – she seems to want to spare them hearing what she has to say.
And what she has to say is what we all want to say at a time like this: Lord, if you had been here, Lord if you had heard our prayers, Lord if you had done something, come sooner, our brother Lazarus would not have had to die! Martha is not a shy one. She may appear so while taking care of others, busy behind the scenes, but when the times demanded it she could stand up to anyone, including Jesus.
Jesus tells her that Lazarus will rise again. Martha, believing he is talking about some hypothetical future when all the dead shall rise again says in effect, “Sure, sure, we all know that, but I am talking about now.” Jesus responds, “I am now. I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Martha immediately knows he is right. Martha immediately sees Jesus as if for the first time – He is of God, He is resurrection, He is life. And speaking on behalf of all of us here this morning, and for all people who mourn at all times and in all places, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” When she had said this, the text continues, she went and told Mary who got up and left the house to go see Jesus, and everyone in the house followed. Jesus saw Mary and everyone with her weeping and was “deeply moved.” They go to the tomb, Jesus calls Lazarus out, and orders everyone, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
This is the hard part. This is the hard part for all of us: letting go. We are here because we love Myra and all that she was, is and continues to be: daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, friend, and someone who reached out to help those in deep need, the underserved, and this earth, our fragile island home. It is doubly hard for everyone here, since it is likely to be some time before we have any idea exactly how she died, how it is that she has been taken away from us.
What we can be certain of, however, is that Myra had courage and desire like Martha to tackle two of the most important problems facing the world today: the ecology/environmental problem and the economic problem. Myra was out in front, like Martha, alerting us to what can be done in both arenas, and doing something about it. Lives have been changed, and the very structure of the earth has been changed and preserved as a result of her dedication, knowledge and will.
As we come to mourn and comfort one another, we also come to remember and celebrate the life of this remarkable woman.
Myra received her law degree from Duke University
She began her nearly 15 years of experience in the energy and environmental fields as a Fulbright Fellow in Libreville, Gabon, Africa.
She later worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency implementing technical cooperation between the US and South African Governments, focused on energy plicy planning, air quality management and climate mitigation strategies.
Myra also worked on the litigation team that negotiated the Consent Agreement Final Order with the Concentrated Animal Feedlot industry - an agreement accepted by over 8,000 farms in 37 states.
Recently she has been a contract attorney for a variety of energy and technology companies,
And perhaps her greatest passion has been working to help families in Maryland avoid foreclosure on their homes.
And here at St. Peter's she has been an extraordinary advisor to our Green Team, and has served on the Bishop of Maryland's Task Force On The Environment for the past few years.

Several people have submitted Tributes to Myra which we would like to share with you now....

---------------

The most basic truth of the Judeo-Christian religion is that we come from Love, we return to Love and Love is all around. God is Love. Myra now knows this. Just as Martha goes before everyone else to greet Jesus at the edge of town, so Myra has gone ahead of us to meet and be greeted by her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Myra has been and will continue to be so much a part of God’s love surrounding us on all sides – she brought us all closer to God, closer to each other and closer to ourselves. What a wonderful life’s work!
How fitting that the church is decorated for Easter – The Feast of the Resurrection. The Paschal Candle, first lit on Easter Eve in the darkness shines brightly - the light that shines in the Darkness, the light of Christ. The Light that John says the Darkness has not and cannot overcome. It stands near the Baptismal Font, marking that place where we enter into the fellowship of Christ’s Body, the Church, The entry point into eternal life.
For we are those people who believe that life is changed, not ended, at death. And when our mortal body lies in death, there is prepared for us a dwelling place eternal in the heavens.
Once baptized into the body of Christ, St. Paul asserts "neither death, nor life, nor angels , nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Myra knows this to be true. She has been unbound. She is set free. She now joins with Martha and all those who throughout the ages proclaim, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
So we come to mourn. We come to comfort one another. We come to remember and celebrate and give thanks for a life faithfully lived and more faithfully set free. And we come to affirm our faith, Myra's faith, and the faith of the Church.
A Catholic priest and monk, Henri Nouwen, observed on the death of his mother: In those confusing weeks after my mother’s death I said to myself, “This is a time of waiting for the Spirit of truth to come, and woe unto me, if by forgetting her, I prevent her from doing God’s work in me.” I sensed that something much more than a filial act of remembering was at stake, much more than an honoring of my dead mother, much more than holding on to her beautiful example. Very specifically, what was at stake was the life of the Spirit in me. To remember her does not mean telling her story over and over again to my friends, nor does it mean pictures on the wall or a stone at her grave; it does not even mean constantly thinking about her. No. It means making her an active participant of God’s ongoing work of redemption by allowing her to dispel in me a little more of my darkness and lead me a little closer to the light. In these weeks of mourning she died in me more and more every day, making it impossible for me to cling to her as my mother. Yet by letting her go I did not lose her. Rather, I found that she is closer to me than ever. In and through the Spirit of Christ, she indeed, is becoming a part of my very being.
[In Memoriam, p. 60]

Myra is now at one with God's light, the Light of Christ. She came to this church week after week and affirmed this. She stood in this church week after week the past few years to affirm her faith in Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Let us stand, turning to page 496 in the Red Book of Common Prayer, and In the assurance of eternal life given at Baptism, let us proclaim our faith:

Apocalypse Now

2011-11-26T16:08:00.001-08:00

27 November 2011/Advent 1B - Isaiah 64:1-9/1 Corinthians 1:3-9/Mark 13:24-37
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter's at Ellicott Mills, Maryland
Keep Awake: Turn Back
It has been observed that we sleepwalk through much of life. The ritual and busyness of the familiar, the routine, carries us forward like an ever flowing stream. School started in August. Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone. The ritual observances of Christmas have begun with the consumer driven madness of Black Friday, now become Black Thursday and Small Business Saturday!

Each of these "end-times" has a procedural set of expectations, rituals, traditions which we can predictably sleepwalk our way through year after year after year - business as usual.

Then in the midst of our ritual march toward Christmas intrudes this odd bit of scripture from Mark - Mark, who has no birth story of Jesus and for that matter no resurrection appearance either. It is called the Little Apocalypse. Jewish Apocalyptic literature plays a key role in hard times. Scenes like this one are meant to buck up a people weary of having the goodness of God's creation disrupted by the vagaries of occupation, exile, social and economic chaos and disintegration, militaristic solutions and the like.

Throughout the history of Israel, the need for apocalyptic was a regular occurrence. At the time of Jesus the country was under the military occupation of Rome, and the rigid demands of the aristocratic religious leadership of the Temple. Not long after Jesus the people attempted two unsuccessful revolts. By the time Mark's gospel had taken shape in the form we have it now, the Temple had already been destroyed by Rome's scorched earth response to the first revolt.

Jewish Apocalyptic was meant to encourage the faithful who now suffer the evils of the present age, and to offer assurance that a moment of judgment and reckoning will soon arrive. Those listening to Mark for the first time are encouraged to maintain hope despite the seeming delay of the Son of Man, but be assured that come he will, and not only will he bring deliverance, but he will also be the One to whom an account must be given. So stay awake, keep alert, be vigilant and watchful in how you pattern your life. Which for Jesus means a life of repentance. Repentance is to be a way of life, not a one-time event.

Jesus' call for repentance is consistent with a biblical tradition's demand for change - change that arises from compassion, not contempt. The words used in the Bible for repentance mean to "turn around." The assumption is that something important and precious has been left behind and needs to be reclaimed. This Jesus calls the Kingdom of God, what some have termed The Great Economy, since God's vision for God's people has always concerned itself with the economy. "It's the economy, stupid," very well can be understood as a biblical imperative. So that repentance is an invitation to deconstruct what is wrong about our way of life and reconstruct a life characterized by the kind of justice and dignity God calls for repeatedly throughout the long history of the biblical narrative.

It is all too easy to see that the world which God created and declared as "good," even "very good," is now running off the rails - and that when this happens, people, who were created in God's image, suffer many indignities and depredations. As the gap between the haves and the have nots continues to grow, as the elected representatives tasked to make corrections deadlock even further, and as we seem to be escalating a militaristic stance toward the rest of the world, it seems clear that the call from Mark's Jesus for repentance is just as germane today as it was nearly 2,000 year ago. It is time once again to turn around and recall, remember, what we have left behind of God's vision for mankind.

It will be seen, years from now, that one of the great ironies of our time saw endless kiosks of books in what was called the Left Behind series of so-called modern day Christian apocalyptic which had little or no connection to the kind of apocalyptic vision Jesus spins out in the thirteenth chapter of Mark. Most especially since the series was born of a theology, Millerism,
which has claimed to know when the end of days will come and the Son of Man appear. Since October 22, 1844 until recently the day has been calculated and recalculated, set and re-set. One has to wonder how such devout and faithful people, and they certainly are, ignore our Lord's own words, "But about that day no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

So what has this to do with Advent and Christmas? Advent, adventus, means "coming." Advent is a time to re-set our sights, to turn back once again, to attempt to recover what has truly been left behind - which is not unbelievers as the popular imagination would have it. What has been left behind is our Lord's vision of the Kingdom of God, a vision based on nearly 3,000 years of biblical imagination - a vision based in justice and dignity - a vision that rejects the notion that power is truth, that violence of any kind can bring about righteousness.

Advent has also been characterized as a time of waiting - waiting for our Lord's return to set things right - to justify our attitude of Hope and our assurance that the day is near. But this is no waiting that connotes a sitting around resting on whatever laurels may be left. It is a waiting that is actively engaged in lives of justice and dignity for all people - not some people, not most people, but all people. When this truly breaks in on us it will no longer be business as usual!

Which means that our compassion ought to lead us to moral outrage at the ways in which the consumer driven culture of acquisition, and militaristic culture of violence work against all that God came to us as a baby in a manger to wake us up to the futility of these modes of so-called civilization.

Which means not just staying awake, but waking up! Waking up to our peculiar history, as a church, as a nation, as mankind. Much of what we hail as progress has come at the expense of grinding one people or another into dust.

Waking up out of our sleepwalking state of being is an invitation to turn back and look at our history to uncover the massive efforts of denial that have left us addicted to acquisition and violence. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Look at the signs of the times. See how we repeat over and over again the biblical sins of blindness, deafness and hardness of heart.

Then once we are awake, once we begin to turn back, see if in this waiting time we might actually hear what Mark's Jesus is really saying - what the call to discipleship truly entails. Only then will we be ready for the coming Day of the Lord. Only then will be truly know not only who we are, but whose we are: disciples of the Son of Man and the people of his Kingdom of shalom, justice and dignity for all people. If ever there was a time for Jewish Apocalyptic it is now. Thank God for opening our hearts to its vision this First Sunday of Advent. Amen.

In Memoriam - Brent Peddicord

2011-11-26T16:07:00.001-08:00

In Memoriam
E. Brent Peddicord
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11/The Revelation to John 21:3b-5/John 14:1-3

Death, the most assured human attribute, remains the most mysterious. So it is that humans for countless millennia have stopped all activity to ponder the life and death of a loved one as a way of delving into the very mysteries of life and death.

The loss of someone we know and love and cherish takes us away from the busyness of our day- to-day existence so that in a sense time stops. We stop. And traditionally we gather as a community to stop whatever we are doing and to simply be with one another for a brief time away from all other time.

Ecclesiastes, frequently translated as The Preacher, knows about time. There is a time for everything under the sun. This is one of those times.

And in the Revelation to John, the mysterious eternal quality of time is referenced as Alpha and Omega, the totality of all that is, seen and unseen, quite literally everything from A to Z in our alphabet – that which can be perceived, and that which must be taken on faith. All that is emanates from a single point, a single person identified as God in our text. We are his people, he is our God – a God like no other, a God whose very essence, whose very quality is to be with us at moments like this when time seems to stop, to wipe away our tears and to make all things new.

Jesus, speaking to his closest friends the night before he is to die, gathers them to prepare them for the inevitable.
Like most of us here, they protest, “How can this be? Where are you going? We will come with you!”

Note how Jesus, the one who is about to die a cruel death is the one comforting them. Jesus replies in metaphor – in my father’s house are many mansions. The Greek text translates more like way stations – a stopping place on one’s journey, one's way from point A to point B. A resting place. Only these way stations are of God and with God – the God who himself is with us, wiping away our tears, has prepared a particular place for each and every one of us.

Jesus’ assertion is unequivocal – there are no requirements, no conditions, no need for beliefs, faith or any other prerequisites. A place has been prepared, and God himself, Jesus, promises to come again and receive us so that where he is, we too shall be.

As a dear friend and former Jesuit has put it, “We come from Love, we return to Love, and Love is all around.” The heart of God is Love. And as Jesus constantly tries to remind us, the time is now. Time is the temple of eternity. We say, “Time is of the essence,” and perhaps we are not conscious of just how true that really is - for time is the essence of God, of God's son, and God's Love.

Brent had a special relationship with time. As most of you know, he had a lifelong interest in clocks and became a serious collector and historian in his later years. While he appreciated the clocks for their mechanical intricacies, the woodworking of their cases, his focus as a collector was on preservation, not simply acquisition. He saw himself not so much as an owner or as an investor, but as a steward. He enjoyed spending time doing research and traveling to auctions, but it was his steady devotion to clocks – the regular winding and dusting, the timely oiling or repair – that marked him as a collector. His interest was in caring for them while they were in his possession so they could be appreciated by future generations. His hope was that each clock would one day leave his custody in working order and in better shape than when he acquired it.

His steady, reliable caretaking habits also marked him as a son, a husband, a father, a brother, and an employee. He was someone who could be counted on to take care of things. Brent knew how to look to the past for guidance and how to look at the future so he could plan for it, but he lived his life in the present and understood how the accumulation of small, daily acts added up to a life that mattered.

It is a life that has called us to stop and allow ourselves simply to be in this present moment – to remember Brent, to remember his continual acts of stewardship, and perhaps to become aware that there is a larger presence in the here and now of time that we rarely take time to acknowledge.

We come from Love, we return to Love and Love is all around. Brent has made the round-trip journey from and to Love. Brent was very much a tangible and palpable expression of that Love being all around. He could sense it in the very pulse of time, with each tick and each tock. He preserved the eternal presence in time so that we might come to appreciate it and know it ourselves.

We have only this brief time together to contemplate these things, and yet that shall be more than enough time to bring us closer to God, closer to one another and closer to our selves.

The late Henri Nouwen, renowned priest, teacher and writer, in reflecting on his mother’s death, writes the following:
"There is a time of waiting for the Spirit of truth to come, and woe unto me if, by forgetting her, I prevent her from doing God’s work in me. I sensed that something much more than a filial act of remembering was at stake, much more than an honoring of my dead mother, much more than a holding on to her beautiful example. Very specifically, what was at stake was the life of the Spirit in me.
To remember her does not mean telling her story over and over again to my friends, nor does it mean pictures on the wall or a stone on her grave; it does not even mean constantly thinking about her. No. It means making her a participant in God’s ongoing work of redemption by allowing her to dispel in me a little more of my darkness and lead me a little closer to the light. In these weeks of mourning she died in me more and more every day, making it impossible for me to cling to her as my mother. Yet, by letting her go I did not lose her. Rather, I found that she is closer to me than ever. In and through the Spirit of Christ, she indeed is becoming a part of my very being." p.60 In Memoriam, Henri Nouwen

The light Nouwen speaks of shines on Brent – the light of the Paschal Candle, first lit in the darkness of Easter Eve, the Light of Christ. Saint John says that His light is the life of all men, and that no darkness has overcome it. Brent has become a part of the essence of this light.

As the Preacher known to us as Ecclesiastes makes certain, none of us can possibly know very much of what lies between Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. But we can be those people who are assured that now Brent knows in ways that he could only have imagined for the brief time he lived among us. What that mansion, that way station, that has been prepared for his arrival looks like we can only imagine – but it seems almost certain that there will be at least one clock for him to ponder, to care for, to preserve and to repair as we continue our journey to Love ourselves.

Even now, Brent is becoming a part of our very being in new and important ways. We are promised that in death life is changed, not ended. And sooner than we think, wherever he is, we too shall be, united in time eternal – each and every tick of the clock brings us closer and closer still. For that, and for a life faithfully lived as a steward of things and relationships precious in this world, we give thanks. Amen.

Sabbath Economics 101

2011-11-12T15:04:00.001-08:00

13 November 2011/Proper 28A – Matthew 25:14-30
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, St. Peter’s at Ellicott Mills

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven will be as when a man, going on a journey,
summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them….”

Not exactly. We have long been mislead about this parable. It has been misconstrued as teaching a lesson about the coming reign of God, as praising venturous investment and diligent labor, and encouraging rapacious taking of that which is not ours and reaping that which we did not sow! Please note, at the beginning of this parable, Jesus does not say, “The kingdom of heaven will be as when a man, going on a journey….etc.” The lectionary crowd borrowed this from a place much earlier in chapter 25 of Matthew. You can look it up yourselves. (p.860 in our pew Bibles)He is describing the sad and shameful reality of life in this world as it was and is.

The sequence in chapter 25 is the parable of the ten maidens which ends with the imperative: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Then follows our story, often called The Parable of the Talents, when it should be called The Parable of the faithful servant who woke up! The kingdom of heaven will be like those who wake up to what is dreadfully wrong with the dominant economy.

Well, you might say, that has become rather obvious as we continue to witness the disintegration of the world economy, to say nothing of our own, at the hands of a few “masters” of wealth like the one depicted in our parable.

We just cannot get it unless we understand the magnitude of what is being handed out. A talent was somewhere between 54 and 75 pounds of silver, sterling! One talent was 6,000 denarii, or 6,000 days wages for one laborer (16 years per talent, 128 years wages handed out to the three slaves!). This has been conservatively valued at approximately Two and One-Half Million Dollars in today’s dollars! And the master does not deny that he did not earn or in any way merit this wealth. He took it from others through a series of credit arrangements, mortgage foreclosures, and land-grabs (since wealth was measured in land at the time).

Further, in Mediterranean society then and now, anything over a 12% return on your wealth was considered rapacious, obscene, and immoral. To double your investment is to participate in patently unfair economic warfare on the working and middle classes.

If in fact the kingdom of heaven demands that we wake up, the hero of the story is the slave who buries the talent as a non-violent protest: “I refuse to participate any longer in your unfair system of economic warfare on the poor! Take your talent and shove it!” he seems to say.

Now the Biblical literate among us will have read, marked and inwardly digested the scriptures, as our collect for the day urges us to do. Having done so, any number of other scriptures come to mind offering an alternative view of what some have called God’s Sabbath Economics. In Exodus Chapter 16, the story of Manna, the basic economic view of the God of the Exodus is laid out: everyone is to get enough, no one gets too much, and if you store it up it sours – it goes bad, it will be crawling with worms, maggots, and vermin. In Leviticus 25 is the prohibition against usury and profiteering off the poor. In Isaiah chapter 5 those who participate in unfair real estate dealings are condemned. Jesus recalls the Manna Season principles when he urges us to pray for bread that is given daily. And in the very next story in Matthew Chapter 25 we get the story of the sheep being separated from the goats in which it is made clear that when you serve those who are hungry, thirsty, in jail, naked, sick and strangers, you are serving the Lord Jesus himself. When you do not serve the poor and disadvantaged, you have aligned yourself with “master going on a journey” and his toady-slaves who prop up his wealth at their own expense.

Not being agrarians, evidenced by our corporate lack of concern for the earth, the land, from which our food comes, we miss the punch line of a hilariously funny joke here: the protesting slave buries the 70 some pounds of silver in the ground. There, see if it can grow anything meaningful there! The peasants listening to Jesus and who work the land all know that all true wealth comes from God, the source of rain, sunshine, seed and soil. Like those in the wilderness who build a golden calf and worship money cast as religion, the taunting cry is, “Go ahead, pray to all the money you want, plant all the talents you have in the ground, multiply your gold and silver ten times over, and it will never get you out of the system of economic slavery to which you devote your every waking hour!”

It is a clash of world-views like that which we witness on Wall Street and in cities all around the world today: the traditional agrarian notion of “use-value” and the elite’s currency-based system of “exchange-value.” Money can grow naturally like seed, but only unnaturally through usury and swindling. This symbolic act of planting the talent is a case of prophetic tricksterism to reveal that money is not fertile.

And like all the prophets before him, our hero-slave, what some have called a “whistle-blower,” having unmasked the master’s wealth as entirely derived from the toil of others, is cast out. Much as when Jesus unmasks the unholy powers in Jerusalem is cast outside the city walls and crucified. Our hero-slave keeps good and honest and faithful company. What has long been presumed being sent to “hell” turns out to be his exodus out of the hell of the rich man’s system and closer to the true Lord who dwells among the poor. It is the same Lord who teaches us to pray for daily bread (manna), and to forgive debts (n.b., sin and debt are the same word in Jesus’ native Aramaic) – that is, Jesus teaches us to pray for a return to Sabbath Economics.

What an extraordinary parable to get as the world’s economy appears to be melting before our very eyes, while those who pretend to manage it have run out of ideas on what to do next. The pundits will mock the Occupy Wall Street crowd as offering no new ideas, but this charge rings hollow as those same pundits, experts and elite money managers appear to have no coherent strategy themselves.

The late Bishop Bennett Sims once said, “The only thing that can save us from a culture of increasing violence, greed and rapacious consumption will be an increase in Christian Giving.” Which brings us to Christ's altar today, where we are invited to place our sacrificial pledge right beside his sacrificial body and blood. Christ gives it all for the salvation of the world. He invites us to join in the Sabbath Economics of his Father’s dream of shalom for all mankind. May the Lord bless us this day as we seek to be as faithful as the hero-slave in today’s parable. Amen.

Instructions For True and Laudable Service

2011-10-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

30 October 2011/Proper 26A- Joshua 3:7-17, Matthew 23:1-12
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter’s at Ellicott Mills, Maryland
You Have One Instructor
From our collect for today: “It is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service…” We are those people called to true and laudable service. And today we find Jesus once again giving some shape to just what that means. He says, “You have one instructor.” Guess who? Surprise! It's the Pharisees!

Jesus is usually arguing with the Pharisees. Here Jesus surprises us when he says to do what the Pharisees say and teach. Just don’t follow their example! One of the things they teach, of course, is tithing - and not just 10% of your wages, but of every little thing: crops, herds, dill, mint, mustard seeds, you name it. He also speaks of them laying heavy burdens on others without lifting a finger themselves to help those others. Jesus is into helping others. Just what might tithing and helping others have to do with each other?

Elsewhere he speaks of his burdens being light. Make no mistake about it, however, his burdens in and of themselves are heavier than anything the Pharisees ever thought of or conceived. For starters, Jesus says those who believe in him will do the things he does, “and greater things than these will you do.” John 14:12

He says we are to include all people in the life of His community, especially sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, sinners, widows, orphans and illegal aliens, i.e., people not at all like ourselves. Oh yes, and we are to love our enemies.

We are to turn the other cheek, which, by the way, does not mean becoming a kind of “doormat” rolling over in the face of oppression. In the Roman culture of Jesus’ day, a superior could slap an inferior person in the face with the back of the hand. When one turns the cheek, however, it forces the person to slap with the palm of the hand. To slap with the palm of the hand was to acknowledge the other as an equal. To turn the other cheek is to challenge all false authority.

Therefore it was an act of defiance or civil disobedience, much like Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus. That was what Jesus meant about turning the other cheek: asserting righteousness; defiantly not letting others determine your worth or value in the eyes of God.

One can easily see that Jesus calls us to a much higher, and potentially “heavier,” standard. The difference is that he not only lifts a finger to help us, but is in it with us wherever we are, even allowing himself to be lifted high upon a Roman cross to suffer capital punishment as a way of making our burdens light.

The problem of the Pharisees, which is a long time historic problem for the church, is doing things to be recognized as religious, or pious, or a good person, or a superior person, or Number One, or worst of all, The Only One. John Chrysostom in the early church put it best, “Not only does he forbid setting the heart on first place, but he requires following after the last.”

And as another wag has put it, “Many want to be pious, but few want to be humble.”

The church with its titles, its vestments, its pomp and its ceremony, all mimicking something more like the processions of Emperor Caesar or Constantine than the servant of God entering Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, needs to be careful.

This problem stretches way back to Joshua and then the period of Judges when the people demand that God give them a king like all the other countries. God says, “This is not a good idea.” But the people persist, they get a king, and then the troubles begin.

All because they would not trust God to raise up the leadership they would need at any given time. God must often wonder just when we might be willing to listen to him?

Today’s lessons call us to a good degree of self-evaluation and rededication to the kind of life Jesus calls us to live. One good place to look would be our catechism. Please turn to page 855 in the Book of Common Prayer and read along together:

Q. Through whom does the Church carry out its mission?
A. The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its members.

Q. Who are the ministers of the Church?
A. The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests and deacons.

Q. What is the ministry of the laity?
A. The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church;
to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship and governance of the Church.

Q. What is the duty of all Christians?
A. The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.

Jesus calls us to be the least and to be humble. Being least and being humble does not limit our generosity, nor stop us from doing greater things than Jesus does, or living to lighten the burden of others. The Pharisees teach tithing, giving 10%. Jesus says do what they teach. Jesus gave more than 10% - he gave it all for you and for me.

As to burdens, we have a heavy load. We have been carrying a significant deficit budget since 2005. And we can anticipate a significant deficit in our budget for 2012 unless we all look into our hearts and consider what it is we can give in 2012 to fund the kind of “true and laudable service…” we pray for today. The duty of all Christians is to work, pray and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.

We have a heavy load. But if we let Jesus into our lives and into our midst, we will remember that he lifts more than a finger to help us live into the kind of life he calls us to live. Amen.

Always We Begin Again

2011-10-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

23 October 2011/Proper 25A – 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8/Matthew 22:34-46
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore
As You Know
Paul’s First letter to the church in Thessalonica is the earliest of all New Testament writings – perhaps in the early 50’s of the first century.

One commentary writes, “The letter reflects the life of a congregation that was devoted to its faith and strongly aware of its separation from the society in which its members had until recently found their standards and values. At the same time it was also a community that was threatened by social pressures and at times outright persecution to turn back to the life from which they had come. Paul wrote to encourage the church, stressing that opposition is simply something to be expected.” (Oxford Annotated NRSV, p.291NT)

We have known such separation. And we have known similar social pressures. Outright persecution may be too strong a word, but opposition and conflict have surely characterized life in this place since the Parish Meeting one year ago this weekend. We can safely say that in some very real sense, Paul is writing to us.

I have always felt a particular kinship with this letter. As it begins, I could very well begin our time together on this day.

I give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in my prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Bishop Sutton asked me to shepherd this continuing congregation of Mount Calvary Episcopalians, we had not met. Although you no doubt saw me and heard me speak at the meeting the week before when as a member of the Standing Committee I accompanied the Bishop as he addressed the assembled congregation. I spoke of the kinship I felt for Mount Calvary, having served a church that was founded the same year (1842)by Bishop Wittingham for the same reason: to establish an Anglo-Catholic sensibility in the Diocese of Maryland as a way of enriching and diversifying this corner of God's vineyard.

I was uncertain as to what I might do, how I might serve those of you who courageously have withstood the social pressure to follow those who were choosing to abandon our communion and go to Rome. Still, separation was not and can never be easy. But you knew both who you are and whose you are - and knowing that you sought sacramental and pastoral care.

It is, for me, quite fitting that for our last Sunday together in this chapel as this congregation, that this portion of Paul's letter to the Thessalonians is the appointed reading. From the very first days of my ordained ministry I have held the vision of ministry Paul describes as that for which I would always strive - "As you know, and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us." I Thess 2:5-8

When asked to describe my ministry, this is always the scripture I have in mind. You have given me the gift of serving you as Paul suggests, gently, with no pretext, tenderly, determined to proclaim the Gospel of God in Christ, but also to offer you my own self. These past months together have been a gift to me. Your perseverance has both inspired me and brought me closer to God, closer to others and closer to my true self.

I have also come to appreciate more fully those who share this building with us. Despite what can be described as an awkward situation, the hospitality and courtesy extended to me has been genuine. As I have tried to represent Christ and this diocese in this place, I have felt accepted by nearly all those who worship here. I cannot begin to understand the journey upon which they have embarked, but as I have learned from the Hindus, there are many paths that lead to the summit - all streams lead to the sea. Perhaps one day the meaning of this difficult separation will become clear to us. In the meantime, we have had each other, and more importantly we have had Christ Jesus by our side every step of the way.

Believe me when I say, I do not want to leave any more than you do. I will miss each one of you more than I can express. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have served you this past year, and to hold you in my prayers every day.

As Paul writes in that very first document of Christian witness. "Now may God our Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way...and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all persons, as we do to you, so that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." I Thess 3:11-13

I frequently turn to a little book - a reinterpretation of that cornerstone of Anglican Spiritual Formation, the Rule of Saint Benedict - called Always We Begin Again (John McQuiston II, Morehouse Publishing, New York:1996,2011). Benedict, like many spiritual leaders throughout the history of mankind, recognized that each day, each moment of each day, is an opportunity to begin anew. This book has sustained me, and I hope it will sustain you as you move forward with Christ into a new chapter in your Journey with Jesus. Each time you open it, let it speak to you. Each time you open it, know that I will continue to hold you in my prayers. Each time you open it may it bring you closer to God, closer to others, and closer to yourself. As you know, and as God is my witness, you are God's beloved. God is well pleased with you and will continue to guide you every step of the way. Amen.

Everything Sad Will Come Untrue

2011-10-08T14:14:00.001-07:00

9 October 2011/Proper 23A - Philippians 4: 1-9/Matthew 22:1-14
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mt. Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore
Are We Ready To Choose
The gospel for today begs allegory and analogy leading inevitably to dividing people into groups of good and bad. It is an invitation to play the Blame Game. Coupled with our innate curiosity, like Pandora, we cannot help but want to know just who is going to be bound hand and foot and cast into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth! I suspect that as we hear this read, we all have candidates that leap to mind. It is the rare person who may reflect on why he or she might be that unlucky soul whose only sin appears to be not making the acceptable fashion statement for the occasion.

No matter how one parses this particular parable in Matthew, the results are baffling at best. Particularly in light of fact that at the end of the day it simply means to express how passionately our God wants us to come to his banquet - how passionately our God wants us to come home - how passionately our God loves us - all of us - all of the time. Many are called, says our Lord, but few are chosen. What remains mysteriously hidden and unsaid here is that it is we who do the choosing. Few choose to return to God, too busy are they wasting time on inconsequential disputes over what is right and what is wrong.

Which message is also at the heart of Paul's correspondence with the Christ followers in Philippi. He returns to the theme with which he began: there is no time for bickering, and no time to contemplate retribution against those who imprison me and those who hate us. There is simply no time for anything but the Love of God in Christ Jesus crucified and raised from the dead.

So please, get these two magnificent women, women who have struggled with me to proclaim the good news, get them back together again. Once you reconcile them you can rejoice! "And again I will say, Rejoice! The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything. Then you can get on with the business at hand: spreading the Good News of Christ Crucified and raised from the dead."

Paul is in prison and he believes this is the only way to be: joyful in the Lord. Be joyful in the Lord all you lands! Jubilate Deo! "And the Peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus....Keep doing the things that you have learned and received....and the God of Peace will be with you."

Just what "things" have the Philippians learned? When Paul left Macedonia he issued an invitation to the churches he knew to enter into partnership with him - a partnership of money and ministry. It was to be a partnership of giving and receiving. It is in giving with Christ that we receive, it is in dying with Christ that we live. Christ who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, emptied himself, and invites us to do the same. Of all the churches with which Paul was associated - Rome, Corinth, Thessalonica, Colossae, Galatia, Ephesus, and Philippi - it was only the Philippians who responded to his invitation. It was only the Philippians who sent Paul help, sending one of their own, Epaphroditus, who nearly died in serving Paul in prison.

Paul is the first pastoral counselor. He reminds the Philippians that they know what do to and how to do it. He has personally benefitted from their faithfulness in Christ Jesus. They have sacrificed money and gifts and nearly one of their own to further the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ - that God is at home and it is we who need to return to his banquet hall, fully prepared to do the work God calls us to do in Christ Jesus.

Paul's gift to us is the realization that the Church of Jesus Christ goes way beyond any single person or congregation. It is a vast network of congregations and peoples working together, sacrificing for one another, supporting one another.

But it is we who want to be left alone by the God who has made the most inconvenient men and women our neighbors - and instructed us to love them as much as we love God and love ourselves!

Against this backdrop, writes Paul, there is simply no time for division and argument. And there is no way to go it alone. Stop the dissension and disagreement right now. Disengage from worldly concerns and engage yourselves in God's work - "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches."

In J.R.R. Tolkien's final book of the Lord of the Rings, Sam Gamgee, an uncommonly courageous little Hobbit, wakes up after the climactic battle. Thinking everything is lost, he discovers all his friends are around him. He cries out to Gandalf the great wizard, "I thought you were dead. But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue?"

Is everything sad going to come untrue? And for those of us who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's answer is a resounding, "Yes!"

Many are called, says our Lord Jesus, but few are chosen. It is we who do the choosing. Are we ready to choose? Are we ready to choose to keep doing the things that we have learned and received? Are we ready to move on and leave controversy behind us?

For if we are, the God of Peace shall be with us wherever we are, wherever we go. And everything sad will come untrue. Because our God passionately wants us to come to his banquet. And our God passionately wants us to come home. And our God will passionately supply every need, including finding us a new home in Christ Jesus. Our God will make sure that everything sad will come untrue.

So it is that even from a prison cell, Saint Paul and urge us to Rejoice!
And again I will say, Rejoice!
The Lord is near.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus every step of the way!
Amen.

The Other Tenants

2011-10-01T15:08:00.001-07:00

2 October 2011/Proper 22A – Exodus 20:1-20/Philippians 3:4b-14/Matthew 21:33-46
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter’s at Ellicott Mills, MD
Do Not Let God Speak To Us!
This is what the people say to Moses after delivery of the 10 Commandments. It is pretty much what the chief priests and Pharisees are saying to one another after Jesus announces that the vineyard of the Lord will be let out to “other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” Do not let God speak to us. After which we say, “The word of the Lord,” “Thanks be to God.”

It gets kind of familiar, our response to this stuff. Almost glib. “Thanks be to God.” Are we all that thankful to hear this parable? To be reminded that we are to have no idols, that we are not to covet, that we are to give God the produce at the harvest time. After all, we are the “other tenants.” Just how eager are we to give God “the produce at the harvest”? In the matter of six or seven weeks we will find out.

In the meantime, there is Paul who continues to describe for us, week after week, what it means to be a tenant in God’s vineyard. And as George Harrison put it so well, “You know it don’t come easy!” (It Don’t Come Easy)

Paul writes to the Philippians as a prisoner of Rome, his previous employer, as he points out, while he was still a “persecutor of the church.” He is a prisoner because of his complete turn-around as an apostle of Jesus Christ – that is, one who is sent to spread the Good News – which would be, or to wit, that even one who was as far gone as Paul, one who stood by and watched as other Christ followers were stoned and otherwise put to death at his command, even Paul discovered that he was loved by God despite all that he was and all that he had done.

Now for those of us who, as one observer has put it, want our spiritual journey to more closely resemble a trip to the corner store than an epic journey or a lifetime spent in and out of jail on account of our zeal for Jesus, this all comes as a bit of a shock. Becoming a Christ follower like Paul comes at great expense – and yet Paul makes it abundantly clear, it is all more than worth it once we are able to put all the covetousness and idolatry behind us, just as God had asked us to do all the way back at the very beginning of our story (Exodus 20).

Philippians is perhaps the most sublime of all Christian texts, and one with which we are perhaps the least familiar. Last week it included what many consider the oldest Christian Hymn:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ
Who, though he was in the form of God
Did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped
But emptied himself
Taking the form of a servant
Being born in human likeness
And being found in human form
He humbled himself and became obedient unto death
Even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8)

As always, I find myself intrigued by what is not in our portion for today – for after giving us deep insight into the mind of Christ in chapter 2, the very next verse after our portion begins, “Let those of us who are mature be of the same mind…” (Philippians 3:15a) What falls in between, the balance of chapters 2 and 3, are some examples of what it means to have the mind of Christ, and a constant refrain, “ Rejoice with me(2:18)…Rejoice in the Lord(3:1)…Rejoice in the Lord, always; and again I say, Rejoice!(4:4)” Strange imperative from one who is imprisoned, is it not?

So we have God’s ten principles we are to obey. We have the example of God in Christ humbly being obedient. We have Paul humbled, blinded, brought to his knees to learn just what being obedient really looks like. In the missing verses (2:25-30) there is an example of just how the Philippians have embodied the Good News by sending one of their own to be with Paul in prison, Epaphroditus, to bring Paul nourishment and companionship. If someone did not visit you in Roman prisons, even under house arrest, little was provided for you by the Romans themselves. Evidently Epaphroditus became ill and nearly died serving Paul. So Paul, once Epaphroditus is feeling well enough to travel, sends him back to Philippi, perhaps to carry this letter, and the news that Paul was still alive, well, filled with joy and purpose!

The takeaway from all of this: Christ Followers live for others because an Other lived and died for us. But it gets better – Paul writes, “For his [Christ’s] sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him….I want to know Christ and the power of his Resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in death, if somehow I may attain the Resurrection of the dead…I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ.” Rubbish! How much are we willing to consign to rubbish!

At the heart of Paul’s appeal is letting go of everything – emptying himself, resulting in a sense of hope and joy that cannot be equaled. Evidently adopting the humility of Christ results in a joy and hope more abundant than all our idols and covetousness can promise.

So here we are – the “other tenants” of God’s vineyard. The Philippians heard God’s word and life changed completely. The contrast is clear: Rejoice like Paul, or shout out, “Do not let God speak to us!” when we hear the expectations for life lived with God.

The harvest time is upon us. Have we become those “other tenants” who give God the produce?
Or are we still like the old tenants keeping it all for ourselves? Only time will tell. Amen.

Be Of The Same Mind

2011-09-24T16:47:00.001-07:00

25 September 2011/Proper 21A- Exodus 17:1-7/Philippians 2: 1-13/Matthew 21:23-32
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore, MD
The Mind of Christ
In Exodus we hear a continuation of grumbling in the wilderness. If it is not food it is water. How patient is our God? As it turns out, very patient indeed, even when we are at our least attractive and least grateful.

In Matthew Jesus is sparring with the "chief priests and elders" over issues of authority: by what authority is Jesus doing "these things"? These things include most recently berating and withering a fig tree for bearing no figs. After forcing his questioners to question themselves, Jesus concludes with a story that sounds all too familiar to those who have children: Ask them to help out, and one says "No way!" The other says, "OK!" And of course the one who says "No way" ends up being the one who helps out, while the one who says "OK" is still in bed! Which is Jesus' way of saying, "Either you are on the bus or off of the bus. But take careful note, tax collectors and sinners are filling up the seats on the bus as we are about to leave the terminal."

Which may be another way of making Paul's argument in his letter to the church in Philippi: there is no time for bickering, and no time to contemplate retribution against those who imprison me and those who hate us. There is simply no time for anything but the Love of God in Christ Jesus crucified and raised from the dead.

"Be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped or exploited.

This is a lot more difficult than it sounds. This incredibly touching plea from Paul is urging the Philippians not to strike back at his captors, not to retaliate with force against force, but rather to empty ourselves as Christ emptied himself, taking the form of a servant – a servant of God.

This is Paul at his most sublime and most powerfully beautiful:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ
Who, though he was in the form of God
Did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped
But emptied himself
Taking the form of a servant
Being born in human likeness
And being found in human form
He humbled himself and became obedient unto death
Even death on a cross.

This is perhaps the very heart of life’s greatest mystery. The mind of God, the mind of Christ, is self-emptying. The word for this is kenosis. That is God willingly limits God’s power in order to become engaged in life on earth.

God is willing to limit God’s power to undergo the ultimate powerlessness, crucifixion, so that the power and glory of God can enter the world. To effect this, Jesus and Paul gave up security, status, dominance and reputation. God, writes Paul, is a work in us, enabling us both to will and to work for God's good pleasure.

These days, and honestly throughout the nearly 2,000 year history of the Church, Christ followers bicker and divide over issues that pale in comparison to the opportunity of proclaiming Christ amid an unbelieving world. And when we are most likely to see Christians addressing our culture of what someone has called "a culture of aggressive indifference," it tends to be from a stance of aggressive ambition, pride and arrogance - not out of the sort of self-emptying humility that Paul encourages. It is no wonder that our proclamation falls on deaf ears - even ears that consciously have tuned us out - because we have ceased to "regard others as better than ourselves.

We would rather bicker and divide like the chief priests and elders than adopt the kind of self-emptying humility that allows Jesus to wash the feet of those who do not understand.

A generation ago, Carl Jung told the story of a man who asked a rabbi why, in the time of the Bible, God would reveal himself to many people, but recently no one ever sees him. Why is this? The rabbi answered, "Because nowadays no one bows low enough."

How true it is. Why I have even had people in church refuse to say The Prayer of Humble Access because it feels too demeaning, not affirming enough of our presumed inherent "goodness."

Even the Church is prone to forget its first love - Jesus Christ - and put all manner of other things in its place: rite, ritual, times, places, convenience, tradition, familiarity, all in the name of some kind of purity of religion that somewhere deep inside ourselves we must know can only be of God, not of man. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. If that is not enough to humble us, nothing is.

We are called to imitate the Servant-God, dispensing Good News with humility and grace, and living the Good News with love. This often means abandoning the familiar. This often means abandoning the conventional. This often means that there is no time to be wasted over issues of power and authority - no time to assert that we are right and you are wrong. Leaving that all behind is the first step toward having the mind that was in Christ Jesus.

Taking the first step is life. Taking the first step gives life and energy to our tired hearts, minds and souls. Leaving it all behind is the first step toward being in full accord and of one mind.

Taking that first step is the only way to leave a lifetime of grumbling, bickering and division behind. The world is now too small for anything but truth, and too dangerous for anything but love - the love of Christ Jesus who humbled himself taking the form of a servant, welcoming tax collectors and prostitutes into the kingdom of his Father, our Father, who art in heaven.

Amen.

Whatizit?

2011-09-17T14:50:00.001-07:00

18 September 2011/Proper 20 rcl -Ex 16:2-15/Phil 1:21-30/Matt 20: 1-6
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter's at Ellicott Mills, Maryland
Dying Is Gain
The Duke of Richmond, as a distant relation to the Royal Family, felt that whenever he was in London he would worship at St. Paul's Cathedral. And that when he was at St. Paul's he could worship in the royal box. And if he was in the Royal Box he felt he could worship as he pleased, so that when the priests would say, "Let us pray," the Duke would cry out, "Yes, let's, let's...!"

And when the priest read that the laborers hired at the end of the day received a full days wages, like the grumblers in the parable, the Duke cried out, "Too much, too much!"

It isn't fair! we cry! Yet, what is fair about the kingdom of heaven? Is there anything we can do, any one thing any individual can do, to deserve anything at all, let alone deserve more than any other single person on earth?

After all the Lord of the harvest is the same Lord Yahweh who all the way back in Exodus faced the same grumblers and whiners and sent them manna - loosely translated as, "Whatizit?" For they did not know what it was. We still don't. By which I mean, we still cannot get our heads around this most foundational and simple story of Biblical faith: each day there is to be enough bread for everyone, no one gets too much, and if you try to store it up, it sours.

After what has been called the single largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind over the past 10 to 20 years, the results of "storing it up" are still coming in. Full economies of nation after nation in Western civilization are collapsing, drowning in debt, gasping for air, seeking a solution to the fruits of our own hubris. And yet, when our Lord Jesus, the Christ, the one whose name we take as our own, offers this parable depicting an unimaginable captain of agricultural industry making sure that each and every worker has enough bread, the same amount of bread, to take home to feed his family, our immediate impulse is to side with the grumblers and say it is not fair.

All the while, Paul still sits in a prison in Philippi reflecting on what it means to believe in the resurrection - how does the joy and agape love of resurrection look, taste and feel when one is in chains?

Simply put, "To me, living is Christ and dying is gain." As long as I live, says Paul, I can labor in the fields and bring in the sheaves. I am, however, hard pressed: to depart and be with Christ is far better, but to be here in the flesh is necessary for me and for you - "only live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

He was in jail for proclaiming Christ crucified and Christ raised from the dead. He was in jail for not refusing to bear witness, for refusing to cave in and adapt to the dominant culture. And by all accounts throughout this letter from a Philippian jail, he seems to be enjoying every minute of it.

Make no mistake - the citizens of Philippi were no different from any of us - they all wanted more. But along comes Paul who says, Jesus taught us to pray, and when we pray we are to pray to be satisfied with whatizit - manna - bread that is given daily. We are to find a daily portion of bread, His body, and wine, His blood, to be sufficient to labor in God's vineyard another day.

Paul urges us to "share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus." I will never forget the day I suggested to a congregation I was serving that we ought to be out in the world boasting in Christ Jesus, and the woman who on the way out of church said to me, "Our mother taught us not to speak to others about religion, money or politics." To which I could only reply, "I guess that means we cannot talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Jesus and Paul are talking about religion - producing a harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God (Phil 1:11); money - making sure every worker gets "the usual daily wage" (Matthew 20:1-16); and politics - "so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most to the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear." (Phil 1:13-14)

"To me, living is Christ and dying is gain." How odd that sounds to modern ears. Yet, last evening the Baltimore Symphony played the Mahler Second Symphony - Resurrection. It includes this text by Freidrich Gottlieb Klopstock sung boldly by the mezzo-soprano, "You are sown so that you may bloom again! The Lord of the Harvest goes and gathers sheaves - us, who died!"

Thus casting a very different meaning out of our gospel for today. For we are the harvest. We are to be the grapes or grain that die in the field of God's mission to this world. We, who do good works not for the merit, for what can we merit? We are indebted to God for all the good works we do, and not he to us, since it is he who Paul says "works in us both to will and do according to his good pleasure." (Phil 2:13)

We are all called to live in Christ - the Christ who advocates a living wage for all workers no matter how long they work in the field - and we will all one day die in Christ - to whom be glory forever and ever. In God's kingdom, is there anything we can do, any one thing any individual can do, to deserve anything at all, let alone deserve more than any other single person on earth?

May our prayer be: Please, dear Lord, hire enough laborers as late in the day as possible that I too may be harvested into your kingdom. That I too may be one of the sheaves born into your storehouse. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out more and more laborers into the field that we may all be gathered into one storehouse, one harvest, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. May each laborer be given the usual daily wage. May we pray for daily bread and mean it. Dear God, give us a little light that will lead the way to eternal blessed life. Amen.

Can't you hear my Savior callin'
Sayin' who will come and work today
The fields are ripe and the harvest waitin'
Who will bear the sheaves away

Here I am , O Lord send me (4X)

If you cannot sing like angels
If you cannot preach like Paul
Tell everyone of the love of Jesus
You can say that he died for us all

For an alternate take see Sermons That Work

Forgive Them For They Know Not What They Do

2011-09-10T14:49:00.001-07:00

11 September 2011 - Proper 19A * Matthew 18: 21-35
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore

The Parable of The Forgiving God
This parable is called the Parable of the Wicked Servant. This title is not helpful to our knowing what this story is really all about. It is the story of an extravagantly generous and forgiving God. It is about our ability to accept God’s mercy, and accepting that God’s mercy always means being able to extend it to others. After all, we are imago Dei, made in the image of God.

If we examine the details of the story it becomes overwhelming. It was the custom to forgive someone three times in those days. Peter has correctly deduced that Jesus is looking for more than that from his disciples. So Peter suggests seven times as a generous improvement on custom.

Jesus blows that away with the formula seven times seventy! You may as well say infinity! More times than you can count would be an adequate translation. Or, you will forgive and forgive and forgive until you forget what you are forgiving.

Then the servant in the story is forgiven $10,000 talents. That figures out to be 150,000 years wages for the average worker in that day and age! Makes seventy times seven look pretty puny by comparison.

The offer of the servant to pay off the debt over time is of course ridiculous, suggesting the kind of unrealistic boldness that comes of human desperation. Most of us have been there before. Just look at our national debt, or the problems related to the recent and ongoing mortgage crisis. We can relate. Undoubtedly those listening to Jesus could relate. To be forgiven all that debt with no conditions, no strings attached, is beyond belief.

Here we are all meant to pause. For the repentant among us, even the desperate and unrealistic among us, God wants to love us that much and to forgive us that much. It has been suggested by many more insightful than I that what is at stake here are not huge, gigantic, overwhelming sins on our part. It is all the little things that add up.

As a friend has observed upon taking a sweater out of storage, when we see one or two holes in the sweater we think, “This can be repaired.” But when we discover the moths have literally eaten dozen of holes out of the sweater, we consign it to the trash.

Lots of little holes make the garment appear worthless. Lots of little sins make repentance look impossible. Evidently God does not see it that way. Evidently God does not mean to consign us to the trash.

We say this forgiveness is without condition, but by the end of the story we learn there are in fact two conditions. For those of us who accept such an overflowing measure of God’s mercy, the condition is that we extend an equal measure of forgiveness to others. “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us,” Jesus teaches us to pray.

There is a video that shows a woman alone in church saying the Lord’s Prayer. Each time she says a line, God speaks to her. When she gets to, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us,” she tries to sneak out. God stops her, and asks, “What about your brother?” “I knew you were going to say that,” she blurts out! “How can I forget what he has done to me?” “I don’t know,” asks God. “How do you want your forgiveness: with or without forgetting?” Long Pause. “How about you just begin to think about forgiving your brother, and I’ll do my best to forget all the times you have forgotten about me?” “You got me again,” she says, and the dialogue continues.

The second condition is that this forgiveness we extend to others must come from the heart. That is not out of duty or from some reasoned argument. If accepting such generous and extravagant forgiveness is difficult, extending it to others is even more so at times. Having it come from the heart is often beyond the pale. Yet, as Christians, this is our calling.

To wrap our metaphorical heads around all of this is challenging. Add to that the very challenging and complex times in which we live.

This week collectively we remembered 9/11. We are quick to want to pass judgement on those who have afflicted our nation with immeasurable hurt. Yet, we have been slow to even begin to examine all the tiny moth holes in our own garments of policy and life- style, not to mention our disregard for the global ecology. There is much for which we can all ask for forgiveness, as individuals, as a church, and as a nation. “Forgive us our sins,” teaches Jesus.

It is as difficult to grasp the measure of mercy God willingly extends to us. It is even more difficult to imagine just how we might extend the same measure of mercy to others.

Yet, our individual and collective health and security depends on gaining some understanding of this and acting on this. Holding onto all the hurt, anger, and judgment of ourselves and others just gets exhausting as time goes on. Letting go and letting God hold onto it and take care of it all in the end may be the only thing that makes any sense at all.

This will be equally challenging as we begin to move beyond our present circumstances meeting in this chapel and begin to look for a new parish home or homes. It will be all too easy to focus on the circumstances that bring us to this moment rather than letting the past go, living in the present, and moving forward to wherever it is that God in Christ is leading us. Make no mistake, God is with us. I trust we will have a better understanding as to what forgiving seventy times seven looks and feels like when this chapter of our corporate life together ends and our new adventure with God begins to take shape.

Turns out God does not wish to toss us into the trash bin of moth eaten sweaters after all!
The Parable of the Incredible Amazing Forgiving God! God will not toss us into the trash bin of moth eaten sweaters, but instead will provide a new home and new congregation for each and every one of us.
Let us bless the Lord!
Thanks be to God! Amen.

To Be, Or Not To Be

2011-09-03T13:14:00.001-07:00

4 September 2011/Proper 18 - Matthew 18:15-20 The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter’s at Ellicott Mills, Maryland
Take Arms Against A Sea of Troubles
In the end, it seems that Jesus wants our prayers to be answered. Jesus promises to be in our midst when we pray together. Just what does he mean? Because right now we have a lot for which we might pray: an earthquake and a hurricane all in one week. Add to that three funerals, power outages, building inspectors, school openings (or Not!), street closings and a partridge in a pear tree! It all reminds me of this prayer from Stanley Hauerwas following Hurricane Hugo in 1996:

OK God, Job-like we feel enough is enough. Is a hurricane a Behmoth? What are we to say to you: Are you in a hurricane? We fear acknowledging that you may be. We want to protect you. We want to think you and your creation are benign. The result, of course, is to rob you of your creation. The hurricane becomes “just nature,’ but “just nature” cannot be your creation. Do we dare believe that Christ could still the winds? We want our world regular, predictable, not subject to disorder or chaos. So if you are in the hurricane, please just butt out. We confess that we have lost the skill to see you in your creation. We pray to you to care for the injured, those in shock, those without housing, those in despair, but how can you do so if you are not in the hurricane? We confess we do not know how to put this together. We want you to heal our hurts, but we really do not want to think you can. We want to think you make it possible for us to help one another, but it is not clear why we think we need your help. Help us to call for help. Amen. (Stanley Hauerwas,Prayers Plainly Spoken (Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL:1999)

We might notice that Jesus speaks about prayer while talking about something with which we are all too familiar: conflict in the church, conflict in the community of faith. He lists what we might call Category 1, 2 ,3 and 4 disputes - each causing greater and greater destruction within the community.

For Category 4 – the offender refuses to listen to anyone – he seems to commend shunning or excommunication. That’s how one would treat Gentiles and tax collectors.

Is this the same Jesus who was rendered repentant by the Canaanite woman? Is this the Jesus who stands accused of sharing meals with Gentiles, tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners? Is Jesus advocating shunning and excommunication? Or shared meals with our adversaries? How do we know? Can he mean both?

Then comes all this binding and loosing business again. This was a system whereby the rabbis would look at each case individually and render a verdict. How do we apply a Torah law – the Bible – to a particular case? When do we enforce the rules? When do we suspend them? Can you harvest wheat on the Sabbath? If people are hungry? Just for fun? Just for profit?

Once upon a time in the 1970’s an Episcopal Priest, Joseph Fletcher, tried to introduce this binding and loosing as a way to do Christian moral ethics and decision making. He called it Situation Ethics. This seems to be what Jesus was talking about. Fletcher, however, was treated like a Gentile and a tax collector. He was vilified. Mocked. Derided. Shunned. Not invited to the dinner table.

Jesus says where two or three are gathered in his name, he is there. So go ahead and ask whatever you want. Note, however, the caveat: at least two people on earth must agree on something – the same something! Anything! Ah, there’s the rub, reminds the Bard of Avon!

Now this phrase, “two or three” had meaning back then. This meant you were gathered with others to study Torah and later Talmud so you could discuss when to enforce and when to suspend certain rules. If one were to look at a page from Talmud, it is like peeling an onion: layer upon layer of meaning, interpretation and debate. Who is right? Is anyone wrong? It generally goes, “Rabbi X said this, Rabbi Y said this, Rabbi Z said this and then they all had dinner and went home!” We pause to consider: must there be winners and losers to be faithful to Jesus?

He seems to be saying, the community that pays due diligence to scripture, prayer, study, Sabbath time, tithing and regular worship has its prayers answered. Because God in Christ is there, God is engaged in our struggle to find meaning in moments like this. God is in the midst of the hurricane AND the earthquake much the same way we are – as a companion on the way, even in the midst of our suffering. Remember, Jesus has just told the disciples what will happen in Jerusalem, and invited them to pick up their crosses and follow him! The question is not, “Is God in the hurricane?” The question is, “Are we with God in the hurricane?” Are we gathered, in twos and threes, with God at moments like those we faced last week? Are we gathered in twos and threes with God in the midst of every moment?

We need to be prepared, however, for the answers to our prayers to surprise us – shock us really – stretch us to new ways of knowing, meaning, seeing and being. The past two weeks have already resulted in conflict, disagreement, frustration, and great sadness – lives were lost, towns destroyed, was there too much hype, did the hype save lives, is the power being restored quickly enough? Oh, not to mention the debt ceiling debacle, and can the President address a joint session of Congress when he wishes to do so?

Some tell us that God sends us hurricanes and earthquakes to punish us or get our attention. I don’t think so. It is more likely that when we are already paying attention to God – together in prayer and study and worship - a crisis like this takes on meaning, and we begin to see where God is in it, and where we should be with God and with others.

Perhaps we begin to see that out of our time together in study and prayer emerges a time for action – being precedes doing – prayer is action, action is prayer. We might even see that there really is no time for conflict stages one, two, three and four in the community if we were to be about doing the things God is calling us to do. To be, or not to be. Begging the questions: Where are we? Where are we in the kind of life Jesus calls us to live?

A rabbi who lived at the time of Jesus, Rabbi Hillel, said the following:
If I am not for myself, then who is for me? If I am for myself alone, who am I?
If not now when?
When, indeed? Ah, that is the question! Be all our sins remembered!
Amen.

Take Off, Take Off Your Shoes

2011-08-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

28 August 2011/Proper 17A – Exodus 3:1-15/Romans 12:9-21/Matthew 16:21-28
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter’s at Ellicott Mills
Take Off, Take Off Your Shoes
Moses and the burning bush. Moses is a fugitive on the run. He is tending his father-in-law’s flock. A bush is burning but is not consumed. A voice speaks to him from the burning bush. Moses approaches the bush but the voice says, “Stop and come no closer. Remove your sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Moses, the fugitive from the law, is then called to lead a mission – to lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt into new life in a new land. Moses wants to know to whom he is speaking. Wouldn’t we all?

In perhaps the single most iconic moment in the Bible the bush replies, “I am who I am….tell them ‘I am’ has sent me to you.” This is key to understanding the entire New Testament.

Jesus repeatedly says to people, “I am….” “I am the true vine,” “I am the true bread that comes down from heaven,” “I am the way….”

Remembering all this gives this episode with Jesus and Peter make sense. Jesus tells everyone willing to listen that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed and on the third day rise again from the dead. Peter says, in effect, “No way! God forbid! I just identified you as the Christ, God’s anointed one, God’s messiah, and now you are saying this? This must never happen!”

Do we see what happens in that moment? Peter forgets to take off his shoes. Peter forgets he is standing on Holy Ground? For you see, Peter is talking to “I am.”

This is the great scandal of Christianity – Jesus and the voice in the bush are one and the same. This has been a scandal from the very beginning. Peter is not alone. Well meaning Christians, bishops even, are writing books right now saying, “God forbid! This cannot be! Jesus was just a man like you and me. Nothing more, nothing less.”

If those who deny our Lord is Lord of all are right we might as well sleep in on Sunday morning. The only sin greater than idolatry would be the sin of hubris – excessive pride or arrogance. Peter has it. Those abandoning our experience of Jesus as God AND Man have it. The Church often has it. Our nation often has it. And the moment that I identify someone else as having it, I am in danger of having it. That’s just how pervasive and tricky hubris is.

Listening to Naomi Tutu addressing the Opening Convocation at Saint Timothy’s School for Girls on Saturday, her main point was that a good education should help you to see and to learn those things about which you are wrong, but usually feel that you are so right. Like Peter, we really don’t like that. We never want to learn that we are wrong about anything – and that is when hubris gets in our way.

Look at the Church’s history. A long history of Anti-Semitism, the Inquisition, the Crusades, complicity with slavery, racism….the list goes on and on. Our country, arguably the best nation on earth, frequently suffers from the sort hubris that believes that the entire world would be better off if every country and everyone were just like us. Not to mention just how we have utterly ignored the urgings of Saint Paul to leave vengeance to the Lord, to feed our enemies if hungry, and give them something to drink if they are thirsty. Jesus himself urges us to love our enemies. How often do these words appear in our public rhetoric? There are all kinds of assertions that ours is a “Christian” nation. Just where do humility and love of enemies play a role in our nation’s common life? Whether those enemies are on the other side of the world or just on the other side of the aisle?

I believe we are meant to see that the antidote to hubris is taking off our shoes. We are to honor others, not vilify them. We are to remember we are standing on Holy Ground. Shoes are a sign of affluence, bare feet are a sign of humility and solidarity with those Jesus loves, the poor, the disadvantaged, those who are lonely and isolated due to bigotry and discrimination of all kinds.

Taking off our shoes begins with believing that this is God’s world, God’s creation, the earth and everything therein (Psalm 124). It begins with an attitude of gratitude, of thanksgiving for all that this good earth has to provide for us. Taking off our shoes means recognizing that we stand on Holy Ground on this earth, before God and before one another.

Some years ago, at least 60 or more, Woody Guthrie wrote this song – a modern-day psalm, really. Singing it may help to bring us back to an understanding of where we are, which may help us remember who we are and whose we are. Peter, like Moses before him, eventually took off his shoes and listened to the Lord. With any luck we may, like Peter, get back to our rightful places behind Jesus and let him lead us the way to life in its fullest. Or, like Moses, against all odds, strive for justice and peace for all people, leading people out of bondage into freedom – helping the world to be a place where all people are recognized as God’s people.

Holy Ground
Take off, take off your shoes
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
Take off, take off your shoes
The spot you’re standing, its holy ground

These words I heard in my burning bush
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
I heard my fiery voice speak to me
This spot you’re standing, it’s holy ground

That spot is holy holy ground
That place you stand it’s holy ground
This place you tread, it’s holy ground
God made this place his holy ground

Take off your shoes and pray
The ground you walk it’s holy ground
Every spot on earth I trapse around
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground

Every spot it’s holy ground
Every little inch it’s holy ground
Every grain of dirt it’s holy ground
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground

Words –Woody Guthrie, copyright Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc 2001

Hear Holy Ground: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ILetyPjTBw

Too Far From The Shore?

2011-08-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

August 21, 2011 – Tenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 16
Year A
By the Rev. Kirk Alan Kubicek
(RCL) Exodus 1:8-2:10 and Psalm 124 (or Isaiah 51:1-6 and Psalm 138); Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20

It is not that God’s Church has a Mission, but that God’s Mission has a Church.

It is Peter’s day – the day he is renamed by Jesus. No longer Simon, but Peter. Which in the New Testament Greek makes for a kind of pun – for the word for “rock” is petra, while Peter is Petros. Petros is petra – the rock, the foundation upon which Jesus builds his church.

We say “builds” because we know His church is still under construction in so many ways. The church is always growing, changing, under construction, searching for new, more nimble, more creative, more flexible ways of being God’s people. Each time a new member is added to our rolls, each time a person is baptized, we must be prepared to be called to new and different ways to “do all in our power to support one another in our life in Christ.”

A life which Saint Paul asserts is quite different than that of the world around us. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Paul does not envision a people focused only on our own lives. We are those people who trust that being in the right places at the right times – the places where God promises to be – God will transform. Our hope is not that our resolve will hold, but that God’s resolve will hold.

Consider the book The Rule of Benedict: Insights for the Ages by Joan Chittester, of the Order of Saint Benedict. Benedict lived a long time ago – just some 400 years or so after God in Christ walked this earth as Jesus. He tried to get away from the world – a world of Empire marked by power, wealth, violence, aggression. He tried to live in a cave, but others heard of his special gifts in finding a way to live with God so that he was coerced to join and lead a community of like-minded followers of Jesus. Benedict encouraged a disciplined approach to community life, work, study, and prayer. Some thought his methods too difficult and tried to poison his wine. Benedict was onto it, made the sign of the cross over the jug of wine, smashed it on the ground, forgave them for what they had done, and moved on to found a number of monasteries.

Benedict eventually put his ideas about how to know God down on paper, The Rule of Saint Benedict. It begins with the words, “Listen carefully, my child, to my instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.” After just a few moments of reading Benedict’s Rule and Sister Joan’s reflections upon The Rule one feels that she or he had time-traveled back to that cave on the cliffs overlooking Anio to listen to the voice of a fellow traveler whose wisdom draws one closer to a place where God can have at us and transform us.

It is like bird watching – although bird “watching” is something of a misnomer. Watching and looking is not the primary skill necessary for seeing birds; but rather, listening is what leads the eyes to see that solitary magnolia warbler or indigo bunting. Bird watching is an apt metaphor for the spiritual life as Benedict imagines it: listen carefully with the ear of your heart, and God stands ready to show you the way.

Another book offers further insights into a life with God: Margaret Visser’s The Geometry of Love. It is a book that also has its origins in Italy, and it takes a look at how the architecture of a particular church, Saint Agnes’ Outside the Wall, expresses the very essence of what it means to join with Peter and say, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” It examines every detail of what makes a church, a church – a living expression of God’s will – what is good, what is acceptable, what is perfect. Visser explores how the center aisle invites one to understand the Christian faith as a journey, a pilgrim journey from the world outside in to the sanctuary of the living God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus. We move closer and closer to the Tabernacle of the Body and Blood of our Savior Jesus, God incarnate.

And she writes of how it is a church, not just a pile of rocks by the side of the road, but a living reminder returning us to those times and places where we met God along the way – those mystical, privileged experiences of the Holy. She is careful to distinguish that a church is not so much meant to induce such moments of epiphany as to acknowledge the experiences its visitors have had. It is a collective memory of such spiritual insights and mystical moments.

And with the obvious signs of the cross, crucifix, and Stations of the Cross, we are reminded that in order to live, we must die to self – choose the transcendent over the immediate present. The call to follow the Christ, the Son of the living God, is a call to look outward toward others and toward God. Only then can we know what it means to be fully alive. It is not that God’s Church has a mission, but God’s mission has a Church. And we are that Church, the Body of Christ.

The church in bricks and stone and wood and glass tells this story and invites all who would be Christians to continue this story, so at the end of the day we are sent away: Ite missa est – “Go, you are sent!” From which we get the word “mass”: to turn our lives toward others and toward God. To complete the work we begin in here, in actual fact we must return to the world beyond our doors. We are to live with other people and love them, just as we are to live with God and be loved by God. God’s Mission has a Church.

In another time and another place, Charles Moody wrote a song, “Drifting Too Far From the Shore” that seems, due to recent events, to be more relevant today than ever:

Out on the perilous deep
Where danger silently creeps
And storms so violently sweep
You're drifting too far from the shore

Drifting too far from the shore
You're drifting too far from the peaceful shore
Come to Jesus today, let him show you the way
You're drifting too far from the shore

It is all meant – Benedict’s Order, Paul’s Letters, this church, the gospels, Moody’s song – to make us ask ourselves: Are we willing to continue God’s story, be transformed by that story, and so become active participants in God’s transformation of the world in Christ Jesus?

Or have we drifted too far from the shore?

Things Not Always As They Seem

2011-08-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

14 August 2011 - Genesis 45:1-15/Ps133/Romans 11:1-2a,29-32/Matthew15:10-28
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter's at Ellicott Mills, Maryland
Things Not Always As They Seem
For whatever reason, we have frequently and simply misread The Bible. Which would not be so bad if it were not for the fact that our frequent mis-readings have led the Church to doing things we ought not to have done.

Take the Joseph saga, for instance. It is a complex and highly political tale involving a dysfunctional family, palace intrigue, economics, famine and politics. Yet, we have turned it into a technicolor musical starring Donny Osmond making Joseph look like such a great guy. True, after being sold into slavery by his brothers he worked his way up to being "lord of all Egypt," perhaps the equivalent of Secretary of State and Interior all rolled into one on behalf of Pharaoh. And in the little snippet of Genesis we get today, he believes God put him there to preserve his family as a faithful remnant of God's covenant people, Israel - remembering that his father Jacob's name was changed, by God, to Israel as the name for the entire people descended from great-grandfather Abraham.

The good news is that the people were saved from the famine. The bad news is that their "saving," if we dare call it that, involved a series of credit arrangements and mortgage foreclosures that left them in such hock that all twelve tribes of Israel were forced to become slaves in Egypt for generations to come. That is, through the actions of brother Joseph, they were forced to give up their land, their livestock, and their children. Should be sounding familiar. It is like saying that the Africans brought to this continent were "saved" from any potential drought or famine that might have taken their lives back in their homeland. And as we know all too well, life for slaves is not particularly good, and only got worse once a Pharaoh arose over Egypt "who did not know Joseph." Believe it or not, there were majority voices in the church from the 18th to 20th centuries who would twist this tale to make us believe that God endorsed the institution of slavery.

It got so bad, of course, that the Lord God of Israel had to send another prophet, Moses, to deliver his people to freedom. We sing about his brother Aaron in Psalm 133. Aaron gets pretty good press in Psalm 133, despite his complicity in the Golden Calf incident, but of course that's another story! Nevertheless, Aaron is lifted up as an archetype for those who are anointed by the Lord to be in sacred leadership positions, thus demonstrating early on that those chosen by the Lord are not necessarily qualified, but that the Lord qualifies them to do the work God needs them to do.

The severely edited 11th chapter of Paul's Letter to the Romans is perhaps one of the most important reflections on the relationship between Jews and Gentiles. Had it been read carefully, and taken seriously, the long and tragic history of Christian Anti-Semitism may have been avoided. Instead, we, the Church, paved the way for endless centuries of pogroms, inquisitions, the Shoah (Holocaust), and much of the trouble in the Middle East today.

Early theologians and bishops of the Church ignored Saint Paul's understanding: God has not rejected the Jewish people. "By no means!" Instead, it has been through the grace and mercy of the God of Israel that we Gentiles have been grafted onto the true vine of God's covenant people. Israel maintains, writes Paul, a place of honor and priority in the divine scheme of salvation.
Lest we take such matters in our own hands, Paul warns in verses 33-36 (conveniently omitted!) that only God knows, understands and can adjudicate such matters (quoting Isaiah and Job along the way): "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen."

Then there is the episode with "a Canaanite woman." Ironically, this follows a dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees over the moral implications of what we do and what we say in which Jesus concludes what we say is far more damaging than omitting certain ritual actions. Parents will be horrified to know that Jesus here justifies not washing one's hands before a meal!

So how odd is it, and frankly how disappointing is it, to witness our Lord's response to a mother desperate to have him save her daughter from torment. She, a Gentile, risks everything by calling him "Lord, Son of David" in the midst of people who reject the Jews. His disciples beg him to send her away. Jesus is harshly dismissive saying his mission is only to "the lost sheep of Israel." The woman persists, on her knees, pleading, "Lord, help me." He then transgresses all boundaries of decent behavior and calls her and her people dogs. Such was the all too human divide between Jews and Gentiles in the first century.

It surprises us to hear Jesus speak this way. We must remember, however, that no matter how divine we know Jesus to be, at this moment he is fully human, like you and like me. Why are we surprised? Don't we say such things about others nearly every day? Aren't the airwaves of radio and television clogged with such epithets, bigotry and worse every hour? Has there not been an overall coarsening of our public and political conversation that is just as bad or worse than this every single day?

The woman, however, has the last word. Even dogs get the crumbs that fall from their master's table. She is willing to settle for crumbs. She does not mean to detract from the main meal. She does not ask for a whole loaf. She knows that a few crumbs will be enough to make her daughter's life whole again.

This is perhaps the most pivotal moment in all the four gospels. Why? Because she changed Jesus’ mind. Jesus was moved to a new place. He let her in. He forgot about tradition for a moment and opened the door and gave her a place at the table. Suddenly he could see only her love for her daughter and the daughter’s need. He could not allow the law or the tradition to get in the way of love and need. He saw her faith. The daughter was healed. But so was Jesus. Jesus was healed of slavery to a tradition, of bigotry and of blindness to the needs of all people.

Jesus learns and changes! We are given a picture of Jesus who learns things and changes for the better. Willing to learn from a Gentile. A Gentile woman no less! A dog! His actions at the end line up with his teaching at the beginning of the chapter. The Buddah, some six hundred years before Jesus said, "All things change. Nothing stays the same." Like Jesus we can all learn and change for the better.

Then there is the woman. The woman stands in for all Gentiles. We can learn from her faith. We can get down on our knees and pray. We can learn to settle for crumbs. But we can also learn from her humble and honest acceptance of Israel's priority in the divine scheme of salvation as set out by Paul in the eleventh chapter of his Letter to the Romans. Remember her. She may be the single most important person in human history. We cannot all be like Jesus, but we can all be like her, a humble Canaanite woman, mother and woman of faith who says, "Lord, help me." Amen.

We Can't Make It Here Anymore!

2011-08-06T15:27:00.001-07:00

7 August 2011
Feast of the Transfiguration
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a – Luke 9:28-36
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek

Transfiguration

I wish I did not have to preach this sermon. But as Jeremiah says, it is like a fire shut up in my bones. Webster’s Dictionary tells us transfiguration means:
n. 1.Radical transformation of figure or appearance: metamorphosis. 2. The sudden emanation of radiance from Jesus’ person that occurred on the mountain.

August 6 – The Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ – The Anniversary of our United States dropping an Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. Both events, curiously, revolve around images of blinding white light, clouds, and feelings of dread and fear - two events evoking radical transformation.

From our perspective, looking back 66 years it is possible for us to recognize the various ways in which such radical transformation took place in Japan: an entire modern city was reduced to dust and ash in the blink of an eye; people who populated that city were instantly incinerated, or dramatically and radically changed in appearance; the spirit of the human community was radically transformed; the nature of modern warfare was restructured; whole generations of people lived under a new specter of fear, fear of a mushroom shaped cloud.

On the positive side, a devastating World War was brought to an end; out of a deep human desire for world peace the United Nations was born; many people abandoned a view of security based in military might for a view of security based in peaceful co-existence; and the Right Reverend Bennett Sims, recently deceased Bishop of Atlanta and former rector of Church of the Redeemer, Baltimore, developed a theology of Servanthood. This theology might be summed up by saying that our future depends on how we take care of the Earth and how we take care of one another – all others.

You see, Bishop Sims visited Nagasaki eleven weeks after our military instantly incinerated 39,000 civilian non-combatants, a death toll that eventually reached 64,000 in Nagasaki alone, 250,000 altogether in both cities - what we sometimes refer to as “collateral damage.” We might compare this quarter of a million civilian non-combatant deaths with the only two civilian casualties wrought from the carnage at Gettysburg. After viewing the nuclear wasteland, Bishop Sims was returning to his naval destroyer by way of coal-fired steam train across Japan. A young man of fifteen was the conductor, cheerfully roaming the aisle, punching tickets in his badly worn and patched conductors jacket and cap. He sat down opposite Bennett and in sign language asked for a cigarette. Bennett offered up one of his Old Golds. Then the lad gestured for a light. Writes Sims,

“The act of lighting another’s cigarette, with wind blowing through the open windows of a moving train, brings people’s faces very close. His eyes and mine met only scant inches apart. Unbidden in that moment tears welled up, for both of us. Until a few minutes before we were total strangers. Until a few weeks before, we were sworn enemies, separated by war, propaganda, language differences, and distant geography. But in one swift removal of all barriers, two human beings drew close in a meeting of souls. On August 14th of that fateful year the war ended.
Better still, on October 25th peace came to two of us.” Servanthood (Cowley Publications, Cambridge, MA:1997), p.170.

From this experience, Bennett Sims drew several conclusions that would shape his life and ministry until his death two weeks ago: 1) humanity is created to be a community of kinship in peace, 2) the best things in life come by surprise, 3) the planet will support the human enterprise only as the human enterprise supports the planet, and 4) new life arises from the death of the old. “The human odyssey cannot continue without a quantum advance in consciousness that will build new structures of care for the earth and for one another across all boundaries.” Ibid, p.168

Bishop Sims’ life was a life of prophetic ministry, grounded in such Biblical characters as Elijah, Isaiah, John the Baptist, and of course in our scripture today, Nathan. Nathan confronting David with the tragic truth of his transgression with Bathsheba, and writing the order taking her husband Uriah to his death on the field of battle, gives us a glimpse of the very origins of the crucial idea of separation of church and state. God’s independent prophet, heeded by the monarch of temporal power and authority, sets a pattern for the delicate balance between earthly and heavenly powers that has challenged and bedeviled nations for all of the 3,000 years that have passed since Nathan says, “You are the man!”

David has attempted to cover-up his sinful behavior with a military diversion and solution. It has been suggested that Israel’s demand for a monarchy came in part to provide leadership for national security against a Philistine threat. It has been further suggested that this was really a cover for those who had monopolized wealth and who wanted a strong central government in order to protect and legitimate their considerable economic and political advantage and privilege, so that the Philistine threat was really offered as an external cover story to pursue this internal consolidation of power. Even a casual reading of history reveals that this is not the last time the “Philistine threat” has been used to warrant internal political manipulation. Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament (Fortress, Philadelphia:1997) p.601.

How that may or may not relate to current events at home and abroad is for others to decide. It is interesting for us to note, however, that God feels it is necessary to provide checks and balances on the monarchy/temporal authority through the person of Nathan and others like Nathan who are called upon to reveal and speak Truth to Power in every generation. We might also note how Nathan cleverly appeals to David’s best qualities leading David to convict himself. And we might finally note that David accepts public responsibility for the wrong he has done, so utterly unlike any single similar situation in recent U.S. and World history.

One might strain to identify who the Nathans are in any given generation, but we can rely upon the truth and promise of such narratives that God does provide us with one Nathan after another. It is our job to hear them, listen to them and act accordingly. Their voices may come from the church, the synagogue or the mosque. Their voices may be found on opinion and editorial pages. Their voices may be on the front page quoting “unnamed sources”: how else would we ever know of what goes on in places like Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Haditha, Libya, Syria, Goldman Sachs and elsewhere. And since most of the Biblical prophets wrote in Hebrew poetry, modern day Nathans often come in the form of poets and song writers like these:

That big ol' building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can't make it here anymore
Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far 5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one of your stores
Bet you can't make it here anymore…Music and lyrics © 2004 by James McMurtry
Men of anger, men of war
My heart is filled with love
Tell me what you are fighting for
My heart is filled with love
The death I see won’t make me numb
My heart is filled with love
Every boy a mother’s son
My heart is filled with love
Raise your voices, spread the news…
Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Jew…
They all teach the golden rule…
Do unto others as you’d have them do….(Joyce Anderson, Joyscream Music ASCAP)

God knows that without Nathans in every generation we would be blind to the machinations of the David’s in this world. Yet, it is safe to assume that in that moment of realization as David utters the words, “I have sinned against the Lord,” that he too is radically transformed or transfigured, and thereby utterly different from most of his successors. His life from that moment is changed and influenced by such transfiguration. Just as Bennett Sims and the young Japanese man on the train were transformed and transfigured in the blink of an eye. Just as Peter, James and John were transfigured before Jesus on the mountain top, their lives changed forever.

On the Feast of our Lord’s Transfiguration I believe we are meant to stop everything we are doing and reflect on such questions as: What will it take to transfigure our church? Our nation? The World? Do we as a people have the courage to utter the words, “I am the man,”? “We are the nation,”? Where do the cycles of violence end? In what can National Security truly be based? Are we open to listening to the Nathans speaking Truth to Power?

On another mountain top, on another day, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.” Bennett Sims concludes that the Transfiguration of Christ and the World is based in a kind of servanthood in which “great power functions as an exchange of power, never as coercion by superior forces. The universe is built this way. As the revealer of the Power that blew the cosmos into being and keeps it evolving, Jesus never coerces. Instead, it is his concise insistence by word and deed that greatness lies in giving – that superiority is embodied in serving. Persuasion is the posture of God.” Ibid, p. 173

The history of the past few generations on Earth has given us ample images of Transfiguration, both tragic and good. Jesus stands up on the mountain issuing the invitation to be transfigured for the good of the world into his servant people – to care for our planet and one another across all boundaries. To recall the last verse of one still sadly relevant song, “When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn….” (Pete Seeger, Joe Hickerson – Fall River Music, Inc.) Amen.

Want To Know What’s Really Wrong With The “Economy”?

2011-07-30T08:22:00.001-07:00

31 July 2011/Proper 13A - Isaiah 55: 1-5, Matthew 14: 13-21
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter's at Ellicott Mills, Maryland

We keep skipping over the good stuff this year. At the beginning of Chapter 14 in Matthew, we have the story of Herod’s banquet wherein John the Baptizer lost his head for speaking truth to power – Herod was messing around with his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias. Said John, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” News of the beheading reaches Jesus. So it is he goes off in a boat to a deserted place “by himself.”

Which on the Sea of Galilee is nigh on impossible! From the shore one can see around the whole of the lake. Wherever you are, you can see where Jesus goes, and so the crowd follows. So much for some quiet time, contemplative prayer and to deal with his own grief at the news of John’s demise.

Once the people are there, he returns to doing what he does best – healing them. Little known fact: at the southern end of the sea was a spa with healing springs – like those you find in West Virginia, southern Indiana and the like. People came from all over the ancient world to these spas, paying good money to bathe in the healing waters. Hotels and restaurants had sprung up all around Tiberius to meet the needs of those who were coming to the springs. Now there is this itinerant preacher, teacher and who knows what else, healing people for free. It’s not good for the local economy those in the moneyed classes are murmuring.

But that’s not all! He’s feeding people for free as well! Even the disciples are shocked at this news. They want him, Jesus, to send the people away to “buy food for themselves.” That’s how it works around here – there are plenty of places to catch a meal, buy some bread and fish. Jesus has other plans. He has been reading Isaiah 55 and taking it seriously. Why he was probably even reading the book of Exodus and taking that seriously as well.

The 55th chapter of Isaiah is a marvelous piece of text, and it is a shame we get such a small number of verses to chew on. In it the prophet-poet challenges all the basic assumptions of life in this world – which at the time meant life in the captivity of Babylon, which looked, smelled, tasted and felt an awful lot like life back in Egypt, and to Jesus and his “crowd” it must of sounded a lot like life under the domination of the Roman Empire (not yet Holy!).

Back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the opening verse was thought to inspire missionizing and colonizing Asia since it appears to begin with a Chinese word, “Ho!” As it turns out that “ho” is not in the Hebrew text, and a lot of modern day problems may have been avoided had our translators not put it in there. But we digress!

“Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
That is, in the old-fashioned vernacular, “Come and get it!” The poet announces, on God’s behalf, a return to manna season – a bracketed time in the life of Israel when everyone got enough, no one got too much, and if you tried to store it, it soured. That is, there was a time when everyone had enough and no one had too much. We can argue over the specifics of that no doubt, but take a look around and ask yourself, “Are we in manna season? Or, are we in ‘Needing all the cash and credit we can get our hands on just to feed ourselves’ season?” Once that’s figured out, just try to imagine what it sounds like to those who are credit-bound and in hock up to their necks in the current Empire to hear that the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus is offering free milk, free wine, eat what is good and “delight yourselves in fatness!” So sorry Jenny Craig, it is fatness that the Lord is offering this week!

Then comes the pivotal question in Isaiah 55: Why do we bust our tails for that which does not satisfy? And why do we spend our money on that which is not bread? There is so much we can do on those two questions alone that we will have to leave it to one another to ponder those over the next few days, weeks and months!

The implication, of course, is that the dominant economy does not control the bread supply – that is the “real bread” supply. Only God and His Son can provide bread that satisfies all your hunger, and drink that satisfies all your thirst. Understanding, of course, that we really hunger and thirst for more than just food – and at the same time there are those among us, more and more every day, who hunger for just that.

As Jesus takes, blesses, breaks and gives away the bread and fish, resulting in copious leftovers for those who come to our doors Monday through Saturday, we are to recall Isaiah 55, Manna Season and of course the Eucharist – the banquet of Thanksgiving for all that God provides daily. This all has something to do with his teaching us to pray for bread which is given daily.

So we can assume the crowd to be made up primarily of those who cannot afford to go to the spas, the hotels and restaurants of Tiberius. We can assume they are indeed hungry since they will walk half way around the Sea to hear Jesus and be healed by Jesus. We can assume that Jesus recognizes that he is not going to get a moments peace to himself until everyone is given provision for the day, and until the economic gulf between those at the spa and those in his crowd is breached and healed. While under the brutal yoke of Rome, people at the other end of the lake are taking care of only their own needs, spending lots of money to do so.

Jesus offers a meal that no money can buy. No one can offer any amount of money for it because it is priceless. How frustrating must that be for the folks in town and at the spas? How wonderful must it be for those in the crowd to get this free meal by the sea? To be healed for free? Where do we go to be fed? What do we feed on? Where do we go to healed and made whole? Do we really trust in bread that is given daily? If not now, when?
Amen.

A Wedding Day: Sue Pikounis and Jerry Hebert

2011-07-30T06:19:00.001-07:00

Jesus is on a mountain, overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
He is blessing people – all sorts of people. (Matthew 5:1-10)
People who when you look at them – poor, hungry, mourning – Do not seem particularly blessed.
Yet Jesus sees things differently, Jesus sees them differently, Jesus sees us differently than we ever see ourselves.

Since we made plans to be here this morning it has been quite a ride for the two of you and all those you love, and all those who love you.

Not unlike the unlikely love story of Tobias and Sarah (Tobit: 8:5-8) from which we get a snippet of their tale this morning: his father is blind and wants to die, Sarah has lost seven husbands and wants to die, Tobias, led by God’s angel Raphael is off on an adventure that will change everyone’s life. It all seems doomed from the start, and yet, there is the happy ending – “and they slept through the night!” Signifying that God really does care about us. God really does get involved in our lives. God will provide a way.

Neither of you ever lost sight of this simple truth – this basic act of what we call faith. And now you are blessed.

Blessed to enter into the kind of life St Paul outlines for all who choose to be active members of the Body of Christ – a live of patience, forgiveness, kindness, compassion, with grateful hearts, singing psalms and hymns, and whatever you do, in word or deed, do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for each and every moment of each and every day. (Colossians 3:12-17)
You are truly blessed. Everyone here this morning has already agreed to do all in their power to support the two of you in your marriage. Not a little of what’s in their power, not what they feel like, not what they think they can afford to do, but all that is in their power – such is their love for you.

Right now, you stand before us as a sign of God’s love for a sinful and broken world. You are a sign of what Love looks like. Turn around for just a moment before exchanging vows, and look out on all those of us who are committing ourselves to do all in our power to support you. Because this is what Love looks like! A roomful of blessed people standing beside you on this most auspicious occasion!

We are here to witness and to bless you both as you become no longer two but one – one in the love of Christ.

And of course there is one final blessing for you and for us all. Your beloved Sissy, Connie, your sister, gives you this day, the day of her birth, as the day that you begin the rest of your life together as husband and wife.

We come from Love, we return to Love, and Love is all around. You surrounded her with God's love every day of her earthly pilgrimage. She now resides in the very heart of God’s eternal love, sending her blessings upon you both. As the psalmist sings, "May you live to see your children’s children, may Peace forever be upon you and your household!" (Psalm 128)
Amen.

Behold I Am With You To The End of the Age

2011-07-16T17:23:00.001-07:00

17 July 2011/Proper 11A – Gen 28:10-19a/Psalm 139/Rom 8:12-25/Matt 13:24-30,36-43
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter’s at Ellicott Mills, Maryland
Know That I Am With You
Jesus tells this odd little parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat. Odd in that he addresses a largely peasant, agricultural crowd and ignores “best practices” raising grain that is broadcast as opposed to being planted in rows: try to sort out the weeds and you trample the wheat. Odder still in that in the previous parable of The Sower he demonstrates a consummate knowledge of best practices, so we might assume he has a reason for telling the tale in just this way.

This will get people’s attention, since they will be wondering, “Just where is he going with all this?” Keeping in mind that in The Sower (Matt 13:1-23) in an aside to his disciples he makes the comment repeated in verse 43 today: Whoever has ears ought to hear! Ought to hear!

It is crucial to know that at least three times a day Jesus and his fellow Jews recite the Shema Y’Israel, which begins, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one...,” and continues in part, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might…” To which we already know Jesus adds, “And the second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Hearing is central to being God’s people. Hearing is central to Biblical faith. Hearing leads to faithful living.

At issue in the parable of Weeds Among the Wheat is the serious problem Jesus addresses in all of Matthew chapter 13: what to do about growing opposition to his proclamation of God’s kingdom which focuses principally on teaching, healing and sitting at dinner tables with all sorts of people – especially those deemed “unclean” by the reigning religious establishment.

So it is easy to hear, to get, that the wheat are those people who buy-in to Jesus’ vision of God’s reign, and the weeds are those who do not. The master’s slaves take a shot at him saying, “We thought you planted good seed. Why all these weeds?” Strangely the master suggests an “enemy” has infiltrated the field and sown bad seeds – later identified as “the devil.” This is somewhat strange in that all the way back in chapter 5 (v 44-45) Jesus himself instructs us to love our enemies, which by and large we do not do. Nor do we turn the other cheek, forgive seventy times seven times, bless those who curse us, share what we have with the poor and put our whole trust and hope in God. That is, we do not tend to take Jesus seriously. To paraphrase him, we ought to hear, but we choose not to. This is a problem.

So are the weeds. The slaves offer to weed the field. The master says no, I will take care of that at the harvest – at the end of the age. Remember, at the end of the gospel I promise I will be with you always to the end of the age. I will take care of it then. The bad stuff will burn in unquenchable fire! For now, it is all about Amazing Grace. Can you hear me now?

We sense a good degree of tension between God's Grace and God's Wrath and Judgment. Someone once said, “The wrath of God is God’s relentless compassion, pursuing us even when we are at our worst.” (Maggie Ross, The Fire of Your Life, p.137)

So the weeds are to be allowed to flourish amongst the wheat. Plucking up, casting out, separating out evil is not our task. Excommunication is not our task. Being gatekeepers for the kingdom is not our task. Being exponents of God's Amazing Grace is our task. As he says way back in chapter 5, “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun shine on the bad and the good, and his rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” Leave them there. Get used to it. Get used to them. Like the poor, they will always be with you. The crowd, we might assume, is astonished at such offensive, radical tolerance!

They shouldn’t be. You would think they had forgotten about Jacob. Remember, the one who stole his brother Esau’s birthright not once but twice! Jacob, after all, means “the deceiver.” He is on the lam, running for his life. Esau is not happy, his mother Rebbeca has urged Jacob to get away. He is a bad brother. On the run he falls asleep and has a vision – a ladder or a stairway linking heaven to earth – yes, The Stairway to Heaven! Angels are ascending and descending. More importantly, however, the Lord himself comes and stands beside him, Jacob, the deceiver, the bad son, a fleeing scoundrel and makes a series of amazing promises: you will have lots and lots of offspring, they will cover the whole earth, all the families of the earth shall be blessed by you and your offspring, I will return you to your home, I will keep you and be with you always! To which Jesus simply adds, “to the end of the age.” He receives God’s special blessing. It is completely God’s initiative. Jacob has done nothing to deserve all this. It is all God’s grace!

Let’s see: Old Testament, God’s Amazing Grace, New Testament Jesus offers to burn all the bad guys. Whatever happened to the notion that the Old Testament is nothing but God's judgment, and the New Testament is nothing but God’s Love? Got to love the tension and paradox!

So what does this all mean? We are not on our own in an otherwise evil world. God himself promises to be with us on our earthly journey home. Even when the way leads through the valley of the shadow of death, darkness is not darkness to God, the night is as bright as the day! I am with you always. Emmanuel – God with us. Do we hear this? Do we believe this?

Oh yeah, and we should love our enemies and pray for those who do not like us. That is, we are to take Jesus more seriously and learn not just to tolerate others, all others, but to befriend them like Jesus does. This is what knowing, accepting, believing he is always with us really means.

A woman came to the office door the other day. She had been laid off by Super Fresh. Shoppers is hiring from within. She has been out of work since May. She has a family. She needs food, gas money, rent money, you name it. I took her down to the Food Pantry. On the way upstairs she says, “I always used to believe in God and all, but since I was laid off I now know that God loves me – he really loves me and is with me wherever I go.”

"Know that I am with you." She knows this. Jacob knows this. As long as the weeds are among the wheat, there is a good chance the weeds will know it too! How about me? How about you? Amen.

Rich Soil

2011-07-09T18:57:00.001-07:00

10 July 2011/Proper 10A – Isaiah 55:10-13/Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore
“Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
At the end of his parable of the sower, Jesus makes an outlandish prediction of what the yield will be for the seed that falls on “rich soil” – one hundred, sixty and thirty fold! The crowd would be incredulous. Such an expectation is insane – perhaps this teacher and his disciples are all insane as well! To which Jesus replies, “Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Hearing is central to Israel and Judaism. Three times a day for the past three or four thousand years the faithful of God’s people recite the following words: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one…you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might….” It is called the Shema Y’Israel. So when Jesus invokes the importance of hearing, he is calling upon this daily ritual of his people, God’s people.

Once again, there is a gaping hole in our Gospel – verses 10-17. And once again, these verses appear to be central to our Lord’s teaching in chapter 13. Following chapters 10-12 which center around conflict and opposition to Jesus and his disciples, Chapter 13 presents a series of parables which offer reflection on the nature of the opposition and on the bountiful hope for those who have ears to hear. All of this is presented in the context of the failure of an attempted revolt against Rome resulting in the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and therefore desperate attempts to hold the community of God’s people together. Jesus represents a radical new attempt to hold the community together.

At this point in his ministry he resorts to telling stories – parables – stories with familiar themes but surprising conclusions. We need to observe that the church has often turned these parables into allegories in an attempt to “make sense” of them or reinterpret them, and that this act of reinterpretation is already at work in the gospels themselves.

This should not be surprising since Jesus, in the missing verses, is himself reinterpreting Isaiah to meet the needs of the people in the current crisis. In the missing section, the disciples ask Jesus a question. They do not ask, “What does the parable mean?” Instead they want to know, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” “Them” would be the crowd. And in this missing section Jesus draws a clear distinction between the disciples (“Us”) and the crowd. To make his point he quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 which talks about those who “hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and are turned (repent), converted, and I heal them,” over against those who do not.

How this conversion and healing will be recognized was announced at the outset by John the Baptizer who declares that those who return to the Lord and the Lord’s way will “Produce good fruit as evidence of repentance.” Matt 3:8

Jesus further assures the disciples that the “knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven have been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted…This is why I speak to them in parables…” Then come the words of Isaiah, as a way of explaining why it is that the first will be last and the last will be first – that is, the Empire and the religious authorities have it all wrong, only those who have turned and repented will hear and understand and be healed of the current crisis. Not only shall they be healed, but this small band of little people shall produce miraculous, outrageous, results!

It will be, says Jesus, as we hear in Isaiah 55 – God’s word shall not return to God empty, but shall accomplish that which “I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with Joy, and be led back in peace – the mountains and hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands,” as all creation celebrates a new Exodus, a new deliverance from Exile, a new deliverance from the constraints of the Old Empire!

And, oh yes, Jesus is that Word – that logos – that incarnation of God’s purpose made flesh and blood, moving into our neighborhood as the New Moses leading God’s people out of crisis once again. Jesus is the seed of a new deliverance.

So here we sit. Oddly enough the empire that has precipitated our crisis is still Rome. As the parable of the sower suggests, there is still hardness of heart at work. There are still shallow assertions and responses. There are still cluttered souls that cut off and choke the word of the mysteries of God’s kingdom - even arrogant assertions that God’s kingdom has no mysteries but is somehow carved in stone, set, impervious to anything new, to any new interpretation of God’s Word, to any movement in new directions by God’s Holy Spirit.

As we gather here week after week, it seems as absurd to us as it does to the crowd of “Them” that our faithfulness will result in the kind of good and rich soil Jesus talks about – the rich soil of faith, which the ancient author of the Letter to the Hebrews asserts is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Heb 11:1

When we assert week after week our faith in a God who is the creator of all there is, seen and unseen, we say we are those people who know that the story of God’s redemption is far from over. That our God, the God of the Shema Y’Israel, the Lord our God who is One God, has not only new and unimaginable things in store for us, but will increase the yield of our faithfulness thirty, sixty and one hundred fold if only. If only we will let his Word take root in the rich soil of our souls, our hearts and our minds. If only we will receive and respond to his Word.

Our God does not maintain the status quo! Jesus did not die on the cross to maintain the status quo. Jesus invites anyone – any-one without qualification, male or female, free or slave, native or resident alien – to join us because “them” who cannot hear are merely isolating themselves from that which Jesus, the Word of God, above all comes to bring them: healing. Healing from hardness of heart, souls cluttered with superfluous doctrine, and shallow assertions of certainty and self-righteousness.

Jesus concludes the missing verses with a kind of prayer or beatitude of hopefulness for the few who hear and receive what he is saying: “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears because they hear. Amen I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” Matt 13:17

We are called to be the rich soil and allow his message of grace to grow within us and beyond us. God’s Word shall accomplish that which it proposes: our healing and our growth in the kingdom! “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Amen.

My Yoke Is Easy?

2011-07-03T03:41:00.001-07:00

3 July 2011/Pentecost 3- Zechariah 9:9-12/Matthew 11:16-19,25-30/Song of My Beloved
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore

There is quite a bit missing in our Gospel selection for the day. One should always be suspicious of the editors, and in this case it does render the reading somewhat mysterious and unintelligible. Chapter 11 verses 1-15 form a critical transition in Matthew’s proclamation of the Good News. In the previous chapter he has just commissioned the 12 disciples and given them instructions to shape their ministries. Suddenly a question comes to Jesus from John the Baptizer: Are you the One?

This signals both opposition which is mounting against Jesus, and confusion among those who would be his most ardent supporters. John and his disciples are looking for a military king after the mold of say David, someone who would once and for all remove the yoke of Rome. (One has to admit this has a curious sort of resonance for us in this chapel this morning!) From his prison cell, John is not receiving any reports of Jesus mounting a revolt and questions whether this is really the messiah he was expecting and announcing.

Jesus gives a quite simple reply – tell John what you have seen and heard: “the blind regain their sight, the lame walk again, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

Then, so as not to appear to be putting John in a bad light, Jesus offers extensive testimony concluding that John is the greatest of all prophets in the mold of Elijah!

Then Jesus goes to work on “this generation.” As the Jesuit scholar Brendan Byrne in his commentary on Matthew makes clear – we are to understand that in Matthew we are “this generation.” That is, we are to read, reflect and react to the narrative as addressing us directly. As Byrne puts it, we are not to go back to Jesus to discover some meaning in the past, but rather we are to go forward with Jesus here and now. Matthew addresses a church community that was in terrific turmoil and change – the very place we find ourselves today.

So as Jesus addresses us he likens us to children in the marketplace. Where do we spend more time these days? In the church community and its various ministries? Or, in the marketplace, to which we are directed by a never ending stream of invitation called advertising, which has recently taken a page from the Gospels and become more and more narrative every day. How many commercials begin with a storyline begging you to imagine, “What are they selling with this story?” To give it all more impact, the story lines are accompanied by nostalgic music.

Jesus appeals to music – the flute and wailing. The flute represents the approach of Jesus inviting all persons of all kinds to sit at the dinner table. This includes all the persons traditionally considered “unclean” and “unacceptable” to the majority of society. That might include women, those with seemingly incurable diseases, those whose social customs seem outside the norm, slaves, and so on. For his mission to include everyone Jesus is accused of being a glutton and a drunkard! Yet, his approach to “religion” is to bring people together, not set them apart from one another.

As to the wailing, or keening as it is known in some circles, this represents those people in many ancient and contemporary societies (think New Orleans) who make up a class of vocational wailers for funerals. These “wailers” serve an important function in letting the community know that there is cause for mourning – that someone within the community is suffering loss. John calls society to mourn the fact that we have lost our way, that we have gone astray from God’s way and that this is serious business. He is declared a demon for being the messenger.

Then take careful note: Jesus likens himself to Wisdom – who throughout scripture is depicted as a woman! Make of that what you will. The wisdom of his ministry, he says, will show forth in the deeds themselves. And we need John's wailing to hold our feet to the fire, and Jesus' radical hospitality to extend our love for God to others - all others.

Then another chunk of text is missing – a discussion of towns that have rejected his ministry, including his base of operations, Capernaum –saying that for those who side with the ruling majority against his ministry of inclusion, it will be a dark day indeed, worse than it was for Sodom (who paid the penalty for wicked-poor hospitality to strangers, not for sexual deviancy!).

Finally comes the metaphor of the yoke. A yoke both constrains one to a certain task or discipline, while at the same time makes the task easier by sharing the load with another. A yoke both restrains and enables, it is both burden and possibility.

Throughout Matthew, Jesus has called the disciples of his, his followers, you and me, to a higher standard than that of the Pharisees and Scribes who were the professional and accepted interpreters of God’s law, God’s Torah, God’s Way, and God’s Covenant. Their interpretation was leading to divisions within the community and against all strangers, especially resident aliens (think here of the Dream Act). Jesus ups the ante, and at the same time asserts that the more people of all kinds we let sit at the dinner table, the easier it all will be since we can then share the load among more and more people. My yoke is easy.

And since the “load,” if you will, is what God wills for all people and for all the earth, then it appears that John is right in calling society to task, and Jesus is right to let anyone – any one – sit at the table. And that this, not military might, will be the only way to escape the yoke of Rome – representing “The Empire”, which in biblical terms is Pharaoh’s Egypt where we are all slaves to the dominant culture. The irony is that the Church later became the empire.

The question for the church, which is the question for all of us: are we willing to change yokes? The irony may be that in becoming less and less a majority people within the empire we may become more and more the church community Jesus and John call us to become. Amen.

Who Are We?

2011-06-25T17:17:00.001-07:00

26 June 2011 - The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter's at Ellicott Mills
Matthew 10:40-42
"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me
welcomes the one who sent me."

Jesus identifies those of us who would be his disciples with himself, and identifies himself with God. We are created imago Dei, in the image of God, and therefore to know ourselves we need to know something about God. Enter the so-called doctrine of the Trinity.

The Holy Trinity means to describe our experiences of different dimensions of God - or different dimensions of God's being. Recognizing, of course, that God is the Ground of all Being - and therefore any attempt to describe or depict God is fraught with danger - thus the prohibition of idols or icons at the outset of the 10 Commandments. Yet, we cannot help ourselves from wondering and pondering the mystery that is our God.

The combination of the Enlightenment (new emphasis on the "individual"/rise of so-called scientific inquiry) and the Reformation (attempts to recapture the essence of being The Church/reforming or eliminating certain practices and doctrine) has led to confusion and a diminishment of our understanding of this core Christian doctrine. A high regard for logic and reasoning, coupled with a belief that we can understand and describe everything as objective truth, contributes to the so-called post-modern/post-Christian "problem."

Also there is a language problem - three "persons" in English sounds like three discreet individuals, whereas three "personas" originally indicated three different parts played by a single stage actor with the help of masks. When formulating the creeds and other core doctrine, a linguistic breakdown between Latin and Greek speaking Christians created problems.

The Holy Spirit is perhaps the least talked about dimension of God's being - and yet in a way it is the first to make an appearance. Ruach in Hebrew, and Pneuma in Greek, both can mean breath, wind, and spirit. So it is "In the beginning..." we find God's ruach hovering, blowing, across the face of the waters in those moments when God speaks creation into being! Then in Genesis 2 God breathes into a handful of dust to create the first person-ruach. So we pray that our hearts be cleansed by the “inspiration” – breathing in – of the Holy Spirit.

In Acts it is God's Holy Wind that moves the early followers of The Way to do things they may never have imagined! The Holy Spirit moves us to do things we would never think of doing - this spirit calls us and sends us. This ruach, this pneuma is not at all separate from God - it is an essential dimension of God's being - thus the analogy to breath. Spirit is God's breath, our breath, the source of life for everything that is. We "inspire" - breathe in - this breath and it is life.

The Fourth Gospel recalls all of this as it also opens with the words, "In the beginning...." The evangelist John takes us back to a time before creation (setting aside the problem of time altogether). The Word, the logos, is with God and IS God - and repeatedly we find Jesus saying, "I Am.." These repeated "I Am" sayings recall the voice from the burning bush to Moses - "I am who I am...tell them I Am sent you."

So Jesus, the logos, God, comes to dwell among us, becoming flesh and blood and moving into the neighborhood. Doing so, Jesus is that dimension of God's being that comes to demonstrate what it means and how to be imago Dei, formed in the image of God. That to be human is to love God and love neighbor, offering the Good Samaritan as an example..

Jesus shows us how to be - how to be God's Beloved, how to be imago Dei - how to claim what and who we are created to be. He moves among us, teaching, healing, feeding, welcoming all kinds and conditions of men and women. He comes to save us from ourselves and to save us for God's own self - the God who yearns for us to be his Beloved People.

Jesus also enables God to understand the Human Condition of sin, alienation, loneliness, suffering or whatever other words we might call upon to signify where we find ourselves. God in Jesus experiences what we experience every day, including the very worst we can serve up on the cross.

Jesus goes even further to help us to know God. In Matthew 25 Jesus indentifies God's very being, God's self, with the poorest of the poor, the most suffering of the suffering. Just as today in the 10th chapter he identifies us with "these little ones." "As you serve them you serve me," he says. It should be remembered that the early Christian community, long before the Church became the organizing institution of the Roman Empire, was made up principally of these "little ones," that disciples of Jesus are urged to identify with and serve the little ones of the world. So that in serving those with whom Jesus self identifies, we are serving the God of the great "I am," the God of creation, the God whose very breath and spirit give life and light and love to all that is, seen and unseen.

How we struggle to know what this means. How we struggle to accept that there is a deeper reality that remains unseen. How we struggle to trust that not all things are visible, not all things are known, that not all things can be known. And yet, God can be known in Jesus.

And as an expression of God's deep and abiding love for us, he sent Jesus. Jesus who interprets what it is we are going through, and Jesus who interprets our prayers and adoration to God.
Jesus is our "hotline" - our red phone- to God. And what we pray for is the Holy Spirit - that holy breath and wind - to blow upon us, to fill our apostolic sails and send us into the world as icons of the presence of God's love for others - all others. We pray to God, through Jesus, for the Holy Spirit. It is all about getting our prepositions right!

Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not separate from but are dimensions of God's being and mean to show us the way back to the God from whom we are likely to stray. God is at home, it is we who have gone out for a walk, says the blessed Eckhart. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the dimensions by which we communicate with God and God with us - Emmanuel.

God as Trinity has been described as The School of Charity, The Household of Love, The Transcendent Community of perfect love, wisdom and creativity. Most of all as One God.

Even after a lifetime association, however well or intimately you know someone, you can never completely know another human being. Still less, can we completely know the extraordinary transcendent community of perfect Love. (Questions of Truth, Polkinghorne and Beale, John Knox, 2009).

And yet, it has been given to us to be those people who can and do know Jesus. What an incredible and humbling gift that is. He is here. He is with us. He is known to us in the breaking of the bread, in the giving and receiving of The Peace, in all the ways in which we let him live in us so that we might do something beautiful for God this day. To Christ be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Shalom My Friends

2011-06-11T15:32:00.001-07:00

12 June 2011/ Pentecost - Acts 2: 1-21/John 20: 19-23
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary, Baltimore, MD

Make Things New That Never Were

We name you wind, power, force, and then
imaginatively, “Third Person.”
We name you and you blow …
blow hard,
blow cold,
blow hot,
blow strong,
blow gentle,
blow new …
Blowing the world out of nothing to abundance,
Blowing the church out of despair to new life,
Blowing little David a shepherd boy to messiah,
Blowing to make things new that never were.
So blow this day, wind,
blow here and there, power,
blow even us, force,
Rush us beyond ourselves,
Rush us beyond our hopes,
Rush us beyond our fears, until we enact your newness in the world.
Come, come spirit. Amen.
-Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth, (Fortress, Minneapolis: 2003), p.167

This day we call Pentecost is about making things new that never were. Even Pentecost is made new. Formerly an agricultural feast, then a celebration of God giving God’s people Israel Torah, the first five books of the Bible, and now it is transformed again as that day when the wind blew, or the breath blew depending on your reading, and the gift of the Holy Spirit transformed fearful, hiding, cowering people into hopeful, public, proclaiming people.

That is, there is some blowing going on: “a violent wind” in Acts, a breath in John. In my favorite Terry Gilliam movie, Baron Munchausen, the Baron has some sidekicks: one with incredible vision, one with incredible speed, one with incredible strength, and one with incredible lung-power. Gustabus can blow over an entire platoon of soldiers with a single breath! So when we read of Jesus blowing on the disciples, it may in fact be more like Gustabus than the gentle, intimate breath felt on one’s neck from the one sitting next to you.

When we hear of blowing we are to think, as Brueggeman calls us, of this Wind, Breath, Spirit of God hovering over the waters of chaos we call creation in Genesis 1: perhaps hurricane like winds and forces! The same God of Israel breathes into a handful of dirt to give life to the first person in the very next chapter, Genesis 2.

We are not to concern ourselves with the Bible making up its mind. God’s Spirit-Wind is capable of taking any form, force or character. It is the power of life, the power of creation, the power that can blow something out of nothing!

In both accounts the disciples are hiding behind closed doors – they are fearful. Jesus, God in the flesh, comes in and says, “Peace be with you,” followed by a display of his wounds on his hands and his side. As if to say, “See, here, this is what fearful people do to others. Receive my spirit and be not afraid.” Then he says, “Peace be with you. As the Father sends me so I send you.” Then he breathes on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit!” Then he adds, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Perhaps the single most misunderstood text we have. We tend to think we are empowerd to forgive or not forgive, when really the sense of it is, how do you want your forgiveness? As he teaches them to pray, forgive as you wish to be forgiven. Don’t forgive and carry it with you forever. That would be retaining the sin – it still has a hold on you. Those who feel the breath are to become a community of forgiveness, forgiving the way we would like to be forgiven.

How hard is that? Look at his hands and his side. And consider what is really being said here: get outside of this locked room! Get out in the world! It’s time to make things new that never were! No time to sit around and be afraid. It is time to blow the world into a new world of Shalom and Forgiveness. It will not be easy. Just look at me. But it is what the world needs more than anything – a community of God’s Shalom.

Shalom. That would be his word, not mine. He spoke Hebrew or Aramaic, and “Peace” is about as anemic a translation of Shalom as we can imagine. Shalom means justice and peace for all people. Not some people, not a lot of people, not most people, but ALL people! Shalom means respect and dignity for ALL people. Shalom means seeking and serving Christ in ALL people. Shalom means taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves.

One day several years ago our daughter Cerny asked me, “Dad, what’s the common good?” This was her homework assignment – to define the common good. We talked about it. I should have said, “Jesus calls the common good shalom. Jesus calls us to use the gifts we have been given to continue his work of reconciliation in the world – for the common good.”

Jesus breathes on us. God’s breath gives us life. God’s breath or spirit gives us energy! God in Christ Jesus is sending us out of doors! God sends us to bring God’s shalom to all people. God’s breath, wind and spirit empower us to serve the common good! God in Christ Jesus calls us to make things new that never were before!

This is Pentecost. It does not get any simpler than this: Time to make things new that never were!
Amen!

Eternal Life Lived With God

2011-05-28T14:44:00.001-07:00

29 May 2011/Easter 6A - John 14:15-21/Acts 17:22-31
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter’s at Ellicott Mills, Maryland

“The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.”

Jesus talks about the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul talks about God. We speak of God, Jesus and Holy Spirit as being One. We speak of God, Jesus and Holy Spirit as “Being,” capital “B”. Just where does God as Trinity live and move and have their being? What do we think of when we think of eternity? Or, eternal life? We tend to think of eternity and eternal life as more of a place than as Time. Similarly we tend to think of God’s existence, even as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to exist in Space rather than Time, in nature rather than history, as if God is a thing, not a Spirit.

Appealing to the primitive pagan mind, Paul knows that we often find it hard to realize an idea without an image in the realm of Space: As if where there is no image there is no God. So God is thought to live in shrines. We like to think we are beyond all of this, but we revere sacred images, sacred mountains, sacred monuments, sacred buildings, sacred places. Not only in religion, but all nations pay homage to banners and flags, national shrines, monuments to heroes, kings and presidents. We continue to build them year after year.

Desecration of these things of Space is considered sacrilege. Until the shrine, the banner, the place, religious or national, becomes so important that the idea beneath it gets lost and consigned to oblivion. Thus, the memorial object or place becomes an aid to amnesia. We forget why we revere the image, we forget why we are here. For instance, few people today even know what Memorial Day memorializes – begun as a day to remember those who died in the Civil War it has come to be a day to remember all who have died in all of our nation’s wars, but it has been reduced largely to “a day off” or a time to barbeque.

As to religious experience, someone has a spiritual experience at a particular well. That person leaves a stone there to remember the experience. Others go to the well, have similar experiences and also leave a stone there, until one day, a grand Cathedral is built over and around the place of the well. Now people come to worship at the Cathedral because they can no longer see the well, and no one is left to remember the experiences others had at the well. People now only revere the Cathedral, forgetting why people used to come there in the first place.

This problem of identifying God in Space and Things is called idolatry by the Bible. Idolatry is just about the only sin with which the Bible is concerned. Idolatry and Covetousness concern the Bible mightily. Idolatry is when we begin to identify reality with things in Space, until even God becomes thought of more as a thing then as Spirit and Being. Covetousness is when we want things – any things, all things – more than we want God. We come to believe only in what we can see and have. So we commit our lives to three verbs: to want , to have and to do, forgetting that these three verbs only have significance in, and are transcended by, the verb “to be.” Being must precede wanting, having and doing.

So we pursue a life of accumulating things – of wanting, having and doing things. Despite the fact that it is not a thing that lends significance to a moment, but rather a moment that lends significance to a thing, a person or a place. There is a Realm of Time where the goal is not to have, but to be; not to own, but to give; not to control, but to share; not to subdue but to be in accord. And, as it turns out, the Bible pays attention to generations and events more than countries and things; it is more concerned with history than with geography. The Bible is more concerned with Time than with Space.

As we move through the Great Fifty Days of Easter toward the season of Pentecost, we might take note of perhaps the most significant revolution in the history of religions: Israel transformed agricultural festivals into commemorations of historic events. That is, the religious festival that celebrated the spring harvest became Passover, celebrating the escape from slavery in Egypt to freedom in a new land. Pentecost, also originally a harvest festival, became for Israel the celebration of God’s giving us Torah, the first five books of our Bible. Christians, of course, further reinterpreted Pentecost as that point in Time when God in Christ sent his own first gift, the Holy Spirit, so that we might no longer live for ourselves, to complete his work in the world, and bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all. For the Bible historic events in Time hold more spiritual significance than repetitive events in nature. Our God is a God of events: Deliverer from slavery, Giver of Torah, Redeemer through resurrection, Sender of the Holy Spirit - another Advocate, to be with you forever.

To help us to experience and cherish the realm of Time and Spirit God first gave us the Sabbath. Sabbath is a celebration of Time. Sabbath is Spirit in the form of time. With our bodies we belong to space, our spirits and souls aspire to the holy and to soar up to eternity. Eternity is God’s holiness of Time. Sabbath is our entry to the world of Time, Spirit and the Holy.

Holy is perhaps the most distinguished word in the Bible being representative of the majesty of the divine. The oldest piece of music and liturgy in the world sung by the six-winged seraphim before the throne of God is what we Episcopalians call the Sanctus – Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory, Hosanna in the Highest. And what is the very first thing made Holy in the history of the world? A Mountain? An Altar? A statue? An idol? A Temple or Tabernacle? The word “holy” is first used by the God of Creation and it is applied to time: And God blessed the seventh day and made it Holy. When the world began there was only one holiness – the holiness of time, the Sabbath. Our relationship with God, and our deepest understanding of ourselves, depends upon our entering into the realm of Time made Holy, the Sabbath. There is a realm of Time where the goal is not to have, but to be; not to own, but to give; not to control, but to share; not to subdue, but to be in accord.

Yet, Time remains our greatest challenge. We tell ourselves repeatedly over and over again, we have no time. We say this ALL the time. Even though somewhere deep inside ourselves we know that time is essential to our being since it is only in time that there can be togetherness, relationships, fellowship, community, communion, love and light. We share time with others while we try to own space. To learn to share time with others we need to enter the realm of Time.

To know God as spirit, to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, to know who and what we are meant to be requires our entering this realm of Time. Keeping Sabbath is the Holy Habit that offers us a way to meet our greatest challenge and to enter the realm of Time. If we allow ourselves to enter the realm of Sabbath Time, we discover we are already with the God “in whom we live and move and have our being.” We enter eternity here and now. Eternity is not a place it is a time. And the time starts now for anyone who lets go of the tyranny of wanting, having and doing. It will be in such Time as Sabbath time that we learn what it means to love Jesus. “And those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Amen.

“All week long we are called upon to sanctify life through employing the things of space. On the Sabbath it is given to us to share in the holiness that is in the heart of time. Even when the soul is seared, even when no prayer can come out of our tightened throats, the clean, silent rest of the Sabbath leads us to a realm of endless peace, or to the beginning of an awareness of just what eternity means. There are few ideas in the world of thought which contain so much spiritual power as the idea of Sabbath. Aeons hence, when of many of our cherished theories only shreds remain, that cosmic tapestry will continue to shine. Eternity utters a day.” – Abrahm Joshua Heschel

Greater Things Than These!

2011-05-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

Easter 5A 2011 – John 14:1-14
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore
It Is Our Turn Now!
It was Kurt Vonnegut who once said in a Palm Sunday sermon, "Leave it to people to look at the wrong end of a miracle every time." Much the same could be said about The Bible - it is much easier to look at the wrong end of a passage of scripture than to look at it in its greater context. And no wonder. That requires reading more than one or two lines.

Which always tend to be the lines we underline - which we underline because we like them and they seem to support our own personal view of the world. Barbara Hall, one of my New Testament professors in seminary, charged us at the end of the year to go back and study the parts of the Bible we had NOT underlined - for that would be where God wants to work with us.

If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me to explain "I am the way, the truth and the life...." I would now be a millionaire. Particularly the "no one comes to the Father except through me" part. Sounds rather exclusive, does it not? And yet, it would appear to hinge on at least a clear understanding of who "me" is. This is where Christianity gets particularly messy - trying to get a handle on just who the "me" of Jesus is.

Perhaps the simplest answer is the most obvious - obvious if you have any understanding of who the fourth gospel claims Jesus is: the Logos, or the Word of God. And the opening verses of the gospel go even further to tell anyone who is willing to pay attention that the Logos, the Word was, is and ever shall be God. Oh yes, and through this Logos, this Word, all things came to be, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1: 1-5 RSV)

To make sure this is not taken as some sort of mistake or scribal error, plastered all over the fourth gospel is Jesus saying, "I AM...." over and over and over again: I am the bread from heaven, I am the good shepherd, I am the gate, I am the true vine, I am the resurrection, and on and on it goes, including, "I am the way, and the truth and the life."

So we are left with a tautology really. No one gets to me except through me since I AM God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. "I AM," of course, everyone remembers, is God's name. When Moses asks the burning bush for a name the bush replies, "I am who I am....tell them 'I AM' sent you."

Which leads us to the other obvious truth of the matter: Jesus was Jewish, and one has to believe never ever thought that something called "Christianity" would be the result of His time spent with us on Earth blessing and hallowing the Earth and all its inhabitants. And nearly everyone following Him, listening to Him, eating with Him, being healed by Him and so on was also Jewish - that is, in Bible parlance, they were already with "the Father" and in covenant with "the Father" since ... well let's just say for a long, long time. At least as far back as Abraham's covenant arrangement with the Almighty. At least as far back as the covenant at Mount Sinai with Moses and all those wandering Hebrew slaves.

Philip does not quite get this since he did not have our advantage of having a copy of the Gospel of John since it would be at least another 70 or 80 years or so before it was committed to writing. So, if Jesus is not the Father, why is it he makes such a fuss with Philip to point out "I am in the Father and the Father is in me. And if that doesn't work for you look at the works I do. Tell me, who else turns water into wine? Who else welcomes a Samaritan woman in broad daylight and asked her to help me? Who else restores sight to the blind, heals the sick, feeds the hungry, welcomes the stranger, sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes? Who else has washed your feet? Who else raises people like Lazarus from the dead? Who else gives you the commandment to Love God, Love Neighbor, Love one another as I have loved you, and in your spare time love your enemies? I am who I am, Philip. I AM. Can you hear me now?"

Further, a thorough reading of the Fourth Gospel reveals that since Christ, the Word or Logos of God, is already in everyone and everything (John 1: 1-5), even though there are “sheep not of this fold,” Jesus will “bring them … So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”(John 10: 16) That is, Jesus will gather the flock from people of different “ways,” relieving us of that task, freeing us to be about the work he actually calls us to do: “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and, in fact, will do greater works than these.” (John 14:13)

So Jesus is not setting up some kind of litmus test or making any sorts of claims of exclusivity. Jesus is simply placing himself and those who would dare to call themselves his followers in the context of his understanding of the religion of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and all the Prophets: I AM. Here is what I have done, it is your turn now.

And do not forget that what I said to Nicodemus (John 3) I say to you all, God’s spirit blows where it wills. You know not where it comes from or where it is going. It can be blowing among Gentiles and Jews, Buddhists and Hindus, Muslims and Taoists, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Mormons, and even Agnostics and Atheists! Be clear that what is at stake is not who is being saved, but what salvation actually is.

Salvation is the breaking-in of the reign of God, God’s kingdom, here and now. And my Father’s kingdom can be recognized by the works themselves. It is time to stop worrying about all the rest and take Responsibility for the works themselves – and to recognize that others may also be doing the things God in Christ calls us to do. For those who take Responsibility will “also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” Greater works than these!

Is it any wonder that we try to make this 14th Chapter about something else, anything else? For isn’t it a whole lot easier to spend our time prattling on and on about who will and who will not be saved than to take responsibility for continuing and completing Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world? Isn’t it a whole lot easier to feel superior to every one else than to get down on our hands and knees and wash their feet? Isn’t it a whole lot easier to sit around and speculate on life after death than it is to bring light and life to a dark, troubled and broken world here and now?

The way, the truth and the life is revealed in all those who participate in the works Jesus does. What this 14th Chapter of John calls us to do is to recognize the way, the truth and the life in all those who participate in the works of Jesus and do greater works than these. It's our turn now!
Amen.

Truth Came As A Person

2011-05-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

EASTER 4A - Acts 2:42-47/John 10:1-10

This Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. So all three years, A, B, and C, we read from this tenth chapter of the Fourth Gospel what can be called the Good Shepherd monologue. Although it is a complicated matter in that Jesus identifies himself as being the Good Shepherd, the Gatekeeper, and even the Gate to the sheep-fold.

And it would be the assertion of the Fourth Gospel that Jesus being the logos, God’s Word, made flesh to dwell (tent) among us, it could be argued, and indeed should be, that Jesus knew as much about being one of the sheep of God’s pasture as anyone among us.

If that is not all confusing enough (Shepherd, Gatekeeper, Gate, Sheep; chopped up over three years) try this out for size from one of the commentaries on this passage: “The passage is theological, Christological, soteriological, eschatological, ecclesiological and ethical!”

More to the point, it becomes perfectly obvious that the language employed to tell us who Jesus is is the language of metaphor. In fact, it is now argued that all language, every single word we speak is metaphor.

When one says, for instance, "flower," does that word render a complete understanding of what a flower is? Let alone our experience of flowers? And just how any one of us experiences flowers or a particular flower can be as different as night and day - provided we know what we mean by "night" and "day." When one speaks, for instance, of "the dark night of the soul" that very well can be describing an emotional and psychological state that can take place as much in the daytime as in the nighttime.

Owning up to this requires Christians to reexamine just what we mean by things like "the truth." In the fourth gospel Jesus says to Pilate, "For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." (Jn 18:37) That is, the sheep of his fold hear his voice. To this Pilate makes perhaps the shrewdest of observations when he replies, "What is truth?" Yes, what indeed!

So breaking through all the metaphor, we ought to conclude that for Christians Truth came as a person - a flesh and blood man called Jesus. Not a proposition, not an argument, not a set of beliefs, but a person. For Christians the answer to the popular song of Joan Osborne, "What if God was one of us," turns out to be, "He is," for He was and is and ever shall be. Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

Jesus is God. Jesus is man. Jesus is one of us. God, YHWH the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus, is Truth. And not one of these or any other metaphor can possibly exhaust the meaning of this basic Christian understanding.

Yet, those who take the time to enter the sheepfold through Jesus the gate, those who hear him calling them by name, those who desire to follow the good shepherd, come to know two important things about the Truth:
1) What God says to you in Jesus is this: you are forgiven. Nothing more. Nothing less. This is the message Jesus spoke and lived. There are other things that he could have said to us, and most of us are familiar with these because some forms of Christianity relay such messages as: Good News! If you are very very good, God will love you. Or, Good News! If you are very very sorry for not having been very very good, God will love you. Or, God Loves You! Now get back in line before God changes God’s mind! None of these are truly good news. Instead God says, “You are forgiven. I love you anyway, no matter what. I love you not because you are particularly good nor because you are particularly repentant nor because I am trying to bribe you or threaten you into changing. I love you because I love you.”
2) The early Christians were convinced that the Spirit has a particular care for the church, supplying the community with all it needs. She does so, however, in a peculiar way. The gifts you need she gives to someone else. The gifts you are given are meant for someone else. The Christian community can live only by the sharing and giving of these gifts. The Church at its best is a community that lives by this kind of sharing, exercising its generosity not only within its own circle, but toward outsiders as well. None of us has any higher claim on God than the claim to God’s willing forgiveness. We are all outsiders, miraculously included within the community of the gospel by God’s call.
(Points 1 & 2 are both from William Countryman’s, The Good News of Jesus, [Cowley, Boston: 1993]
pp. 3-5, 105)

The result of understanding the Truth in just this way, says the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, is a community of people who share all things in common, giving thanks that all things come from God. Further such Christian community blesses these things held in common and redistributes them as any have need. It is not easy. It is messy. It is not "fair" in the sense that we tend to think of fairness. But apparently it is God's will. Day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

God sent Jesus to help us to get all of this. God sent Jesus to deliver this “News.” God sent Jesus to call into community people who want to live this way. People who want to know God’s love and care for them in this way.

We all want to be those people who “come in and go out.” We all want to experience that kind of freedom. We all want to experience the kind of care and protection being described by Jesus and by Luke in the Book of Acts. We all want to participate and share in this life of abundance Jesus comes to bring to us.

I believe it hinges on our Stewardship of time and especially observing Sabbath time. We are to become those people who “spend much time with one another in the Temple”. We are to become those kinds of people who read the Bible, take communion and pray together, not alone, not by ourselves, but in community, fellowship and in relationship – in relationship with God in Christ and in relationship to one another.

The Good News, sisters and brothers, is that our God wants us to experience an abundance of all of that really matters. Our God wants to take care of all of our needs. Our God has supplied us with a particular care for all of our needs by the giving and sharing of our gifts in community. When people see us living in this Way the Lord will indeed add to our number day by day! Amen!

We Have Seen The Lord!

2011-05-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

Easter 3A 2011/May 8 - Luke 24:13-35
We Have Seen The Lord!

Notice how much detail, time and attention Luke and the other gospels give to the Resurrection in comparison to the Crucifixion which is usually summed up in a sentence or two. And notice as well how often the resurrected Jesus is not immediately recognized – suggesting that his appearance has changed, been transformed or transfigured.

And further consider that we have no first-hand, primary documentation of what his appearance was like when he was a man walking about Galilee and Judea telling stories, healing people and feeding people. And of course no one witnessed the resurrection itself. What we have are recorded episodes of his appearing to people after the resurrection, but no record of his rising from the dead itself. All of which makes it perfectly reasonable to consider that it is not only possible but probable that Jesus can and does appear to us today. For the fact remains, Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

Evidently, according to the narrative before us, there are at least two signs associated with seeing or have seen Jesus – hearts on fire, and the breaking of bread. There very well may be other signs, but these are the two highlighted by Luke’s telling of the tale.

In April 1985 I traveled with an interfaith delegation to Munich Germany. Our President was visiting Germany and was about to honor dead Nazi SS soldiers buried in a cemetery near Bitburg. Our group was traveling to honor the lives of young people who had given their lives warning the German people what was really happening to their country both on the Russian Front and in the Concentration Camps. These young people, university students at the time, called themselves the White Rose, and most were executed for distributing pamphlets calling the German people to put a stop to the Nazi excesses. We were there to honor the survivors.

Part of our trip was to conduct a memorial service in Dachau, a concentration camp on the outskirts of Munich. One of my travel companions was Ernie Michel who had been interned in Auschwitz. As we entered Munich on the bus from the airport memories of Munich when he was young came back to him – from the train station, he said, one could see and smell the smoke from the crematories at Dachau. It would have been impossible not to know what was happening. Ernie spoke at the memorial service we held in the camp, recalling how his closest childhood friends had turned against him when they joined the Nazi Youth.

It is what happened after the memorial service, however, that I recall most vividly. We had an hour to walk about the camp where there was still a barracks standing, and a building with the crematory ovens. Then along an outside wall of the camp was a gateway into a convent where an order of nuns pray day and night as a witness to what had happened there at Dachau. I wandered in, prayed quietly in the chapel, and then went back out into the camp, which was largely an empty space. It had begun to snow. I saw a man on a bicycle coming toward me, dressed with a cape and a hat making him look like something out of a black and white movie, perhaps the priest who says mass for the nuns I thought. But looking like the courier in old war movies delivering a message to the front.

He climbed off the bike and came right over to me and began to tell his tale: he had worked with young people in the Lutheran Church, was eventually arrested and placed in Dachau where he spent the rest of the war. His story was half in English and half in German. He was trying to describe the things he saw there. He was animated and intense, arms flailing in the snow and wind. When it seemed he was finished I thanked him and started to head back to my group when he grabbed me by the arm and began speaking with great animation, now all in German, now very intense, with a determination to tell me the whole story. Was the snow swirling about us? Or, were we swirling back in time? I know not a word of German, but he kept speaking of the necessity for Peace – shalom – in the world. When he finished, he placed a pamphlet in my hand, thanked me for listening, got back on his bicycle and rode off.

The Madman of Dachau, I thought to myself. Every story has its madman. Even all these years later, he cannot escape this place. He cannot stop telling the tale, as if were he to stop all might be forgotten. As if were he to stop we might never learn the lessons we need to learn. As if were he to stop the truth might be lost forever. It has only been on further reflection and recollection of this chance meeting in the austere remnants of the first of the camps that I have concluded that this was no madman at all – this was the Risen Lord. Was not my heart burning as he told his tale? Is not his tale the same as that of the Palestinian Jew Jesus who wandered about his country telling the story of God’s people to anyone who would listen?

Jesus is alive – it is we who are often dead to his presence – or at best sleepwalking through this life, numbed by all the countless other concerns competing for our attention. Note, that it is in reading and re-reading the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament that led the companions on the way to Emmaus to finally recognize the stranger. That, and when he took bread, blessed the bread, broke the bread and gave it to them, suddenly he was there, if only for a moment.

Companion. It literally means “with bread” – those who share bread. Each time we break bread we are meant to see the Risen Lord there at table with us – in the face of whoever is across the table from us – in the face of the stranger on the street, on the train, on the plane, at the mall, at the Route One Service Center, at the Second Sunday Farmers Market. Not all appearances of the Risen Lord will be as dramatic as that snowy day inside the walls of Dachau – but perhaps all of life is bounded by those walls. Perhaps all of life takes place on the cross – waiting to move from there to the empty tomb and beyond.

Some women told a tale of an empty tomb. Two companions walking to Emmaus ran back to Jerusalem to tell a tale. Someone somewhere is waiting for us to tell our tale. Know him in the breaking of the bread. He is here when our hearts burn within us. He is here. He is with you wherever you are. One day someone will see the Risen Lord in you as you tell your tale. Amen.

Credo Sunday

2011-04-30T13:47:00.001-07:00

1 May 2010 - Easter 2-B / John 20: 19-31
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal, Baltimore, MD
Credo Sunday

This Gospel in John is what is traditionally read every year the Sunday after Easter. For reasons that become less and less clear to me, we somewhat smugly refer to this as “Doubting Thomas Sunday.” Which is too bad.

It is too bad because such a designation reinforces a number of misunderstandings and wrong assumptions about the heart of the Christian Faith. Beginning with a decidedly negative connotation to the word “doubt.” We assume doubt to be bad, or even the opposite of faith, we tend to think of Thomas as something less than a faithful disciple of Jesus.

Whereas, doubt has been seen by many, such as the great twentieth century theologian Paul Tillich, not as the opposite of faith, but as an element of faith itself. Or, as Frederich Beuchner has put it, “Whether your faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.” (Wishful Thinking, [Harper, San Francisco: 1973] p.20)

“Faith,” as described in the Letter to the Hebrews, “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”(Heb 11:1) An example given in that epistle is Abraham taking off on a journey with no maps. Faith is not knowing where you are going, but going anyway. I have faith that my friend is my friend. I cannot prove that friendship. And when I experience that friendship I have no need to prove it. And were I to try and prove it through some sort of testing, the friendship goes bad and becomes no friendship at all. So it is with God in Christ.

I have faith or even believe that a certain piece of music is beautiful, but I cannot even begin to prove its beauty. I experience it as beautiful, but cannot necessarily demonstrate its beauty. So it is with God in Christ.

So we have the disciples, minus Thomas the Twin, who have an experience of the Risen Lord. We should note, however, that they do not say they believe Jesus has risen. They do not say they have faith in the risen Lord. They only say, “We have seen the Lord.”
They have experienced Jesus again after the crucifixion.

Thomas wants to have a similar experience. Thomas wants evidence. You might say he is an early scientist - at least an empiricist. We could say whatever doubt Thomas may have harbored moved him to want to share in their experience. And in all honesty, at the end of the day, we are here because we want to share in their experience as well.

What is interesting, is what Thomas says when he does share the experience:
“My Lord and my God!” Even more interesting is Jesus' response. He does not chastise Thomas. He simply says, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." That would be us. And anyone listening to or reading John's gospel, written at least 70 years or more after the resurrection.

Thomas says, "My Lord and my God." Remembering that John's gospel begins with the claim that Jesus, the Word, the logos, is God. So Thomas's declaration stands as an early, if not the earliest creedal statement, alongside Martha’s, “I believe that you are the Anointed One who is coming into the world.”

I suggest creedal because the very first word of both the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds is the word credo. This Latin word is commonly translated as, “I believe.” And because we are modern people we tend to understand belief in its post-enlightenment, post-scientific sense as assent to statements that are verifiable and true. This has the effect of making Christian Faith a matter of the head, implying that the important thing is to believe the right set of claims.

Credo, however, in its Latin roots means literally, “I give my heart to.” Which has the sense of saying, I commit my loyalty to, I commit my allegiance to, this is how I see the world in my heart.

In the world of the Bible, and in the world of Jesus and Thomas, the heart represents a deeper place of the self, a deeper dimension of belief than thinking, willing, and feeling; deeper than our intellect, emotions and volition. The heart is deeper than the head and any ideas we might have. In fact, prior to the 17th century, the word “believe” did not mean believing a set of statements or propositions.

The object of believing expressed in the creeds was not statements, but a person. That person is God, Son and Holy Spirit. So when Thomas and John the evangelist speak of belief, it is credo, it is giving one’s heart to Jesus as God. That is, to believe means to love. What we believe is what we “belove.” Faith is about “beloving” God in Christ. It is about being in relationship with God.

So that when Jesus says the great commandment is to Love God and Love neighbor, he is talking about relationships. He concludes, “Upon these two relationships hang all the law and the prophets.”

The law and the prophets are the first two parts of the Hebrew Bible, the whole Bible of Jesus. So that he says all of scripture depends on these two relationships: loving God and loving neighbor. Or, we are to love God and that which God loves. Which is all creation and everything and everyone threin.

When Thomas says, “My Lord and my God,” I believe it is his way of saying, “I give my heart to God and all that God loves.” This is the heart of the Christian Faith, which is itself a way of the heart. This is why we might do well to call this Credo Sunday instead of “Doubting Thomas Sunday”: Credo, a day to give our hearts to God and all that God loves. Amen.

Warm, Happy Fruit Are We!

2011-04-24T04:52:00.000-07:00

Easter 2011 – The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter’s at Ellicott Mills
I believe it is important to see the events from Palm Sunday to Easter Morning not as a series of separate events, but as one continuous act by God for our salvation. So, beginning with Good Friday, the sequence goes something like this in Matthew's telling of the story. On the cross, with a loud voice, Jesus gives up his Spirit. At once, just up the road at the Temple, the curtain before the Holy of Holies is torn from top to bottom, the earth shakes, tombs spilled open and the bodies of many who had "fallen asleep" came out of the tombs and went through the holy city, appearing to many.

I try to imagine being a Roman centurion on the ramparts of the city watching this scene unfold. I am thinking perhaps it is time to find another job!
Alleluia Christ is Risen. The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Joseph of Arimathea gives Jesus his own tomb, hewn out of rock, rolling a great stone over the opening of the tomb while several of the women look on. The men have taken off long ago, such is the power of crucifixion. The next day, as we heard Saturday morning, some officials ask Pilate to secure the tomb "lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, 'He has risen from the dead...'" Pilate, seemingly unconcerned, tells them to do it themselves, which they do. They seal the tomb and post a guard. Can you lock God out? Can you lock God in?

Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" return the next morning. Another earthquake, this time a "great earthquake", an angel of the Lord arrives, his appearance like "lightening, and his raiment white as snow." Think, South Beach, mid-seventies, Stayin' Alive! The guards tremble and fall like "dead men." The angel, having rolled back the stone is sitting on it instructing the women, "Do not be afraid!" Do not be afraid! That’s how the story began. The miracle, apparently, is that they are not afraid. The angel shows them the empty tomb and instructs them to meet the risen Jesus back in Galilee. They go to tell the disciples. What would you do? What would I do?
Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Matthis Grunewald's depiction of this scene from the sixteenth century Isenheim Altarpiece (1510-1516) is more surreal than Salvador Dali could ever imagine! The guards are scattered like so many bowling pins, sprawled every which way. Grunewald shows us what no one reportedly saw - there is Christ, heading upwards into the Sun, his white linen shroud trailing and changing colors, turning royal red and finally gold! Rays of golden light emitting from his wounds! His likeness transmuted into golden light, like the transfiguration all over again, but even more intense. A large rock appears to be floating in the background. Breathtaking is the only word that approximates Grunewald's imagining of "the" moment.

It is this Jesus the two Mary's encounter on the road, calling to them with an almost casual, “Greetings!” Greetings? It is his voice, his "Greetings", but wow! The Marys had never seen him quite like this before.
Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

They respond by grabbing on to him. Like a two year-old grabbing on to your ankles kind of holding on for dear life. Imagine, holding tight, holding fast – “so hold, hold, me tight, me tight, tonight, tonight” kind of tight!

Says Matthew, “They worshipped him.” Which is what brings us to his table. Which is what brings us here today. To tell the story, to take the bread, to bless the bread, to break the bread, to share the bread and the cup – drawing him into our selves and us closer to him. All of us closer to one another. All of us closer to the whole world in which, for which and to which God shows no partiality. We worship Him!
Alleluia Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

They are holding onto Jesus who tells them to let go. He tells them to get the brothers and meet him back in Galilee. He wants to bring us all together again. And again and again and again.

Whatever else resurrection means, we may say that the relationships Jesus establishes are not severed by what happens to him. Death has not won in this regard. The relationships he establishes here in this font, at this table, ‘neath the light of this Paschal Candle, cannot and will not be undone by crucifixion, by betrayal, by denial, by our failures to understand what he was about. Like the women, like the disciples, his love for us continues so that we may love one another.

What the women see and are holding onto is his steadfast love which endures. Indeed, it endures to this day. Hold on for dear life! Hold on for life that is real life!
Alleluia Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Yesterday morning we read a marvelous text by Rainer Maria Rilke. "I cannot conceive that the cross should remain, which was, after all, only a crossroads. It certainly should not be stamped on us on all occasions like a brand-mark. For is the situation not this: he intended simply to provide the loftier tree, on which we could ripen better. He, on the cross, is this new tree in God, and we were to be warm, happy fruit, at the top of it.

"We should not always talk of what was formerly, but the afterwards should have begun. This tree, it seems to me, should have become so one with us, or we with it, and be it, that we should not need to occupy ourselves continually with it, but simply and quietly with God, for his aim was to lift us up into God more purely."

We are the afterwards! We need not be preoccupied with the cross, but to center ourselves simply and quietly with God. Allow ourselves to be lifted up into God more purely! And that way become, warm, happy fruit!
Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Warm, happy fruit indeed! Whatever resurrection is, it is a relationship, a covenantal relationship that does not happen just to Jesus, but to all who share this covenantal relationship with him at all times and in all places. Here, now, today, this happy morning. Age to age shall sing, “Welcome happy morning!" Welcome all you who eat with him and drink with him! Welcome all you who are tired and heavy laden! Welcome to you who have just a mustard seed’s worth of faith! Welcome to you stranger, resident alien, widows and orphans! Jesus loves you!

Let me give you rest. Let me give you daily bread. Let me give you something to drink that will quench all your thirst. Let me dry your eyes so you can see further. Let me carry you when tired. Let me hold your hand as we cross into the promised land.

He is here. He is risen. He wants you. He needs you. He needs your heart and your love. The world needs your heart and your love. God needs your heart and your love.

Hold onto him and he will set you free. Hold on to him and he will send you to bring the news to others. Hold on to him and he will never let you go.
Alleluia Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

A Moment in Time

2011-04-23T09:02:00.001-07:00

Good Friday Reflections 2011
Saint Timothy's School
Chaplain Kirk Kubicek

The earliest Christian traditions, predating the writing of what we now call the New Testament or Christian Scriptures, was some version of the narrative just read. We have early accounts of early followers of Jesus gathering in Jerusalem each year to commemorate the last events of our Lord's life, his death and his resurrection. These were and are to be seen all as one event, not separate events - one continuous divine intervention on the part of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus. We must leave it to those in the physical sciences to resolve the question of time - is it continuous, is it a single moment. I have come to think we do a great disservice to have all these separate worship traditions during Holy Week, carving it up into small bites, constituent parts, since perhaps we lose our focus on the main result of it all - Christ is risen! This was an early Christian greeting: Christ is risen! To which one would reply, He is risen indeed.

But here we are on what has long been called Good Friday. Since the earliest days of the Christian Community people of faith have pondered several questions about this day we call Good Friday. They all tend to fall into three areas: Why did Jesus die? What does his death mean? Why do we call it Good Friday? There are no clear or single answers to any of these, despite two millennia of attempts - just a lot of ponderings, theories, ideas grounded in people's experiences.

Why Jesus died is perhaps the easiest question to answer. He had become a great nuisance to a lot of people who had positions of power and authority. Add to the fact that he was causing the great throngs of crowds gathered in Jerusalem for Passover to become overly excited that perhaps the end of the Roman occupation was near. Perhaps this young man from Galilee would lead the revolt. Pilate, the bureaucrat appointed by Caesar to keep things calm in Jerusalem, was persuaded that something had to be done to settle things down. Rome, like the Babylonians before them, and other ancient empires, made examples to citizens and non-citizens alike by executing people by the side of the roads or just outside a city - the message: this could happen to you if you do not obey our laws.

The odd thing is that after much research and scholarship on all of this, no one has found a law Jesus had broken, either by Jewish law or Roman law. It appears that he was just on the verge of causing too much trouble - perhaps an insurrection, which is strange for one who taught the kind of pacifism that has inspired the likes of Ghandi, Martin King Jr, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to use nonviolent means to bring about change.

As to what it means, the standard answer is that Jesus, who we believe to be God incarnate, that is God come to us as a man, was lifting a debt from all the rest of us - the rest of us being understood as people who had fallen into so much sin that there would be no way to "pay the debt" by ourselves - so God graciously, charitably settles the debt giving us a chance to begin again - to start over - to go and sin no more. This we refer to theologically as atonement - our at-one-ment with God. Fortunately for us and for the whole world quite a few people have responded positively to this offer to begin again and dedicated their lives to making the world a better place. We call them saints, although not one of them ever thought of themselves as such. They were just ordinary people like you and me who see in Jesus a better way to honor God and honor one another.

As we heard him say on Wednesday, we are to love one another as he loves us. Then he dies. But we are those people who know the rest of the story. And we know that he did not stay dead for very long. We say three days, but from noon Friday to dawn Sunday is a very short three days! He was ready to get back to work - his work being to show us the Way - the Way of Love for the whole world- to love God and love neighbor as He loves us.

Which is why Good Friday is Good. We are not meant to focus much on the pain, the agony and the shame of it all - and believe me, for his earliest friends it was a shameful scandal to see their Lord and Master hanging on a Roman cross.

We are meant to see that no greater love has any one man had than to lay down his life for his friends - and, as we heard Wednesday, we are his friends if we love one another.

I will close with a poem that sort of sums this all up: It is by Scott Cairns, a Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Missouri - titled
Blood Atonement:

This much we might say with some assurance:
a crucifixion occurred, apparently
gratuitous, but a harsh intersection -
tree and flesh and some iron. We might add
that sufficient blood resulted to bring about
a death, the nature of which we still puzzle.

As to why? Why the blood? Why the puzzle?
It seems that no one who knows is saying,
which is not to say we lack opinion.

Still, while we suffer no shortage of dire
speculation, hardly any of it
has given us anything like a clue.

All we dare is that it was necessary,
that we have somehow become both culprit
and beneficiary, and that we

are left to something quite like a response
to that still lost blood, to the blameless world.

from Scott Cairns, Compass of Affection, (Paraclete Press, Brewster, MA: 2006) p.72

We are here now to ponder the events of this day - and then to resolve: just how ought we respond? Amen.

The Incarnation

2011-04-16T14:38:00.001-07:00

The Passion According to Matthew - A few thoughts...
Philippians 2:5-11/Matthew 27:1-54

"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus," prays St. Paul. Phil 2:5"

Palm Sunday has become The Sunday of the Passion. Why? The practical reason appears to be that fewer and fewer Christians these days take part in all dimensions of Holy Week so that fewer and fewer are in Church on Good Friday to hear the story read. Yet, it is long understood that at one time and for decades if not longer, the Passion Narratives were all we had - that and Paul's letters. We often forget that Paul is our earliest witness in the New Testament. More on that in a moment.

But more to the point, once Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the trouble begins. He and his followers do not have the luxury of enjoying those few moments of excitement, hosannas, palms and an expectant and jubilant crowd of all manner of poor, lame, and otherwise destitute outsiders of life in the Empire of Rome and the Temple precincts of Jerusalem. Once inside the gates of the City of Peace Jesus is causing all sorts of trouble - overturning the tables of those who provided the necessary commerce for offering the appointed sacrifices. It is difficult to imagine a secular analog in our world today: Destroying the ticket booths, souvenir stands and food and drink concessions at the Super Bowl? Indeed, in Matthew's account, we have the Temple incident and Jesus immediately leaves town to hideout in Bethany. The next time he enters the city it is one argumentative scene and parable after another until his arrest. So the simple fact appears to be that the moment of Palm Sunday was just that - a brief momentary high that devolved into chaos and danger almost immediately. Many scholars agree, the Temple Incident was cause enough for his arrest. And reason enough for Pilate to make an example to the Passover crowds of just what lies in store for those who dare to challenge the Pax Romana.

All that aside, much has been written and said in an attempt to understand why Jesus died? Just what does it all mean? Curiously, Paul, our earliest witness, does not seem to be concerned with such questions at all. Paul is not at all concerned about why wicked men would do such an evil thing - after all it is the very machinery of those who desire to wield power in every age - but rather, to focus our attention on a good and loving God who has done a gracious, generous and charitable thing - forgive us our sins.

Time does not allow for any serious examination of how this is accomplished. There is in fact no such thing as a doctrine of atonement, but rather many varied and competing theories. Again, it is Paul in his letter to the Romans who states that "God shows his own love for us in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners." Romans 8:5 More to the point, in our snippet from Philippians we learn that although "he was in the form of God, [he]did not regard equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness." Phil 2:5ff

That is, as Luther observed, Good Friday/Passion Sunday and Christmas celebrate the same truth - that of the Incarnation, that God becomes man for our sake because God loves us that much. Any understanding of atonement needs to begin with Incarnation. No less than Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, observes that this story is not about appeasing a God offended by our sin - the cross is not part of a mechanism of injured right, but rather quite the reverse. "... it is the expression of the radical nature of the love that gives itself completely, of the process in which one is what one does and does what one is; it is the expression of a life that is completely being for others." God is Love. Jesus is God. Jesus shows us how to live a life that is "being for others."

That is, all this is not meant for us to focus on suffering and punishment. Punishment is suffering the just consequences for one's sins. That does not pertain to Christ. And astonishingly enough, the text barely gives six words to the crucifixion in Matthew! Rather, we are to consider Christ's work as charity, as a voluntary satisfaction and recompense for our wrong doing.

It is this satisfaction and act of loving charity that is "completely being for others" that we memorialize in the Eucharist - the one sacrifice once offered on our behalf is still being offered on our behalf today.

As Saint Anselm has put it: "Just as there is one Christ who has sacrificed himself for us, so there is one offering and one sacrifice that we offer in the bread and wine...[it is Christ the Redeemer himself who] every day without interruption...sacrifices the burnt offering of his body and blood for us."

As we remember one more time the events of that Friday so many many years ago, may we remember Paul’s prayer for us. May we remember that there are those whose lives are lived on the cross with Christ day in and day out. May we remember that Political and Religious leaders continue to be blinded by the myopia of experience and impatience with complexity, misusing and misdirecting the power and possibility of their respective positions of public trust.

As we listen to this story, and each time we come to this altar for refreshment, may we remember we come to receive the body and blood of Christ, not take the elements, so that in receiving them we might know ourselves even now to be living members of his Body, the Church. That it is to this we say Amen before we receive what we have become by baptism..

To let the mind of Christ become the same mind that is in us means to become cooperators in him with respect to everyone and everything else – to seek and serve Christ in all persons; to strive for justice and peace for all persons; to respect the dignity of every human being. With God’s help and an attitude of receiving and self-giving, with no eye on reward nor claim to return, we may yet hear the good news in this ancient story so that we may indeed let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus.

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, According to Saint Matthew….

Be Light In The Darkness

2011-04-02T14:56:00.001-07:00

3 April 2011/Lent 4A - John 9:1-41
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter's at Ellicott Mills, Maryland
Light!

It struck me the other day that the gospels need to be approached as a sort of unfolding - the unfolding of who Jesus is and what that can mean about who we are called to be. So perhaps it helps to think of a time-lapse video of a flower opening, one petal at a time until the entire flower is open and we can see every detail down to the tiniest specks of pollen on the stamen and anthers. The difference being that the gospels begin by saying just who Jesus is.

John's gospel begins with the most astonishing claim: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

There are all kinds of things that can be said about this story of The Man Who Was Born Blind: things about sin, about blindness both literal and metaphorical, about miracles, about how societies divide themselves, the barriers we erect for those not just like us and so on.

Yet, the most fundamental purpose of the story as it works in John's gospel is to illuminate, if you will, the essence of who Jesus is. The revelation comes from his own mouth: "I Am the light of the world." John has already told us this "in the beginning." And we need always to remind ourselves that whenever Jesus utters the words, "I Am," we are meant to recall that sacred moment of self revelation at the Burning Bush when Moses is being given a task and asks, "Who shall I say sent me?" The voice from the bush replies, "I Am who I Am...you shall say...I Am sent me to you."(Ex 3:14)

The very first word God utters in creation is, "Light!" Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." This story sheds light on just what that means. And what it means is justice for all people and the need to respect the dignity of every human being.

In Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, the protagonist is Jean Valjean - who is forever called by his prison number, 24601. A person reduced to a number. The stage version of the story depicts prisoner 24601 as a complex character. Is he just a thief, plain and simple? Is he a victim of an unfair system of justice? Is he a compassionate businessman and mayor? A benevolent step-father? A valiant revolutionary of the Paris Uprising of 1832? A compassionate liberator of his most persistent enemy, Inspector Javert? Or, in his own words, is he "no better and no worse than any other man"?

Just as Hugo attempts to shed light on the complexities of post-Revolutionary France, so the Jesus in John seeks to shed light on all sorts and conditions of humankind - and the artificial and often arbitrary ways in which we treat others - especially others who are not at all like ourselves.

The Man Born Blind is a figure not unlike 24601. That is, like prisoner 24601, the man is cast into a lifetime of darkness - he must be a beggar on the streets. What he says carries no weight.
Even Jesus' own disciples believe he is blind because of his own or his parents' sin. Note that the man does not seek to be healed. Jesus states that he is the light of the world, and as long as he is in the world there is work to do. After Jesus restores the man's sight, he seeks to shed light on what real sin exists in the world.

For the man is not a victim of his own sin or that of his parents. Rather he is the victim of an entrenched system of fear that declares some people unclean - rather like the untouchables in India. We watch and we listen as all those people and societal institutions expected to support the Man Born Blind just step away - they recoil, even though now he can see! His parents disown him. The Pharisees chastise him. The neighbors pretend he is not the same man. All those societal systems meant to be a support just collapse, until in a most astonishing moment, the Man Born Blind becomes not only his own advocate, but he defends Jesus against all criticism as now he is lecturing the Pharisees, the doctors of the law of Moses.

He whose being has had no standing whatsoever in the community is now the one who is exhorting them, the arbiters of society and religious authority, to "see." To see the Light of the World. The Word that was with God and is God. Egads, he seems to say, this can be no other than the will and work of God!

Leave it to people to look at the wrong end of a miracle every time. The miracle is not that the man can see. The scandal is not that the Sabbath has been broken. The miracle in one part is the fact that Jesus is the Light of the World that can turn the darkness of blindness and the darkness of the world into light.

But more than that, this story is meant to demonstrate that we can be the light. We can turn darkness into light. Just as Jesus changed the life of the Samaritan woman at the well last Sunday by giving her purpose, by giving her a new identity, by asking her to do something for him - give him a drink - so the Man Born Blind is given a new lease on life.

Well anyone, the neighbors, his parents, the Pharisees, whomever, could have granted The Man Born Blind more purpose in life, made him a more integral part of the community, rather than writing him off as an outcast. Jesus says, "There is something you can do for me." The woman becomes the first evangelist. The Man Born Blind (notice how he, like her, is so marginalized that he has no name!) becomes a vocal advocate for God and The Light of the World! He has dared to step beyond the barriers the others created for him.

There is something you can do for Jesus. Whatever it is, it will heal you and heal the world. Prisoner 24601 became a person who compassionately cares for others all the while accepting and acknowledging the wrongs he has done.

If the Samaritan Woman at the Well, The Man Born Blind and 24601 can do God's work so effectively, what are we being called to do? What barriers are we willing to break down so that people like the woman, the man and 24601 can be granted personhood? Looking at the world in which we live, there is not much time given to us to ask such questions. Lent means to be such a time. Amen.

I Thirst

2011-03-26T19:20:00.001-07:00

27 March 2011/Lent 3-A - John 4:5-42
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary, Baltimore, Maryland
I Thirst
So it is when we find Jesus comes to the Samaritan woman at the well. She is, perhaps, the most broken woman in the whole gospel story. The very fact that she comes at noon to draw water, rather than in the early morning when the other women of the village would be there, suggests that at the very least she is ashamed. In all likelihood she is the subject of scorn and derision. People look down upon her because of her brokenness in marriage and in relationships.

So here she is trying to avoid being seen, and instead there is someone at the well. Not just someone, but a man. Not just a man but a Jewish man. In that time and place men and women were not to be seen in public together. And Jews and Samaritans had nothing to do with one another. So she is startled to see him there. She is even more startled that he speaks to her.

Jesus, we are told, is tired. As he addresses this broken, lonely and ashamed woman, he asks, “Give me a drink.” It is an invitation to be at risk. It is an invitation to cross boundaries and ancient taboos. But he is thirsty, and she has a bucket, and there is the well of their mutual ancestor Jacob.

Notice how Jesus does not look down upon her as the others do. He calls no attention to her brokenness. Instead, he acknowledges his own brokenness. He is tired. He is thirsty. Those of us familiar with this story will recognize this thirst of his. Among his very last words on the cross are the words, “I thirst.”

What Jesus is seeking here is someone who shares his thirst. His thirst is a thirst for peace. What he calls God’s shalom. This shalom is in turn a thirst for justice and healing for all people, especially people like this Samaritan woman. Most of all, Jesus thirsts for dignity and respect for all people. Not some people. Not a lot of people. All people.

This woman knows no respect. But Jesus reaches out to her from his need, not hers. By reaching out to her from his own need he gives her dignity and respect – there is something she can do for him. Jesus gives her identity and purpose. Suddenly something new, something real, wells up inside of her. It is a new confidence, a new spirit. And from this new spirit her real thirst is revealed. It is a thirst that will not be quenched by the waters at the bottom of Jacob’s well. She thirsts for real life, authentic life, and Jesus gives it to her without cost and without condition.

After some astonishingly frank and assertive conversation, her response is that of total commitment. And why not? She, who had no life and no purpose, but only heartache, pain and shame, is suddenly given the gift of eternal life with Jesus who is revealed to her as God’s own anointed one.

The disciples return with lunch and appear horrified that their master Jesus has compromised himself by talking with this woman in broad daylight. Even Nicodemus had had the tact to come in the dark of night. The disciples cannot understand the crossing of ancient boundaries, such a departure from the old taboos.

While Jesus tries to help the disciples see that this is the kind of life of risk and ministry to which he calls them, the woman runs off, leaving her bucket behind. She does not need it any longer. She has living water welling up inside of her! She is empowered by the simple fact that Jesus trusts her with his needs, his exhaustion and his thirst. And he trusts her with his identity.

She runs into town and tells everyone of her encounter at the well with the source of true and living water. She says something like, “I belong solely to him. He is my life. He is the hope of every dream. He is of absolute significance to me. I want you to know him too!” Notice how the townspeople do not trust her testimony. They run to see for themselves. They end up begging Jesus to stay in their village. Jesus stays for two more days. More people come to know Jesus. All because of her willingness to risk talking to the stranger at the well. More people came to Jesus because of her witness. Her word. Her willingness to reveal her brokenness to him. She becomes the first evangelist. Talk about being transformed by grace!

Notice how the townspeople do not even thank her. Even worse they are dismissive of her testimony. They do not seem to see that she alone made it possible for them to meet Jesus. They do not yet understand what Jesus is saying to them. They cannot see her like he sees her.

Like the woman, we all come to the well over and over again to draw water. But do we see the man sitting at the well? Can we hear what he is saying to us? Are we even aware he is speaking to us? Can we feel what it is like to be asked by Jesus to do something for him?

Can we see how it is that Jesus does not look down on the poor and broken ones? He does not come with something to give them. He does not coming pretending to tell them how to live their lives. He does not say, “Here, I have what you need. Take this and become like me.”

Instead he says that they have something that he needs. There is something they can do for Jesus and for us. Hearing this news the Samaritan woman is liberated from all that weighs her down. Jesus enters into a relationship with her first. He gives her value. He gives her purpose. He gives her new life by simply letting her know there is something she can do for him. We wonder if we might approach the poor and the broken hearted like he does.

This story means to ask us if we can approach others in this way. This story means to ask us if we are willing to reveal our brokenness to these others and to him. And this story means to ask us if we are willing, like the Samaritan Woman, to go and tell others what we know about Jesus.

As we move steadfastly toward Holy Week we remember that as the story nears its conclusion on the cross, Jesus is still thirsty. “I thirst,” he says. He is still thirsty today.

We are that woman. We come to the well week after week. Week after week Jesus asks us for a drink. We know the kinds of things for which he thirsts.

Are we ready to bring him a drink? Are we ready to talk with him? Are we ready to reveal our own brokenness to him? Do we make our full commitment to him? Are we ready to leave our buckets so we can run off and tell others?

Jesus is sitting before us right now. He is tired. Very very tired. He asks us to give him a drink. What shall we do?
Amen.

At The Crossroads

2011-03-20T03:39:00.000-07:00

20 March 2011/Lent 2A – Genesis 12:1-4a/John 3:1-17
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Church, Baltimore, Maryland

At The Crossroad

Abram and Nicodemus – we are meant to see that these two figures of our faith stand for us. Just as they also play a role similar to Mary the Mother of God.

Our text from Genesis is deceptively small, yet in a sense tells the entire story of scripture in slightly less than four verses. Abram is called by God to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Abram’s country was a city named Haran, which means “highway” or “crossroad.”

All of us at one time or another stand at a crossroad – and it can easily be argued that every moment of every day is a kind of crossroad. Every moment demands of us a choice for life or a choice for death, a choice for good or a choice for bad.

To stand at the crossroad can be paralyzing. We look one way, we look another, we look back, we look forward. It can be a moment, it can seem like an eternity, standing at the crossroad.

We stand and we wonder: Am I ready to go? Am I prepared to move on? Do I have what it takes to go this way or that? Am I good enough to do what is being asked?

Until something or someone moves us – gets us “off the dime” as we used to say. In Abram’s case it is the Lord. He is meant to leave all that is comfortable, familiar, “home,” and initiate God’s new plan for all the peoples of the earth. Abram quite honestly could have replied, and perhaps in some unreported moment did, “I am not really qualified for this task. Surely you must mean someone else!”

Yet, our own experience, and the witness of scripture from beginning to end is that the one who calls is the one who qualifies – the one who calls is the one who equips. So if God is doing the calling, the answer to all of the questions we might have is “yes.” A faithful response for us is to say yes, and to begin moving from what is known to what is promised.

It is the same story with Nicodemus in our Gospel. He knows well all the ways of the God of Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, Rachel, Leah and Jacob – or so he thinks. He has spent a lifetime so far teaching and interpreting for others what God asks of us.

Yet, in Jesus he senses that God is at work doing something new – something bold – something never before imagined! He approaches Jesus cautiously in the dark of night, lest anyone who knows him and respects his judgments see him with this new manifestation of God’s purpose for a broken world.

And what does Jesus say, but that one must be born from above or again (the Greek word can mean both and it really doesn’t matter which meaning we take here). “Are you kidding,” asks Nic? Speaking for all of us he blurts out, “How can these things be?” Only Nic has the courage to ask that on our behalf, for we are Nicodemus, just as we are Abram being asked to head off in a new direction, on a new adventure, to initiate some new thing God has in mind for the whole world.

Jesus says the Spirit is like the wind – you know not where it comes from, when it is coming, nor do you know where it is taking you – but the Spirit is of God and all you need to do is say, “Yes!”

Just as Abram and Sari said “yes,” just as Mary the Mother of God said “yes” – just as Noah, Moses, Jeremiah, Peter, Andrew, James, John, Mary and Martha, and Mary Magdalene all said “Yes!”

Not one of them had the qualifications to do what God was asking – not one of them was equipped, prepared or in any way ready to do what God was asking, and yet, they said “yes” and here we are. Without their "yes" we would not be here.

As we enter more deeply into this season of Lent, we must listen for the wind! We must be ready to sense the slightest breeze or puff of the wind of God’s spirit – just a breath is all we need to feel, to sense, for us to leave the crossroad and go to where God needs us to bring blessings to all people – as Abram was promised to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth.

As we hear the incarnate Word of God declaring – For God so loves the world that God gives….

"God does not give us gifts that are separate from him. He gives himself to us."

Like Abram and Nicodemus, this Second Sunday in Lent we stand at a crossroad. God in Christ Jesus is calling to us to leave our places of comfort and to head out to be a blessing to the peoples of the world.

No matter how challenging that may seem, God will equip us for the task as he has for generations before us and will continue to do for generations to come as we embrace and hold fast to the unchangeable truth of God’s Word! Amen.

Where Are You?

2011-03-13T04:52:00.001-07:00

13 March/Lent 1 A - Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7/Matthew 4:1-11
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peters’ Episcopal Church at Ellicott Mills, Maryland

Where Are You? Repent and Come Home!

What is perhaps most interesting in our episodes from Genesis and Matthew is what is missing. Don’t get me wrong, what is there is important, if somewhat overly familiar to the point that we tend to think we know what these stories are all about without really spending time with them.

But let’s begin with what is here. In Matthew’s story of Jesus testing his new vocation as God’s Beloved Son in the wilderness, we are meant to hear some important resonances. We are meant to recall, for instance, that Moses sat atop Mount Sinai, fasting for forty days and forty nights waiting upon God to deliver what would become the basis for an eternal relationship with God – a covenant based in some pronouncements meant to determine our relationship with God and our relationships with one another. The takeaway here: Jesus is the new Moses.

Or, if we recombine this story with the story that immediately precedes this one, our Lord’s baptism, this “new Moses” is in fact the Beloved Son of God who will in every way embody those pronouncements from Sinai in all that he says and does.

That is, Jesus sets the example for how we are meant to fulfill our Baptismal Promise that all that we say and all that we do will proclaim the good news of God in Christ!

And just as Moses and the people of God were tested in the wilderness, so Jesus is tested – perhaps a better word than “tempted” under the circumstances here. When our translators render this antagonist “the tempter” rather than "devil" it is much closer to the Greek diabolos which means something more like “the slanderer." than usual translation "devil.”

So after forty days of no food or drink, is Jesus the anointed one of God, God’s Beloved Son, ready to go to work? Responding to each test to do something spectacular, something super-hero-like, and to make the ultimate power grab, Jesus quotes Moses’ famous sermon we know as Deuteronomy three times: “You cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Deut 8:3)”; “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test (Deut 6:16)”; “The Lord your God shall you worship, and God alone shall you serve (Deut 6:13).”

Evidently being God has little or nothing to do with power and spectacular displays such as turning stones into bread – we are meant to recall that Jesus teaches us to rely on bread that is given daily, just as Moses and the people did in that first wilderness.

That is, Jesus appears to pass the test – the SAT’s or Entrance Exam to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Which, after being waited upon by angels (and wouldn’t we all like to have a bit more detail on what that was like!) he sets out to proclaim to one and all, “Repent, for kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That is the part that is missing, and which I consider to be the real punch line here for the first Sunday of Lent.

To repent means to turn – the idea is that God is at home, it is we who have gone out for a walk. It is we who have strayed from God’s ways as articulated way back on Mount Sinai like lost sheep, as Psalm 119 would have it. So to turn or return to God is the order of the day and the focus of Lent. It is the only way to get home again, as the first man and woman would learn the hard way in the garden.

The Garden – another story we think we know all too well. It is easy to miss, however, that the central problem here is not the disobedience of eating the forbidden fruit, as problematic as that is. The real problem is believing what I call The Big Lie – when the tempter says, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God…”

It’s the same lie the tempter offers Jesus in the wilderness over and over, “Do this, or this, or this and you will be like God.” A funny thing to say to someone who already is God!

And in the garden the sin, if you will, is believing they “will be like God.” That is to forget who they are and forget who we are – imago Dei, created in the image of God, male and female God created us to be like God.

So as usual, the tempter does not have much to offer except a momentary case of amnesia.

But again, what is perhaps the punch line for this story comes after they sew some clothes to become the prototypical Puritans and the origin of species homo protestantorius. After joining the Garment Workers guild, they can hear the footsteps of God in the garden in the cool of the evening. Ashamed of having believed the lie, they hide – or so they think.

Surely any creature created to be like God knows that you cannot hide from God. Nevertheless, they attempt to hide. Displaying God’s more playful side, God goes along with their game and says, “Where are you?”

Which is perhaps the central question we are meant to consider for the next forty day: Where are you? God really wants to know. God really wants you to come home. God really wants you to repent and return to God. And it may begin with a simple, “Here I am, Lord,” another one-liner that appears and reappears throughout the entire sweep of the Biblical narrative.

For when we say, “Here I am, Lord,” we join with all those who have gone before us in getting involved with God’s work in God’s world on behalf of all God’s people and creatures, including the very earth itself – from which the first man is named, Adam from the Hebrew adamah, which means “ground” or “earth.” As we recalled on Ash Wednesday, God takes up a handful of dust from the ground, breathes his breath and spirit into the dust, and here we are – imago Dei, and by our baptism, God’s Beloved with whom God is pleased. Thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return - adamah.

So this Lent take some time to come up with an answer to God’s primary question, “Where are you?” For until we know where we are, it is hard to know which way to turn to go home to God – the God who comes to us wherever we are, seeking us, so that he can love us and take us home.
Amen

Yes!

2011-03-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday after the Epiphany - Matthew 17:1-9

Listen To Him

Epiphany begins with the Magi at the manger, Jesus' baptism and the voice declaring, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased, and ends with the brightness of the Transfiguration. The season of light - starlight, the light of Christ, the transfiguring light of God.

Jesus takes us, his disciples, up a high mountain to be with him by ourselves. It is an historical invitation - "the mountain" can only be one mountain - Sinai, that cosmic location high up where one Moses could meet with God face to face and receive the covenant - those pronouncements, those principles that transform a rag-a-tag disparate group of runaway slaves into a people.

Just before this Jesus has made it clear that once in Jerusalem he will be arrested, suffer, die and then be raised up. There can be no doubting that these pronouncements of his made little sense until afterwards. And at the very least, these predictions of his would be an initial source of embarrassment for his closest followers who were no doubt expecting and hoping that he would be the one to defeat and dismiss the Roman occupation. (Which ironically he does, just a few hundred years later!)

But a Sinai experience it is! As Jesus appears to physically become the light of the world, dazzling white, his face shining like the son, as had the face of Moses when he came down off the mountain, suddenly there are Moses and Elijah. The narrative is sparse. We are simply told that they are "talking with him." Wouldn't we want to be listening in on that conversation?

Moses, giver of the Covenant, the Law, Torah, the minimum daily requirements for being a person of God - the God of Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, Rachel, Leah,Jacob and Jesus. Elijah, the prototype prophet, social critic, tasked with reminding the people of God what the minimum daily requirements are to be for all time. Jesus, where, between them? Being prepared for his upcoming Exodus? Getting helpful hints on how to manage religious and secular officials who have no time for God or neighbor?

Evidently Peter, James and John are not listening in. What an astonishing missed opportunity! Instead Peter interrupts the conversation and announces that he wants to build some dwellings, some booths or tents. It is an idea that is not so strange as it seems. Every fall God's people build booths to remember their forty year time of testing in the wilderness - to remember that once we were no people, once we had no home, once we were aliens in a strange land. Once we had enough, dependent on God for Manna each day, daily bread. It is a festival, Sukkot, meant to remind us that we come from rather humble origins and perhaps we should remember this when confronted by people who are homeless, strangers far from their home, hungry and in need of some neighborly love.

God has something else in mind it seems than starting Habitat for Divinity! As Peter interrupts the Holy Three on top of the mountain, God interrupts Peter "while he was speaking" to remind one and all, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!"

Be silent, and quit flapping your gums about God. Be still, be silent and listen to him. For God is at home. It is we who have gone out for a walk. Stop talking, stop building, be still and know that I am God. Listen to him - because when you listen to him you are listening to me.

They fall to the ground, overcome with fear. What is it in our society today that prevents us from falling to the ground overcome with fear? There is so much of which we ought to be ashamed. All we have gone astray from the very principles the Law and the Prophets sought to place in our hearts, in our minds, in our every action every day. How much narcissism and hubris can one society sustain before it finds itself back in the wilderness? Back in exile? In desperate need of a new Exodus?

Falling to the ground looks somewhat like falling to our knees to confess our faults - those sins that separate us from one another and from the love of God. It is a good place for us to listen.

Look what happens when we listen.

Jesus, God incarnate, God made flesh and blood, comes to us, the very one who is God's Son, God's Beloved, the one with whom God is well pleased, comes to us, touches us and says, "Get up and do not fear." He, God, comes down to touch us and dispel our fear.

Then the Beloved continues: "Tell no one the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

So here we are. He has been raised. We can and do tell people about the vision. We do tell people about our Jesus!

The whole vision is astonishing! That God would become small for our sake - to get our attention - to invite us to listen to him once and for all. The God who cannot be contained in this chapel, not even this whole magnificent church we call Mount Calvary! The God who cannot be limited or contained by all of the heavens and all of the earth becomes small for our sake. The God who cannot possibly be contained in morsel of bread and a sip of wine, but by some mysterious calculus of faith, out of some mysterious vision of our own, he is.

He who came to us in our likeness invites us to be transfigured into his likeness. The word here, by the way, is metamorphosis, suggesting that whatever we are now is not what we are destined to be just as a caterpillar is not destined to remain a caterpillar.

Behold the light of his countenance. See him with Moses and Elijah. Stop doing whatever you are doing and listen to him.

There is no more important human task than this - that we listen to him and be changed into his likeness.

That there even is a season of Epiphany all began with a young woman - a teenage girl, really. When asked to bear God's Son, she was fearful. But the angel said do not be afraid, and she responded, "Yes, according to your word." Her "yes" is why we are here at all.

As we listen to him today, he touches us and says, "Get up and do not fear."

To be changed into his likeness can seem like a daunting task and responsibility. But each time a piece of his body is placed in our outstretched hands, each time the chalice shimmering with his blood is passed to us, trembling we say, "Yes!"

It is our "yes" that combines with Mary's "yes" that gives hope for the whole world and everything and everyone therein.
Amen.

To Those In Exile

2011-02-26T17:08:00.000-08:00

27 February 2010 – Isaiah49:8-16a/Psalm131/Matthew6:24-34
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary, Baltimore, Maryland

I Will Not Forget You

I will not forget you. Wait upon the Lord. Do not worry. Some of the most intimate descriptions of God’s care for us are bundled together this Eighth Sunday after the Epiphany. “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.” “But I still my soul and make it quiet, like a child upon its mother’s breast.” “Consider the birds of the air….the lilies of the field.”

Isaiah writes to a community of God in exile – Babylon to be precise. Israel cannot see beyond the present boundaries of exile, and yet God speaks as if they are already home. We might well ask ourselves, what mighty “empires” and false gods seek to keep us in exile? Seek to make us give in to ways that are not God’s ways?

I think looked at from that perspective, we can all find ourselves in exile somehow, somewhere – if nowhere else, in this chapel where we have been separated out from the main body of what has been your church home. Not that we do not appreciate and love this space, but the circumstances that have forced us into this corner of God’s vineyard seek to make us feel not at home.

Why even the Jewish people of Jesus’ time, although back at home in Israel from Babylon for some 500 years or more were not at all at home in the sense that the Empire of Rome had subjugated them and turned their homeland into an armed camp.

And as Jesus makes clear, things like mammon, a synonym here for what? Market forces? A money centered approach to life’s most basic needs? Being encouraged to live lives of indentured servitude to the commoditized pursuit of happiness through the acquisition of more and more things? That a life devoted to mammon is a life of exile from the kingdom of God’s most gracious reign. (Mammmon, by the way, comes from the same root as “Amen.”)

So the prophet encourages a people of exile to “come out,” to “show yourselves,” because God is already providing a way, a highway, an avenue to escape – a new exodus from whatever slavery may be holding us in check. Asking the basic question: Are you ready to partner with me for something new? Can we look beyond the boundaries constructed for us to see a way out of here? Can we imagine what a new life of freedom from the constraints of a kind of ecclesiastical bondage that seeks to subsume us all?

“I will not forget you,” sayeth the Lord, “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands!” God is that close. We are that close to God! And unlike tattoos that often proclaim our loyalties to one group or another, this inscription cannot be removed by laser or any other human technology – we are inscribed on the palms of God’s hands forever. Can we imagine that? Can we feel what that is like? It goes beyond being held in God’s hands – we are the very lines and creases of an eternity of working on our behalf to seek and maintain our freedom in God’s way!

Or, if that is unimaginable – the Psalmist in Psalm 131 sees us as a child held closely on mother God’s breast. “I do not occupy myself with great matters, or things that are too hard for me.” Can there really be only one way to love and worship the Lord our God? Are we really meant to be preoccupied with questions of how we can be church in “the right way”?

Or, allowing my soul to be quieted within me, can I see, as William Temple saw, that “The Church is the only human institution whose sole purpose of existence is for those who are not its members.”

Is it a coincidence that Jesus says we are not to worry about food, or drink, or clothing, and then later in the 25th chapter of Matthew says it is precisely those things that will determine our place in his judgment? “I was hungry and you gave me food….I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink….I was naked and you clothed me…”

Jesus so passionately cares for the poor, asserts Jason Bayasee, that he identifies himself more with them than he ever does with the church, its liturgy, the sacraments, the Bible, or whatever else we Christians tend to equate with Jesus. So that when the poor cry and pray for mercy we ought to be the answer to that prayer! Only when we crowd out our own worries for food, drink and clothing with what some have called “the fear of Jesus” can we even begin to be the answer to their prayer. We are called to “wait upon the Lord, from this time forth forever more.”

“Can a woman forget her nursing young,” asks Isaiah, “or show no compassion for the child of her womb?” We are God’s children. She will not forget us. She has inscribed us on the palms of her hands!

With that knowledge, with such faith, we are given the courage and the strength and the inspiration to step outside any boundaries any “empire” may try to impose to hold us in exile – to hold us in check – to keep us captive to forces we erroneously believe to be more powerful than the love of God in Christ Jesus who says, “You are my beloved – with you I am well pleased.”

Embrace the feminine power set before us in God’s word to us this day – it is no coincidence that we are at present a congregation of women refusing to be shut in by powers that seek to control and destabilize our life of faith.

So it is we pray this day: Most loving Father, whose will it is for us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing but the loss of you – and to cast all our care on you who care for us as a mother cares for the child of her womb – preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, that no clouds of this mortal life may hide us from the light of your love which is immortal, and which you have manifested to us in your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen! Vs Mammon!

Be Holy

2011-02-20T04:25:00.000-08:00

20 February 2011/Epiphany 7A - Lev 19:1-2,9-18/Ps119:33-40/I Cor3:10-11,16-23/Mt 5:38-48
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore

Love Your Neighbor - Love Your Enemies - Be Perfect

Last week God asked us to make a choice: choose blessing or curse, life or death. We live in a culture that believes in "free choices." But when put to us this way, is there really a choice?

Evidently there is, for one look at the world today would seem to indicate that we, collectively and individually, have not made the obvious choice.

So on this Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany, after the "manifestation of Christ" to the world, the point gets sharpened. The correct choice, it appears, involves Loving our neighbors, Loving our enemies, and, oh, in our spare time, Be Prefect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect!

Some might think this is taking imago Dei a tad too far - the idea that we are created in the image of God. And if it is God's image to be gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing (as it is written from one end of the Old Testament to the other), then what more is there to be said than that?

Evidently quite a bit! Someone has suggested that the commandment to "Love" concerns not feelings but "deeds that reflect faithfulness to the covenant." As detailed in Leviticus, this means not "cutting the corners" of the fields (not maximizing harvest and profit!) but leaving the gleanings for the poor. It means not defrauding one's neighbor, no slander, not hating others, and not taking vengeance or bearing a grudge (ouch!). That last one sure takes a lot of the fun out of life. We are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves - which in this narcissistic age of ours becomes a truly monumental command! And, we are to be Holy "because I the Lord your God am Holy."

To which Jesus adds turning the other cheek, giving up your coat and your cloak, going the extra mile, giving to everyone who begs, loving your enemies, greet everyone, and in your spare time, be perfect.

Some of this has been misconstrued - and with good reason. Those who are "in charge" or "in power" would like us to turn the other cheek. Never mind that what Jesus has in mind is an act of civil disobedience - a challenge to those in charge, at the time the Roman military. Jesus who at every turn resists evil was not counseling us not to resist evil - but rather offers strategies for confronting evil and exposing it for what it is - evil!

Rather, non-retaliation is meant to break the cycle of violence in confrontations of people of unequal power and status. A backhanded slap (only the right hand would be used) is meant to insult and humiliate. Turning the other cheek invites a second slap to be with the palm of the hand, which in the Roman Empire signaled the one being slapped as an equal. To be struck a second time with the palm would humiliate the one doing the slapping. So understood, no second slap would be made, breaking the cycle of violence which may be a step toward reconciliation.

Similarly, a debtor ending up naked before a magistrate, after handing over all garments to a creditor, places shame on said creditor - the assertion being that one who observes the nakedness is shamed. Finally, being impressed by a Roman Centurion to carry his backpack a mile but carrying it "the extra mile" creates a dilemma for the soldier who may be punished for exacting excessive service!

Oh, and if that were not enough, we are to welcome and greet our enemies, wishing for their well-being. That is, to be a welcoming Christian community means more than a friendly or even hearty salutation! It means loving our enemies.

Such strategies are acts of civil disobedience, not the actions of door-mat, milk-toast Christians, but rather forcing truth and justice to confront power, especially the power of domination and humiliation. Such is the way, it turns out, is the way of Perfection.

Such strategies were adopted by Ghandi in India, Martin King, Rosa Parks and Pauli Murray in America, and today in the streets of Cairo. One might even construe that our holding our ground in this chapel is in some way a living out of our Lord's command to Love our Neighbors.

That we are here this morning is in a great part thanks to those who have gone before us with lives of such spiritual perfection, risking come what may for the opportunity to worship and follow the Lord and Savior who calls us also to be perfect.

Now in Annapolis the struggle to speak truth to power continues on behalf of our gay and lesbian sisters and brothers. In the days ahead the drama will play out for equal rights and protection for those who wish to live in faithful, loving relationships. In Cairo, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Iran, Afghanistan,, the streets of Baltimore and no doubt countless other places around the world, the struggle for equal rights and protection plays itself out in dramas like those Jesus portrays every day.

We pray for the greatest gift which is love to be poured into our hearts so that whatever we do will embody the kind of action and deeds that will identify us as faithful to the covenant into which we were baptized - a covenant that says we will seek and serve Christ in all persons, not some people, not a lot of people, but all people! A covenant that says we will strive for justice and peace for all people, not some people, not a lot of people, but all people.

This is what it means to be a people who choose life! This is what it means to be Holy. This is what it means to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect! For we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God!

Sadly, there is lots of loving that needs to be done both at home and abroad. The Good News is that God in Christ, through Baptism and Eucharist, equips us to be perfect as God is perfect, for the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

To" be perfect" is not an indictment of our failings: it is a promise that says we may love the world as God has loved us!
To God be the glory, this day and every day, Amen.

Nocturn Part 2

2011-02-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

13 February 2011/Epiphany 6A – Deut 30: 15-20/Psalm 119: 1-8/1Cor 3:1-9/Mt 5:21-37
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, St. Peter’s at Ellicott Mills, Maryland
Nocturn Part 2
Poetry. I suspect we rarely think of it, but a substantial amount of our Sunday worship consists of poetry. The Psalms are Hebrew poetry. Many of the readings from the prophets are in Hebrew Poetry. Even some of the lessons texts from the Christian Scriptures are written in Greek poetry. And all the hymn texts are poetry of one kind or another.

We are hard pressed to define precisely what poetry is. Yet, it is broadly believed that the art of poetry pre-dates literacy, and the oldest known examples of poetry date back to over 2000 years before the common era – before the time of Jesus. And all the oldest preserved poems, composed so as to be recited and passed on from one generation to the next, reflect on life’s deepest mysteries seeking imaginative meaning from our life’s experiences.

Epiphany, we say, is the Season of Light – it begins with the light of the Star leading countless numbers of Magi, “wise men,” to the place where God arrives as a tiny baby, and concludes with the Transfiguration of Jesus shining blindingly brightly white on a mountain top chatting with Moses and Elijah – two earlier prophets who had their own fiery, blindingly white moments as well. To say Epiphany is the Season of Light is to employ metaphor. Poetry, not content to simply deploy legions of metaphors to examine the mystery of life ultimately contends that all language, each word, is metaphor – a word-symbol attempting to describe even the most mundane of human experience, and yet never quite capable of fully embodying such experience itself. So we often say, “Words fail us.”

Makes one wonder why we work so hard at trying to be “literal” – so hard at trying to pin-down precise understandings in a constantly changing, living and evolving universe – so hard to be exacting in just what is exactly happening – just what did happen in a tiny, outlying village of the once vast and mighty Empire of Rome! Language and words express at once both our comfort and our restlessness with all that life sends and has sent our way.

So it is I have found myself contemplating a bit of a poem I read several weeks ago as I was preparing to lead worship with the small but faithful continuing community at Mount Calvary. It is by W. S. Merwin, who happened to be poet in residence one semester while I attended Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

In a poem titled Nocturne Merwin writes:

The stars emerge one/by one into the names
that were last found for them/far back in other
darkness no one remembers/by watchers whose own
names were forgotten/later in the dark
and as the night deepens/other lumens begin
to appear around them/as though they were shining
through the same instant/from a single depth of age
though the time between/each one of them
and its nearest neighbor/contains in its span
the whole moment of the earth/turning in a light
that is not its own/with the complete course
of life upon it/born to brief reflection
recognition and anguish/from one cell evolving
to remember daylight/laughter and distant music

I was struck by the words: "the whole moment of the earth/turning in a light
that is not its own/with the complete course/of life upon it/born to brief reflection"

The earth does not produce light for the universe, it reflects the light of the Sun and other stars. As we turn, we move from light to darkness to light and to darkness over and over again, 365 times a year. Any light that we make on earth is recycled Sun light stored as coal, oil, natural gas, tallow, beeswax, all of which can be made to produce light - but its source is still the Sun.

Last Sunday Jesus said "you are the light of the world." I take this to mean that like the earth, we are called to reflect “The Light of Christ” we sing about in the Easter Vigil, represented by the Paschal Candle that stands next to the Baptismal Font. In the continuation of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus begins to unpack that metaphor, detailing just what it means to be “the light of the world.” Echoing Deuteronomy, he calls us to “choose life” as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has painstakingly detailed such a choice again and again throughout the history of God’s people.

In the opening lines of the Bible’s longest poem, Psalm 119, we learn that our happiness depends on our choosing to “walk in the way of the Lord…observe his decrees, and seek him with all our heart". Which I imagine begins with carefully observing what way the Lord walks so we might walk in that same way.

A careful reading of Deuteronomy reveals that this way we are to walk entails canceling the debts of the poor (15:1-11), pushing government to guard against excessive wealth (18:8-20), limiting punishment to protect human dignity (19:1-7), offering hospitality to runaway slaves (23:15-16), paying employees fairly (24: 14-15), and leaving part of the harvest for those who need it (24:19-22).

To which Paul adds in his correspondence to a poorly behaving church in Corinth that there should be no quarreling among us, no jealousy, and no allegiance to human leadership, but rather only to align oneself with Christ – “For we are God’s servants working together; you are God’s field, God’s building."

To all of which Jesus is only getting going when he adds that if we are in conflict with one of our sisters or brothers, we are to go and seek restoration or reconciliation with that person before we bring or gifts to the altar. Note the assumption and emphasis that we are to bring gifts to the altar, AND we are to be a reconciling community first and foremost – so we might kneel before the Lord with a clear conscience and lighter heart.

In all this, Jesus reveals God – God’s nature and God’s intent for humankind. In this, Jesus is the light and life of the world. Unpacking this poetic metaphor reveals the myriad ways in which we can walk in God’s way. We say, “The devil is in the details,” but in this case, it is “The Way of the Lord” that is in the details.

We are called to reflect the Light of Christ, much the way the Earth reflects the light and life of the Sun. From “out there” among the stars we know how beautiful this fragile earth our island home looks to those who have been out there to see. How much more beautiful would life on Earth look were we to commit ourselves to making the choice God invites us to make?

“Choose life so that you and your descendents may live.” The Way of the Lord entails choices, not just for our own sake, but for the sake of all humankind from this day forward. There can be no other choice we are called upon to make more important than this. When we so choose, the world will be bathed not only in Sunlight, but with the Light of Christ – and the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed! Amen.

You Are The Light of The World

2011-02-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

6 February 2011/Epiphany5A - Matthew 5:13-20
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore

Let Your Light Shine

The middle of winter is usually a dark time. The days are short -often cloudy. There is rain, freezing rain and snow. Add to that the darkness of the world around us - wars, rumors of wars, struggles in the streets, natural catastrophes, not to mention the painful darkness of this city day and night, and the darkness that threatens to take over the life of the church. Darkness can be a pervasive state of being.

Last Sunday as I was preparing to celebrate the Eucharist, I read a poem that got me to think about light - a central metaphor in our Lord's continuing Sermon on the Mount. W. S Merwin in a poem titled Nocturne writes:

The stars emerge one/by one into the names
that were last found for them/far back in other
darkness no one remembers/by watchers whose own
names were forgotten/later in the dark
and as the night deepens/other lumens begin
to appear around them/as though they were shining
through the same instant/from a single depth of age
though the time between/each one of them
and its nearest neighbor/contains in its span
the whole moment of the earth/turning in a light
that is not its own/with the complete course
of life upon it/born to brief reflection
recognition and anguish/from one cell evolving
to remember daylight/laughter and distant music

I was struck by the words, "the whole moment of the earth/turning in a light/that is not its own."
The earth does not produce light for the universe, it reflects the light of the Sun and other stars. As we turn, we move from light to darkness to light and to darkness over and over again, 365 times a year. Any light that we make on earth is recycled Sun light stored as coal, oil, natural gas, tallow, beeswax, all of which can be made to produce light - but its source is still the Sun.

Jesus says we are "the light of the world." Just as Simeon says about the baby Jesus as his parents bring him to dedicate him at the Jerusalem Temple, he will be "light to enlighten the gentiles.". Echoing the prophet Isaiah, "I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations." (Is 42:6b) Which in turn echoes God's promise to make Abraham and his descendents a blessing to "all the families of the earth." (Gen 12:3b)

Isaiah says those who are "light of the world" do so to "open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness." (Is 42:7)

These words have inspired many. One we remember this week, Absalom Jones, the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church. Another would be Pauli Murray, the first African American woman made a priest in our church. These words about light inspired the likes of Martin and Bayard, Rosa and Ruby and countless others who stood amidst a world of darkness and shined the light of Christ into every corner of this darkened land to secure the freedom for all people - be they black or white, male or female, Jew or Gentile, slave or free.

Like the earth, they were not the light itself - the light that St. John says is life - the light that St. John says shines in the darkness, "and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:4-5) When Jesus says that "You are the light of the world," he means that as the earth reflects the light of the sun, as we recycle the stored light of the sun, we are to reflect the Light of Christ - we are to absorb and store his light within us such that whenever it is needed, we can be the "light of the world."

And Lord knows, the world is in need of a powerful lot of light! Jesus has chosen us to shine his light into the dark corners of this world - to open the eyes of those who cannot see the injustices that are wrought upon God's people in the names of power, corporate interests, national security and any number of sources of darkness and its sister, oppression. Absalom Jones, a man who secured his wife's freedom before his own, a man who would not sit in the balcony but would one day stand at the Altar of the Lord reflected this light. Sister Pauli who herself would stand at that same Altar to let the world see and hear that a black woman could represent the light of Christ to the world reflected his light.

Each of us carries at least a spark of the light of Christ. Gather our sparks together and we can light the whole world!

We sometimes forget the power of a simple song to shine light into the world. Whenever I listen to Paul Robeson sing it, This Little Light of Mine reverberates through my heart and soul to remind me why I was washed in the blood of the lamb at Baptism - to join my light with that of Absalom, Pauli, Ruby, Rosa, Martin and Bayard, and with each one of us here this day to be regenerated as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on this dark corner of our city in these cold and dreary days of winter.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Everywhere I go, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
All through the night, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

In order for the light to be seen, we must go where darkness exists. If you want to look at the stars, writes Annie Dillard, you find that darkness is necessary.

The light we are called to be shines in all darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
And for that simple truth we say,
Amen.

What Does The Lord Require Of Us?

2011-01-29T14:58:00.000-08:00

30 January 2011/Epiphany4A - Micah 6:1-8/Psalm 15/Matthew 5:1-12
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary, Baltimore, MD

What Does The Lord Require Of You?

Often overlooked in the Hebrew Scriptures is the basic description of God's character: "...a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishment." (Jonah 4:2, Micah 7:18, Psalm 86:15, Numbers 14:18, etc)

So it is an extraordinary occasion to find the prophet Micah, preaching around the 8th century bce - roughly the same time as Isaiah, placing the people Israel on trial by such a patient and longsuffering God! Note that the jury box is occupied by creation. Hear God's plaintive cry, "O my people, what have I done to you? In what have a wearied you? Answer me!"

Of course it turns on what we have or have not done. They have not remembered a story. Seems like a minor infraction, but it is an important story - that of King Balak of Moab, a gentile who gave the people a blessing before they entered into the Land God had promised. Balak represents for us a gentile who although a foreigner pledged to utter only the words of YWHW, the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus. This "forgetting" of the story amounts to forgetting what God had done for them, falling out of right relationship with God. And the importance of including outsiders like gentiles as agents of God’s will.

Important for us, however, is how the people propose to make things "right." They seem to believe that what YWHW is most interested in is offering the Temple sacrifices in just the right amount and right manner, even proposing to offer their own firstborn! They seem to believe that meticulous worship and sacrifice is what most interests our God.

And it would make sense, if only this merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in love had not repeatedly outlined in covenant and subsequent Word what really matters: to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. This confirms the declaration of William Temple, the late, great Archbishop of Canterbury: It’s a great mistake if you think that God is primarily interested in religion.

Our God is interested in how we treat one another - all others - long before He gives how we worship a second thought. This is worth pondering given recent events throughout the Episcopal and Anglican Church.

This sentiment of Micah is echoed in Psalm 15: O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your Holy Hill? That is, no matter where your sanctuary may be, O Lord, whether on the move in a tent in a field, or in the Holy Temple on top of Mount Zion in Jerusalem, who is qualified to enter before your Holy Presence?

One notes, again, no mention this time of anything at all to do with proper worship. Rather, what we do is of utmost importance: walk blamelessly, speak the truth, do not slander, do no evil to your friends, do not reproach your neighbors, fear the Lord, stand by your oath, do not lend money at interest, do not take bribes against the innocent.
Instead of right worship we are given a moral code of right behavior. No mention of tribe, ethnicity, religious affiliation, gender or any other sort of qualification. Hmmmmm.

"Those who do these things shall never be moved!" saith the Lord your God who is slow to anger, merciful, abounding in steadfast love and ready to relent from punishment! Not being moved is a good thing. You are in God's tent, you are in God's covenant community, you are in God's commonwealth, you are in God's kingdom if you do these things. Who would ever want to be moved from such a solid relationship with God and with others – all others?

Look and see, listen and hear, what our Lord and savior Jesus Christ has to say on the mountain top to anyone and everyone willing to listen. You are blessed if you fall into any one of these categories: poor in spirit, in mourning, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, or persecuted by those who fear these core qualities of God's people.

There is an underlying assumption of humility here, over against a self-assured religion of exclusivity.

Note, those who receive God's favor and blessing are not the privileged classes of the Roman Empire, or the aristocratic priestly elite of the Jerusalem Religious Establishment. Jesus is talking about common people who already embody the core moral code that both Micah and Psalm 15 have long ago put forth - Justice, Loving Kindness, and Walking Humbly with our God.

In all of these revelations, one is struck by the simplicity, hopefulness and compassion embodied in God's expectations for all of us. It is also striking that we are asked to be something and to do something – we are asked to be a people of moral character and act in accord with God’s moral will. It is a matter of character shaped by what some have called “a Be-Attitude” – an Attitude of Being!

All of this is set in contrast to the social, political, and religious context of the present time, whether that is the corrupt elitism of the eighth century bce world of Micah, the Roman Occupation and Empire of Jesus' world, or our present situation.

So here we are, a small yet faithful community struggling to see and hear what God has in store for us next. We need not draw the lines and connect the dots to see where this is going. And we need not worry about anyone else but our selves here and now.

It does not take too much prophetic imagination to figure out what the outcome would be were God to put creation in the Jury Box and put humankind on trial today.

The good news is that our God throughout the past three thousand years has been consistent in what He requires of us - Justice, Love, Mercy and Humility. It is pretty easy to see where that can be found. We give thanks for the God who has brought our small and humble community of Christ together at this time in this place.

What does the Lord require of us? An attitude of Being that reflects God’s character: "...a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishment.” Amen

You Are The Way Part 2

2011-01-22T16:29:00.000-08:00

23 January 2011/Epiphany 3A – Matthew 4:18-22
Saint Peter’s At Ellicott Mills, Parish Annual Meeting

For those of us in parishes named Saint Peter’s, this passage, The Calling of the First Disciples, is one that we read over and over again. Perhaps the most important element of this Gospel story of Call is the fact that it is Jesus who offers the invitation. We are not here because we want to be here. We are here because Jesus wants us and calls us to be here. Yet, as we face into an uncertain future (and let’s face it, this is the true nature of life itself), it is that time of the year to stop and ask ourselves the pivotal question: what next? What is Jesus calling us to do?
It is a question the Israelite prophets pondered often in the history of God’s people. It was the question in the minds of the remaining eleven disciples after Good Friday as they huddled together in a room trying to absorb the events of what we now know as Holy Week. But as we know, again and again the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus always has, if not a surprising, an utterly astonishing answer to this question over and over again. And in every instance it results in new people rising to the occasion with the gifts, energy and vision necessary to meet the present need and circumstances.
Which is one way of saying, you are, we are, the “what next” in God’s plans for Saint Peter’s. As I said on Epiphany 2, each one of us is unique and has a unique role to play in the unfolding of God’s next adventure. You are an essential piece of the puzzle, an essential part of God’s unfolding future for Saint Peter’s. What an adventure it is going to be! I am confident that through faithfulness in prayer and study, God will reveal to us a new way to walk, a new song to sing, a new way of being the Body of Christ known as Saint Peter’s – and more affectionately Saint Eaters!
We will all hear this morning that we will be looking back to reconnect with what Saint Peter’s has been all through the years stretching back to 1842 when we began as a mission to the mill workers at Ellicott Mills. That mission, together with Bishop Wittingham’s desire to set up an Anglo-Catholic outpost in what was to become Howard County, has wheat, flour, and bread at its center. The staff of life, bread is also the essential sacrament through which we know Christ, and Christ knows us.
As important as it is to look back, however, it will be more important to take a long hard look at who we are right now. Much has changed in the world since 1842, much has changed in the Episcopal Church, and much has changed at Saint Peter’s. We need to identify those changes, and accept those changes, and discern just what it means to be an outpost for the Gospel in Howard County in the 21st Century. We need to be clear on who we are, and whose we are.
We should not, however, become preoccupied with ourselves, but rather turn our attention to the world. This will necessitate getting to know our neighbors. Next to loving God with all our heart, all our soul and all our might, loving our neighbors as ourselves is the great commandment given to us all. Jesus says there is no commandment greater than these two. That love must begin with getting to know our neighbors. In the 17 years I have been privileged to serve among you, the neighborhood has undergone an axial shift. Across Rogers Avenue lies a veritable field of mission - a vast array of townhouses and single family homes stretching from here all the way up to Ridge Road. Through the years the inhabitants have turned over, I suspect, nearly 100%. Yet, do we know any of the people who are our nearest neighbors? Do we know anything about their needs, concerns and hopes? That is, have we any idea how to serve them and love them as our neighbors?
And we have just begun to reconnect ourselves with Historic, Downtown Ellicott City. Thanks to Julian Manelli, and initial work of Kennette and Guv Mitchell, Katherine Schnorrenberg and Diane Six, Saint Peter's has become a fixture at the monthly Farmer's Market, and we participated in the Christmas-time Midnight Madness. People stop at our table and ask who we are and where we are. They purchase copies of our parish history, while purchasing and munching on baked goods at the Name Your Price sale. The merchants and shoppers in the Historic district, site of our original church building, are also our neighbors. How might we love and serve them in the name of Christ?
As to church growth – yesterday I attended the first of several strategy and planning sessions for the Diocesan Horizons 2015 initiative. We heard a lot of personal stories about how different people came to be members of the Episcopal Church. In nearly every instance, they attended an Episcopal Church because someone took the time to ask them to come. It is as simple as that.
It is possible, however, with the help of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, that we might become a multi-cultural congregation with the ability to serve the still growing Korean and Asian communities of Howard County. The Reverend Barnabas Lee has a vision of bringing people from different countries and different backgrounds together in the name of Christ. To be clear, this means integrating an English speaking congregation, not starting a Korean speaking congregation or separate service. If we do this, it will mean change, but we must always remember: at every Baptism we promise to do all that is in our power to support each new person in his or her life in Christ. Again, each person we baptize is someone new, someone unique and original, something that never existed before! Their needs are new, unique and different. To do all in our power to support them in their life in Christ we need to be about doing new, unique and different things than we have ever imagined. Being the Church is about serving others, not teaching them to become like us. In the end, nothing canever stay the same, least of all the church. Everything is changing. Tich Nhat Hanh, the revered Vietnamese Buddhist puts it best: "It is not because of impermanence that we suffer, but because of our ideas about permanence."
Jesus was all about change. Jesus was all about celebrating the new, the unique, the never before seen gifts of each and every person with whom he came in contact. Each one of you in this parish, each one of you who worships here week in and week out, is a unique expression of God's love for this sinful and broken world. Jesus calls us do to something beautiful with our lives and bear much fruit. As Jesus proclaimed, the world needs you, the church needs you, Jesus needs you. They need your light and your love. There is a hidden place in your heart where Jesus lives.
Perhaps the First letter of Peter puts it best:
A New Life
3-5What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and whole.
6-7I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.
8-9You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation.
10-12The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah's Spirit let them in on some of it—that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves—through the Holy Spirit—the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this! (The Message – Eugene Peterson)
Right now it is time for us to realize just how fortunate we are. Let Jesus live in you. Let your light shine. Sing a new song! You are not lacking in any spiritual gift. You are the way others will come to know Christ. I know this to be true because I have experienced it myself here in this place. Through worship, through song, through prayer, through service to others, through the light and life that shine through the love of every single person who makes Saint Peter's his or her spiritual home, I have come to know Christ in new, deeper and more exciting ways than I could ever have imagined the day I arrived, Advent 1, 1994.
We have before us an opportunity to move forward with Christ together, to serve the hopes, needs and concerns of the world around us. Today is a new day. You are the way others will come to know Christ. God bless us, everyone.
Amen.

You Are The Way

2011-01-15T08:25:00.001-08:00

16 January 2011/Epiphany 2A - Isaiah 49:1-7/Psalm40/1Corinthians 1:1-9/John 1:29-42
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, St. Peter's at Ellicott Mills
You Are The Way
Today we pray, “Christ is the Light of the World…Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory…”

Going back some 600 years before Christ, so-called Second Isaiah delivered a message to a people who lived in darkness – the darkness of exile and slavery, the darkness of a people who were no longer at home and yearned to return to the land the Lord had given to them. It is a message to a restless and displaced people who saw the world as increasingly hostile, dangerous, with no way out.

The prophetic imagination takes over and proclaims, in effect, you are the way out! I will give you as a light to the nations! That my salvation shall reach to the end of the earth!

Psalm 40 echoes this surprising answer to the people’s prayers for deliverance. Again the psalm opens with a people mired in a pit, in a muddy bog – a sense of hopelessness has set in. Yet, we are to sing, sing a new song….as U2 puts it, “I will sing, sing a new song, I will sing, sing a new song…..”

St. Paul then declares to a young church in turmoil – a church at odds with itself, a church torn by infighting, strife, and even worse, indifference to others, even others within the community let alone those beyond and outside the community in need of the light of the Gospel.

To the church divided in Corinth Paul writes, “…you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is, we have been endowed by Baptism and the Holy Spirit with any and all spiritual gifts necessary to pull together and become a light to the nations, to sing a new song, to overcome our divisions, and instead shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory – if only…

If only we allow ourselves to be illumined by God’s Word and Sacraments – if only we will let the light of Christ, of Christ the Light of the World to shine in us and through us in all that we do and all that we say – and the people respond, “I will with God’s help.”

So what’s the problem? What is holding us back? Why are we not like Andrew and his brother Simon, following Jesus wherever he goes? Tailing Jesus to find out where he lives? Better still, why is it that we who have been incorporated into the Body of Christ by water and the Holy Spirit, are not being tailed and followed by countless people like Andrew and Simon seeking to find where we are staying with Christ? Why aren’t people lined up and down Rogers Avenue waiting to get a glance of Jesus here in St. Peter’s?

I wonder if we have misconstrued our role in all of this. Much is said about following Christ, and classic texts urge us to Imitate Christ. Our incarnational theology asserts that we are the Body of Christ in the world. It is a staple of Christian spirituality to say we are the hands, feet and eyes of Christ in the world.

On one hand it can feel impossible to do this - to ever possibly “imitate” Christ. Who can imagine? We are truly called to live lives that embody Christ. On the other hand, it is equally important not to take on a messianic identity that says “we are Christ in the world.” Such hubris can lead and has led to all kinds of problems for the church and for the world.

The story is told of a pastor who was the very epitome of a Christian leader - always on the go, always starting new programs, always allowing himself to be interrupted day and night to serve others. One day he was asked to sit down with an old friend. The pastor was looking tired and bedraggled from keeping a much too busy and hectic schedule. The friend said, “I have really good news for you. The Messiah has come!” The pastor, at hearing this, looked confused as to what the friend was getting at. Then the friend said she had even better news, “And you are not him!”

The problem of taking incarnational theology too seriously is that it distorts our understanding of what God is calling us to do, and we come to believe that if the world is going to be saved, we have to do it. Perhaps what we are called to be is something more like John the Baptist who walks around pointing people toward Jesus and calling out, “Look, here is the Lamb of God.” Instead of asking ourselves “What Would Jesus Do,” maybe we need to be asking, “What Would John The Baptist Do.”

Perhaps we need to be calling out to anyone who will listen: Hey, Look! Come see what I see! Come hear what I hear! Come see the Holy Spirit working through us! In fact, come see how the Holy Spirit is at work here even in spite of us! Behold the Lamb of God!

At the end of the day, God does not need us to be Jesus. God does not need us to be Moses, Isaiah, Peter or Paul. God needs us to be the unique person God creates us to be. As Rabbi Zusya, an eighteenth century Hasidic rabbi summed it up for his disciples just a short while before his death: "In the world to come I shall not be asked, 'Why were you not Moses?' Instead I shall be asked, 'Why were you not Zusya?'" Martin Buber, The Way of Man, (Citadel Press, NY:1966) p.17

Martin Buber, reflecting on this classic Hasidic tale writes: "Every person born into this world represents something new, something that never before existed, something original and unique. It is the duty of every person ... to know and consider that he or she is unique in the world in his or her particular character, and that that there has never been anyone like him in the world. Every single person is a new thing in the world, and is called upon to fulfill his or her particularity in the world. ... Everyone has in him or her something precious that is in no one else." ibid. p16, 18

So it seems for the radiance of Christ's glory to shine through us we need to be our selves. And we need to cry out to others, "Look, it is the Lamb of God! Come and see what I see. Come and hear what I hear."God in Christ is busy saving us and saving the world. It would seem Jesus needs us to be more like John the Baptist to announce to the world why we are here week in and week out.

Know, my sisters and brothers, little by little – it takes time – Jesus will reveal to you how unique you are - that you are the way and the light. He calls you to follow him so that you may do something beautiful with your life and bear much fruit. The world needs you, the Church needs you, Jesus needs you. They need your love and your Light. There is a hidden place in your heart where Jesus lives. This is a deep secret you are called to live. Let Jesus live in you. Let your light shine! Sing a new song! You are not lacking in any spiritual gift! You are the way others will come to know Christ! Amen!

Hope

2010-12-24T05:06:00.001-08:00

Christmas Year A 2010

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I never remember if it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve, or for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six… All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and headlong moon bundling down the sky that was our street; and they stop at the rim of the ice-edged, fish-freezing waves, and I plunge my hands in the snow and bring out whatever I can find. - Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas in Wales

Like Dylan Thomas, we all have a bundle of Christmas memories, and when I plunge my hands in the snow of Christmases past out comes heading home from college around 1970.

My hair was a lot longer back then as I sat at the gate at Bradley Field with a high school friend who attended a nearby college. A young man approached us who had no shoes. He asked if he could borrow some shoes to get on board the flight since the folks at the gate would not let him on bare foot. Shows you how different things were back then! Now they make you take them off!

So I lent him a pair of sneakers out of my carry-on bag. He thanked me and headed off to the men's room. As we boarded, he was nowhere to be seen. But as we were standing in the jetway, I overheard a more corporately attired traveler say to another, "Just look at all of our 'hopes for the future' getting on this plane," drenching with sarcasm. Forty years later and on has to wonder: who has provided our country and the world God loves more hope, the corporate types or the outsiders? Of course the kid never got on the plane. I never saw those shoes again. Great scam! But I was happy for him!

Just where do we place our hope these days? For that is what Christmas demands to know. Washington? Politics? Science? Whatever passes for "progress" these days? The Arts? Young people, old people? The Economy? To quote the King of Siam, "It's a puzzlement!"

At Christmas all kinds of people return "to their own cities" just like Mary and Joseph had to that winter a long time ago. The government required it. Everyone had to be counted so that they could be taxed - so that Rome could drain the maximum amount of resources from that backwater province surrounding Jerusalem, Israel.

The times were dark back then under Rome. Just as they had been dark some 600 years earlier when Isaiah proclaimed a word of hope: "The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. Those who live in the land of deep darkness, on them light has shined." The land was under occupation back then as well - the Exile, the Babylonian captivity, call it what you may. In the 1970's it would be called a big bummer, man!

Despite the desperate nature of the situation, Isaiah declares that there is hope. It is just that hope comes from the strangest places. For those in Isaiah's time, hope arrived as a gentile messiah, Cyrus of Persia - modern-day Iran roughly. It is safe to say that no one expected that! Yet, Cyrus liberated God's people and returned them safely home.

Then one night, six hundred years later, in the back streets of Bethlehem, a light shined in the darkness - a child was born. A baby in a manger - basically a feeding trough for barn animals. The animals in the shed sacrificed breakfast so the baby could sleep. Isaiah echoed through the night in the singing of angels, the arrival of shepherds, as the child lay there in a wooden manger of hay. The child, says Isaiah, is to be called "Mighty God!"

Do we get that? This child in a manger is God - we do well to just stop and try to take that all in for a few moments. Hope arrives in the strangest of places in the most unexpected people, but now hope arrives as a baby - a tiny child. A child who would grow up to bear the weight of the whole world and all its attendant woes and darkness upon his shoulders.

I grew up believing Chicago was the "City of Big Shoulders." Nothing like his, though. All the sin, sorrow, loneliness, sadness, brokenness and desperation of the world will one day rest on the shoulders of this tiny child - the wood of the manger turns out to be the Hard Wood of the Cross. Our hope, our only hope, is a baby lying in a manger.

Note that we do not have to go looking for hope. Hope goes out of town to the margins of Israelite society to find the shepherds and announce hope is here - the hope of the world is here, and you silly, filthy shepherds are the first to know! Hope comes to find us wherever we are! The question remains, will we respond as immediately and excitedly as the shepherds did that night in Israel?

And if we do, what do we do with this hope? Many have tried many things and have just made things worse. Take the Church, for instance. We tried to impose this hope on every and all peoples - using force whenever necessary. Force is to tepid a word - violence and even torture have been employed to convince others to let this hope into their hearts. We became the Empire to which we had been the alternative. Most people, however, could sense that what we offered was false hope - untrue hope based in our own sinfulness and greed.

Yet, even up to modern times many have seen using Jesus to establish a new political order as a promising strategy. Woody Guthrie of all people wrote a song: Jesus Christ for President:
Let's have Christ our President
Let us have him for our king
Cast your vote for the Carpenter
That you call the Nazarene
The only way we can ever beat
These crooked politician men
Is to run the money changers out of the temple
Put the Carpenter in

Christmas 1940, Dietrich Bonhoffer, who died in a Nazi jail cell, wrote that it will not work this way. Jesus will not establish his government of peace by force, but only when people submit to him freely, and allow him to rule over them. Then he gives to them his wonderful peace. When Christians are torn apart by war and debate, and churches cannot come together, that is not the fault of Christ, but the fault of people who do not allow Christ to rule over them. This does not mean that the promise is not fulfilled. Peace will have no end when we allow the divine child to rule over us.If we accept the Word and sacrament, if we accept his rule over us, if we recognize the child in the manger as our Savior and Deliverer, we allow him to give us the new life of love.
- Christmas 1940, The Government upon His Shoulders, Bonhoffer, Werke, vol 8

So where do we find him, this child who is God? How do we recognize him? In 1998 I was attending a Stewardship conference in Syracuse, New York. I was leading some music in a room of about 60 people. At a table in the front of the room was a group of deaf Episcopalians. Someone was signing the proceedings for them. As we sang, Seek Ye First The Kingdom of God, they were all signing the song as we sang. One by one people behind them began to join in signing the Alleluias, until soon everyone in the room had left our world of hearing and entered into their world. Finally, the person signing for them urged them to turn around to see what was happening. The looks on their faces was the light of Christ shining into our darkness. We were no longer singing about seeking the kingdom of God, we had entered into God's kingdom, God's world, God's rule of love for God and neighbor.

It turns out more often than not, as it was for the shepherds, we need not look for hope - we need only recognize that it is already here and submit ourselves to Him to allow Him to give us a new life of love. For He is here. He is wherever there are people who are shut out of the usual structures of power. He is wherever people are lonely, in need of feeding, healing or a helping hand to reach out. He is wherever we enter into the lives of those who are hurting in this world.

God will accomplish God's purpose with us or without us. The kingdom this child brings to us this day shall remain forever, and in the end bring down all human guilt and resistance.

Whether we are there or not, it will arrive. God himself lays his plans and reaches his objectives, with us or against us. But he wants us to be with him, not by compulsion, but willingly. God with us, Immanuel. I believe that Jesus Christ, truly man, born of a Virgin, and also truly God, born of the Father in Heaven, is my Lord! - ibid.

Bonhoffer's final Christmas in 1944, a letter from a Nazi prison cell to his fiancée included this message which has become Hymn 696 in our hymnal:

Hymn 696
By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
and confidently waiting come what may,
we know that God is with us night and morning,
and never fails to greet us each new day.

Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
O give our frightened souls the sure salvation,
for which, O Lord, you taught us to prepare.

And when this cup you give is filled to brimming
with bitter suffering, hard to understand,
we take it thankfully and without trembling,
out of so good and so beloved a hand.

Yet when again in this same world you give us
the joy we had, the brightness of your Sun,
we shall remember all the days we lived through,
and our whole life shall then be yours alone.

Even in the darkness of prison and his pending execution, Bonhoffer embodies the hope of the Christ child, a light that shines in the darkness and which the darkness has not and cannot overcome.

Where do we see our hope? Christmas wants to know. Christmas means to show us, if only we will open our eyes and see. When we do, we know that God is with us night and morning, and never fails to greet us each new day. When we do, our whole life shall be Christ's alone. Immanuel, God with us.

Jesus, God on earth, was touched by human hands. I believe that Jesus Christ, truly man, born of Mary, and also truly God, born of the Father in Heaven, is our Lord. Together may we live out of this simple declaration of who we are and whose we are. Hope has been born and is with us night and morning. God bless us, every one!

Stir It Up

2010-12-11T16:04:00.000-08:00

12 December/Advent 3A - Matthew 11:2-11
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Church, Baltimore, Maryland

Stir Up Thy Power, O Lord, and With Great Might Come Among Us
These are the opening words of the Collect for the Third Sunday of Advent every year. It is my favorite collect. I imagine God at one end of a long wooden-handled spoon stirring a pot of soup filled with lots of good things, keeping things moving, keeping things from settling, burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot, making sure the mix is just right to produce a nourishing, tasty and filling treat. I imagine we are the soup and all the various ingredients, each of which is necessary for the soup to both taste good and be good for us.

But I always end up asking myself: do we really want God to come among us with great might to stir things up? No one much seems to like change and things being stirred up. And yet, here we are praying for God to come with “great might” to stir things up! Sounds like change to me.

Both John and Jesus understand the consequences of doing God’s stirring up with great might: John is in prison and Jesus is on his way to the cross. Both were advocates for change. Both ended up in prison and executed.

So here we find John in prison sending his disciples to ask the important question: Are you the one we have been waiting for? Are you really the one that last week I said I was not worthy to carry your sandals? Because I have to say, I did not expect to end up in prison if you were the one who was coming to liberate us from this occupation. This was not what I expected at all. Are you the one, or is there another yet to come?

John seems to have lost hope. Now at some time or another we all know what it is like to lose hope – to hope for something that never seems to come. We wait and wait and wait and wait, but it never seems to come. Or, when it finally arrives it is not at all what we imagined, expected or wanted it to be.

When we remember times and feelings like these we begin to get some idea what John the Baptizer is feeling as he languishes in Herod’s prison by the Dead Sea. He was waiting and hoping for something really really big to stir up this world and set it right-side up again.

Now it would be easy to judge John harshly for not trusting immediately that Jesus is the One. And many of us have to admit, we look around at the world today and wonder, like John, just what has the arrival of God in Christ done for us and for the whole world?

Some days it is easy to lose hope. Especially if we are looking for a wholesale rearrangement of the way things are. Especially if we are hoping for the peoples of the world who seem hopelessly divided and hindered by sins somehow to be speedily reconciled, friendly and cooperative rather than divided, hateful and competitive.

Jesus responds to John and to us, “Go and tell what you see and hear….the blind receive sight, the deaf hear, lepers are cleansed and the dead are raised up!” Feeding, healing and reaching out to others, the real "others" - widows, orphans, resident aliens, the unclean, the blind and even the dead. This is Biblical language to describe people who have been written off or left out of the life of the community and for a variety of reasons thought to be unclean and dangerous to be around.

Go and tell what you see and hear. And what the people around Jesus see and hear are little victories over death, blindness, and loneliness. People are being restored to real life in real community. Barriers are being torn down. Prejudices are being dropped. Those who have been excluded for their entire lives are now included in the life of God’s people.

Think of the struggles just in our life time - for women, for civil rights, for gay and lesbian people, for immigrants. We live in a land where nearly all of us are immigrants - resident aliens. Few of us have ancestors who were here when the Euro-invasion began.

The big picture, suggests Jesus, is changing one life at a time. The work is not done. Jesus is still recruiting more and more people to do the work that he does and, as he promises, we will doc even greater things than he does! He wants us to be a part of his work! He needs us. God needs us. The world needs us.

And to join with Jesus we need not to lose hope. We need to be a people of hope.

So for just a moment fill in this sentence, “As Christmas approaches I hope for …..”

Maybe write it down, keep it in your purse or pocket. Hold onto your hope. Every time you touch that piece of paper, pray for your hope. Or, just think about it. Let your hope carry you through the rest of Advent and Christmas and throughout the year ahead.

Maybe we can begin to feel what John was feeling and what Jesus was feeling, hoping that God would do something, anything, even some small thing, toward setting the world right-side up again!

Jesus calls us to a life of hope and commitment: hope in what the joy of his birth really means and commitment to the ministries of feeding, healing and reaching out to others with him, through him and for him. Jesus tells us: do not lose hope. I am with you always to the end of the age. Go and tell what you see and hear! Amen.

Far, Far Away Was A Man

2010-12-04T13:53:00.001-08:00

5 December 2010/Advent 2A - Isaiah 11: 1-10/Matthew 3:1-12
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore, MD
Far, Far Away Was A Man

Once upon a time, in an ancient and far away country, when there were no cities, and no towns, only small tribes and caravans of people living on the land, wandering from place to place looking for vegetation for their sheep and goats to eat, there was a mountain top.

Whenever people climbed to the top of this mountain they felt the presence of God, who would tell them to always love the One God who cares for you and loves you always; and always care for one another, especially the others, those who are poor, have no families, widows, orphans and strangers.

And the people would leave the mountain top and remember to care for others the way God cared for them.

Throughout the years people would come and go from the top of the mountain and return with the message God had given them- to love the God who loves them, and to care for one another, especially others beyond the tribe.

And when the people came back from the mountain, many placed a stone there for remembrance. In fact, many who came but had not heard God themselves also left a stone to commemorate the remarkable events and stories which they had heard about those who did.

Each placed a stone as a token, and many placed the stones together, one building upon the other, until soon a magnificent Cathedral covered the mountain top where God's presence could be found and heard. People would come to the Cathedral, and entering they would know that something important was there, and they would pay their respects, praise the name of God and ask favors of many kinds. And each one would leave a stone.

Over the years, as more and more people came and left more stones one atop the other, a great city was built around the Cathedral on the mountain, with long, winding, narrow streets, lined with homes and shops, fountains and plazas. People coming to the mountain would need to stop and ask the way to the Cathedral so as not to get lost in the back streets of the city. And each one would leave a stone.

As the years continued to roll by, and the people continued to come and leave stones, a great wall with majestic gates was built around the city. People coming to the mountain would have to find a gate they would be allowed to enter. Sometimes the gates would be open, and sometimes the gates would be closed.

For many, even in the city, the top of the mountain became difficult to find, now that it had been covered by so many many stones. The gates were crowded, the streets were crowded, winding and narrow, there was so much noise and activity both inside and all around the gates of the city that no one could hear the directions to find their way to the top of the mountain where God's presence would remind them to love the God who always loves them and to care for one another, especially the others beyond the walls of the city.

Far, far away, in a lonely and barren wilderness beyond the gates of the city, was a man. A voice, crying in the wilderness. Above the crowded streets, beyond the crowded gates, above the top of the cathedral towers, the voice could be heard. Some people, discouraged at no longer being able to find the top of the mountain could hear his voice, so loud and lonely and lovely was the cry from the wilderness.

First one, then another went beyond the gates of the city and followed the sound of that voice. They could hear it floating on the winds, they could hear it like music in the sky.

As they came upon the man lonely in the wilderness, they could make out his cry: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight his roadways, make straight his paths. Prepare ye the way of the Lord!"

Over time, more and more people came out of the city and into the wilderness, following the voice carried on the wind, until everyone, all the inhabitants inside and outside the gates of the city were there with the man lonely in the wilderness.

And the people joined in his cry, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight his roadways, make straight his paths. Prepare ye the way of the Lord!" So that more and more people everywhere could hear the voices of many being carried on the winds to the four corners of heaven and earth.

Then the man lonely in the wilderness led them to the banks of a river, and invited them to all bathe in the waters of the river. And as they bathed in the waters of the river, he said to them, "Remember. Our God also speaks to us in the life of the waters of this river. Remember what he has said: love the One God who cares for you and loves you always, and always care for one another, especially the others, those who are poor, have no families, widows, orphans and strangers. Remember, remember, remember!"

"And, Oh yes! Another one is coming who will show us all the way back to the top of the mountain. Yes, you will remember today, but soon he will show us that to find our way back into the Cathedral, we have nowhere to look and nowhere to go. For he will tell us that the Cathedral and the top of the mountain is here, in the midst of us, wherever we are as a community of his people. Together. All of us. Including the others beyond the community. Especially the others. Here in our midst, wherever we are, God's presence, God's voice, God's message does dwell. Remember, remember, remember today, but the one who shall come will show us the Way."
And so it was, the beginning of our story. And so it is today.

When you listen far above the crowds and noise, a voice can still be heard floating on the winds, beyond the gates of the city, above the tops of the highest cathedral, calling to us, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight his paths ...one who is more powerful than I is coming after me...He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire..."

Remember to care for others the way God cares for you. Amen.

The Quality of Waiting

2010-11-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

28 November 2010/Advent 1 – Isaiah 2:1-5/ Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, St. Peter's at Ellicott Mills, Maryland

The Quality of Waiting

As a people, Americans are not used to waiting. As each year rolls by, we seem to get worse and worse at waiting. The urge to be first in line, first in the doors on Black Friday, to speed to get from point a to point b, to take short cuts, cut in line, use “redial” to be the “tenth” caller and win free tickets to another event we need to hurry-up and get to so we can get “good seats,” and on and on it goes.

We live in a culture that says, “We want it all and we want it now!” To disengage from this national spirit of “not-waiting” is to appear to be somehow Un-American, “not a team player,” or even “wimpy.”

This urge toward “not-waiting” ramped up to Warp Speed on Friday, aka Black Friday, and, I am told, will hit Intergalactic Nuclear proportions tomorrow, dubbed Black Monday by the On-line purveyors of all that we need and don’t need. We may as well face it, it is mostly the latter.

So along comes Advent. Well actually, it came along sometime near the end of the second century after the birth of the Christ-child, the one whose birthday somehow has become associated with this national urge not-to-wait.

For Advent calls us to a kind of waiting – waiting to celebrate that moment in time (or is time itself only a moment?) when God, the One who set all that we call creation and the universe, infinity and beyond, in motion suddenly appeared as a little baby, while at the same time waiting for God to appear again, anew, reclaiming or rebirthing this place we call - well, what do we call it? The world, earth, the universe, reality? Jesus most often calls it a kingdom.

As is often the case, our Gospel lesson begins in mid-story. Jesus is answering a question from his disciples. They are standing looking at the Temple, in Jerusalem, the place where it is said that God’s finger touches the earth to hold it in place – to stabilize it, to hold it steady, to keep it safe.

And Jesus, always seeming to need to stir things up, has pointed out to his friends that one day it will all be gone – not one stone will be left standing on another. Well, if you believe you are standing at the center of the universe, the center of all creation, the center of God’s kingdom, and you are told it will all be gone, you are surely going to ask, “So when, pray tell, might this happen?” Enter our text.

So now having stirred things up, this God who arrived one day as a baby now all grown up lets loose with another curve-ball: don’t know. No one knows. Not the angels, not me, only God knows. So just remember the time of Noah. It will be like that – when you are least expecting it, it will HAPPEN! And as in the time of Noah, when it happens, watch out.

Actually, the words he uses are “Keep awake.” Note how Paul, formerly known as Saul the persecutor of Christians on behalf of Rome, issues a similar alert some three or four decades later: “… you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to awake from sleep.”

Could this possibly be the Bible’s way of saying, “Wake up – the time is NOW!”?

So one quality of waiting has to do with staying awake – or, with waking up in the first place. The Bible seems to know that our vigilant state of not-waiting, which could be characterized as endless-doing, lulls us to sleep. As one professor of mine in seminary puts it, we are usually most always in a state of sleep-walking. That is, we are not awake to what is really happening around us – which Paul, and Jesus in his own inimitable fashion, is saying, “Wake up to the ways in which the Lord is at work even NOW!"

If we were awake we would know that. If we were awake we would know that those who keep apocalyptic calendars on the wall waiting for that day to arrive have somehow missed the essential words “no one knows.” If we were awake we would be those people who cultivate “an eternal preoccupation with the divine” (Paul Gordon-Chandler in his book, Songs in Waiting) such that we would see the ways in which God in Christ is already present and at work all around us!

As Jesus says to the Samaritan woman at the well, “The time is coming and now is!” It is now time for the vision in Isaiah to become a reality – that we turn our swords into ploughshares and pruning hooks – that the time for war is over and it is time for weapons of violence to be turned into instruments of nourishment – that it is time for all people, all kinds of people, from every corner of creation to come together to share in divine instruction – that it is time to walk out of darkness and “walk in the light of the Lord.”

Or, as Paul says, it is time to “live honorably in the day.” For it is this very moment as it was in the time of Noah, even now what all that we do and say is measured and judged in light of the Gospel that has been given to us by our Lord, Jesus Christ.

So how does one cultivate such an eternal preoccupation? How does one wake up? How does one see what is going on all around us – what some call “the real presence of Christ”? How do we cultivate a quality of waiting in the midst of a world demanding that we do anything but wait? In a world that says, "Want it all and want it now."

Two thoughts come to mind from the pen of Franz Kafka – yes, that Franz Kafka, who in addition to such tales as The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and In The Penal Colony, wrote a series of Aphorisms – reflections on life and how it is best to be lived.

The first has to do with how it is we view life. “The variety of views that one may have, say, of an apple: the view of a small boy who has to crane his neck for a glimpse of the apple on the table, and the view of the master of the house who picks up the apple and hands it to a guest.”

The second has to do with being still and really waiting. “It isn’t necessary to leave home. Sit at your desk and listen. Don’t even listen, just wait. Don’t wait, be still and alone. The whole world will offer itself to you to be unmasked, it can do no other, it will writhe before you in ecstasy.”

Advent is a time, four precious weeks, which invite us to look at the world from a different point of view, and to wait, be still and alone, allowing the whole world to offer itself to you, “unmasked.” God has no desire to hide anything from us. Those who wait upon the Lord already know this. Amen.

The Real Presence

2010-11-20T14:52:00.000-08:00

Proper 29C – Jeremiah 23:1-6/Psalm 46/Luke 23:33-43
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore, MD

Today You Will Be With Me

This Last Sunday after Pentecost is often called Christ the King Sunday.

We would do well to recall how this all began. The people of God begged Samuel to beg God to give them a king. After all, all the other nations had kings and they wanted one too. They were tired of God raising up Judges to meet the needs of specific times and situations.

As you may recall, God counsels Samuel to convince the people that kings do not always work out very well. Samuel tries, but the people continue their demand for a king. Eventually, God gives in, and voila! Saul is made king, and right away things do not go so well.

Verna Dozier in her book, The Dream of God, calls this “the Second Fall,” after the fall in the garden. Not content to let God run the show, the people rely on one of their own – and over time it results in some good times, but mostly bad.

Witness Jeremiah writing after the disastrous reign of Jehoiachin resulting in the Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah’s warning is good for just about any age, any time, any place.

Woe to the shepherds who have scattered the flock. Note: the history of Israel as told in The Bible is unique in giving us the account warts and all, and in Israel taking blame for its own problems.

God through Jeremiah, however, makes a promise, despite the bad leadership – a new shepherd, dare we say a Good Shepherd, will be raised up from the line of David.

Second note: some three hundred years after Jesus comes what Verna Dozier calls “the Third Fall,” when Constantine takes the church from being an alternative to life lived in the Roman Empire to become the organizing principal for the Holy Roman Empire. As good a short term strategy as this may have been for the Empire, the results have been at best mixed, and often disastrous, for the church, for it has made us complicit in a string of historic events that Jesus would have found utterly impossible to believe – the crusades, the inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, anti-semitism right up to and through the Holocaust.

After all, look where we find our “king”. He is himself a Jew hanging on a Roman cross. One might want to count the number of times our text refers to “they” or “them” – “When they came to the place of the Skull,” “they crucified Jesus,” “Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing,” “they cast lots to divide his clothing.”

Who are “they”? Not the Jews, and not even the Jewish Temple leadership, who by the way were appointed by Rome. “They” are the Empire – all those who worked on behalf of the Roman god, Caesar. The principal henchman, of course, being Pilate, Caesar’s “man” in Jerusalem.

So one thing we might do on this Christ the King Sunday is to consider the irony of the Third Fall – the Church becomes the Empire, the very instrument of human sin and destruction that placed Jesus on the Cross in the first place.

Jesus is a funny kind of king. He wrote no books. He had no army to command or to protect his kingdom. When his subjects try to pick up the sword he reprimands them. He founded no institution. He instituted no form of government – not even for his disciples! He rides a donkey when other kings might ride a horse. He claims to have no home. He spends most of his time with outcasts of all kinds. He is a king like no other king that ever lived.

Which is the Good News for those of us who stand at the foot of the cross this day and look up to him for direction in a world full of bad shepherds scattering flocks in every possible human institution, most especially the church. But I need not get into that here.

We are to take solace, hope and faith from the ancient words of Psalm 46 which assures us that though the waters rage and foam around us, though the mountains tremble, God is with us.

We are urged to “Be still, then, and know that I am God…the Lord of Hosts is with us.”

Not only is our king a funny kind of king, our God is a funny kind of God. When life is at its most tumultuous, says God, “Be still.” Stop. Be still. Don’t do anything. Be quiet and you will know the presence of the Lord.

Some six hundred years after Jeremiah decries the leadership of God’s people, a new shepherd arrives. This morning we see him hanging on a Roman cross, making a promise – “Today you will be with me in paradise.” After that he breathes his last, hands over his Spirit, and dies.

As we say in our creed, “He suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again…and is seated at the right hand of the Father…”

This is what makes our king our king – a king like no other.

And this is why his promise is true – for as long as we are with him today, and we are, we have nothing to fear of all the bad shepherds loose in the world. Because there is no power like his power which has been loose in the world since that moment on the cross when he gave up his Spirit, and that third day when he became king of all creation.

God says to Jeremiah, “I myself shall gather the remnant of my flock.” Even now God in Christ the King gathers us as his faithful remnant. Because God’s Good Shepherd gathers us we are free to be still in the midst of whatever storms rage around us and know that he is God – and that he is with us today – here and now in the real presence of his Body and Blood.

To Christ be Glory forever and ever. Amen.

Endurance

2010-11-13T16:01:00.001-08:00

14 November 2010 - Isaiah 65:17-25/Psalm 98/Luke 21:5-19
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, Saint Peter's at Ellicott Mills, Maryland

By Your Endurance You Will Gain Your Souls

The audience for this story has known about the destruction of the Temple since the very beginning. The Temple - the place where God's finger touches the earth and holds it still. The center of Jewish and early Christian worship and sacrifice. Day after day the early disciples went to the Temple to pray.

Not one stone left on top of another, he said. Imagine what it must have been like for Luke's original audience to be standing amidst the still smoldering rubble listening to these words: Teacher, when will this be? When will this be! It is now - by the time Luke was written the Temple was just a memory.

The secular and modern analog for us, of course, would be the World Trade Towers. To understand the impact of what Jesus is saying, we would have to somehow imagine a catastrophe that was of an even greater magnitude and conveyed even greater psychic damage than that of 9/11.

So this story revolves around an absence - absence and loss. This destruction of the Temple by Rome in 70 a.d. expelled the Christians and Jews who worshipped there every day into a world without any maps to provide guidance. Yet, both Christianity and Judaism survived this unprecedented holocaust - both found new ways, new forms, new directions to live their faith in an increasingly hostile world.

We know absence. We know loss. In nearly every century of its existence, the church has been subjected to some kind of brokenness and loss - some kind of splintering and division.

It is important for us to pay careful attention to Jesus at this crucial moment in first century time as well as our own time. For what he counsels, what he commands really, is not to be bothered by timetables and what might happen. Focus yourselves on what you are doing now.

That is, the message of Jesus is all about what to be doing in the meantime, the in between time if you will. And the heart of his message is “endurance” or what is elsewhere in Luke (8:15) translated as “patience.” It is important for us to note that Luke uses this word only twice, at the beginning of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, and at the end.

Note the words of caution: Do not be misled, do not follow false prophets, do not panic, do not prepare your defense beforehand. For those who observe these cautions, not a hair on your head will be lost, and by standing firm you will win yourselves life – eternal life lived with and in the eternal heart of God's Love.

What is it, then, that holds us together at times like these? What is it that allows us to endure?

A community sustained by Word and Sacrament - a community sustained by hope, vision, and song.

Isaiah had seen it all some six centuries before Jesus - that previous destruction of Jerusalem, the city of Peace, and its inhabitants carried off to captivity in Babylon. Yet, Isaiah, like the Psalmist, is sustained by a vision and by a song.

The vision is of a new heaven and a new earth! The song is a new song, a song that will burst forth not only from the mouths of men, women and children, but all creation will join in the singing! The seas will make noise! The rivers will clap their hands! The hills will ring out with joy! Like the rest of us, creation awaits a new beginning.

A community of faith that sustains itself with God's Word, God's Holy Sacraments, and is open to God's Hope, God's Vision and God's Song, is a community that endures.

"By your endurance you will gain your souls."

The Vision, says the poet Isaiah, will be a new heaven and new earth. It will be a time when before we call on the Lord, he will answer. It will be a time for the wolf and the lamb to feed together. It will be a time when the lion shall eat straw like the ox. It will be a time when "they shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord."

For there will be no time for division. There will be no time for tearing down. For we shall be those people sustained by God's Word and Sacrament calling all creation to sing a new song!

So that on that day when He returns to judge the quick and the dead, we shall be been knit together into One Body and One Spirit. One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. One God and Father of All.

Of All. Not some. Not many. Not most. But All.

All shall know the glory of the Lord.

And all shall join in one voice and sing:

Sing to the Lord a new song,
For he has done marvelous things!

Knitting

2010-11-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

Knit Together By Water and The Holy Spirit

Think of someone you know knitting. Sitting in a comfortable chair, needles in hand, a skein of yarn on the floor, skillfully taking a single strand of yarn or thread and transforming it into a pair of socks, a sweater, a comforter, a scarf, a cap – generally speaking things that keep us warm and snug. This person knitting is usually a woman. I remember my Grandma Cooper knitting me a sweater when I went away to college in New England!

Our collect for today, and a number of places in Scripture, says that God is like this: “Almighty God, you have knit together your elect into one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Jesus Christ….” Psalm 139 says, “…you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Paul in Colossians chapter 2 writes, “…that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in love, to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, of Christ…” And again Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 4, “…from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.”

God is doing a lot of knitting! Sitting there, needles going full tilt, knitting us. Knitting us together into her community, her fellowship, the mystical body of God’s own son, upbuilding us with love, encouraging our hearts, filling us with the knowledge of God’s mystery, of Christ!

What I hear in this metaphor of God as cosmic knitter is that in creating us and creating the community of God’s own people in Christ, there is one strand, on thread if you will, connecting us all one to another and all to God in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit, God’s spirit, God’s breath, God’s wind that is the common thread. One common thread knit into the very fabric of God’s kingdom on earth.

We inspire – literally breathe in - this Spirit with each breath we take! By the inspiration of this Holy Spirit the thoughts of our hearts are cleansed! And we are made One Body, One Spirit committed in our hearts to One Lord of All – not some, not most, not many, but One Lord of All.

God in Christ, however, uses water instead of knitting needles to do much of his knitting us together into one communion and fellowship. Water. It is the water of creation over which the Spirit/Breath/Wind of God hovered in Creation. It is the water of the Red Sea which God’s Sprit/Breath/Wind drove aside so the Hebrew children could scamper their way from slavery to freedom. It is the water of the Jordan River in which Jesus received the baptism of John and was visited by the Holy Spirit and a voice proclaiming, “You are my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” God says these very words to each of us when we are baptized. “You are my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

It is the very same water in which All the Saints we remember this day were baptized. This water shaped their lives in such a way that they did astonishing deeds to further establish God’s kingdom in our midst. On pages 19-30 in the Book of Common Prayer you can find some of their names. Since 1979 we have added about two or three names every three years so that the list has grown.

We need to remember, not one of them ever set out to be saints. It has only been in retrospect that we call them that. As we sing, they were baptized just like you and me. Some, like James Hannington and his companions, gave their lives attempting to bring the love of Christ to others. Some were amazing teachers, some abandoned a life of riches and nursed the sick and tended to the poor. They have names like Lawrence, Hilda, Margaret, and Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky! They all bathed in the water of Baptism, God’s Holy Water, and so were knit together into the fabric of the life of God’s kingdom on earth.

Once upon a time, about 25 years ago, I baptized a little girl named Eleanor. She was about four or five years old. After her baptism we were back at her family’s home having brunch when I felt a tug on my pants leg. It was Eleanor. I asked, “What is it, Eleanor?” “Can you still see the cross on my forehead?” she asked. Meaning, of course, the cross traced with oil blessed by our bishop, sealing her as Christ’s own forever. Also a sign of the promises she made to seek and serve Christ in all persons, and to strive for justice and peace for all people. Not most people, some people, or a lot of people, but all people. And I said, “Yes, Eleanor, I can still see the cross on your forehead.”

This morning, on a mountain top near the Sea of Galilee Jesus says, “You are blessed.” We are blessed if we are hungry, if we are poor, if we weep, and are excluded and defamed on account of the Son of Man. We are to love our enemies. We are to do to others as we would have them do to us. By water and the Holy Spirit, we have been knit together with all those who have gone before us, and all who will come after us into the mystical body of those people who are peacemakers in the name of Jesus Christ. There is one thread holding us all together and it is the thread of water and the Holy Spirit that makes us all one people in Christ. It is the thread of the Holy Spirit that says, “You are my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Paul prays for the struggling, little church in Ephesus: “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.”

May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened! May we know what is the hope to which we are now being called! May we be bathed in the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe!

In a moment we will all promise that with God’s help all that we say and all that we do will proclaim the Good News that God is at work in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself as he knits away day after day, night after night, knitting us together into one communion and fellowship! When we put on the garment God is knitting for us, people will see the cross on our foreheads and know who we are and whose we are.

A world that is hungering for righteousness, a world that mourns, a world that seeks comfort and love and care, a world that seeks mercy shall obtain mercy and shall be satisfied because the things we do this day makes us blessed. The blessing we are given is a blessing that is meant for the whole world and everyone therein – it is meant to usher in a world of justice and peace for all people – not some people, not lots of people, but all people. Let us be glad and thank God for making us his Beloved children, Now!

Amen.

Burma Shave!

2010-10-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

31 October 2010/Proper 26C - Habakkuk 1:1-4;2:1-4/Ps119:137-144/Luke 19:1-10

Burma Shave!
To get the gist of this little morality play about Zacchaeus the tax collector we need to recall what we learned last week - tax collectors in the Roman Empire made a living off of how much more money above and beyond the tax itself they could collect for themselves. So not only were they collaborators with the occupying enemy, but they were stealing from their own people as well.

So when Zach voluntarily offers to give half his possessions to the poor and repay everyone four times what he had defrauded them, Jesus takes it to heart and declares "salvation has come to this house."

Begging the questions: What need we do for salvation to come to our house? How much is enough?

The story is told of the Duke of Cumberland, who, as a distant relative of the royal family felt that he could sit in the Royal Box at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. And that if he sat in the Royal Box he could worship as he pleased. So whenever the priest intoned, "Let us pray," the Duke could be heard to say, "Yes, let's, let's..." And while the priest was reading this story of Zacchaeus, and got to the part where Zach promises to give away half his possessions and repay everyone four times what he had defrauded them, the Duke shouted out, "Too much, too much!"

A similar attitude takes hold of the girls in my classes when I assign a one page paper. "Can it be a 16 point font? Can it be double spaced?" they ask. Which is another way of responding somewhat like the Duke, "How little can we get away with and pass?"

It is an all too human tendency this attempt to get by with the minimum. When it comes to the salvation of our souls, however, is this really the way to go?

And the Bible is relentless in reminding us over and over again that the management of our money, assets and resources, is directly connected to the salvation of our souls. Jesus talks about it all the time. In fact Jesus talks about money and possessions more than any other single topic except the kingdom of God, and often relates stories about money and possessions when talking about the kingdom of God.

His preoccupation with stories like that of Zacchaeus and parables about money and possessions is simply a signal to us that he took seriously the relentless reminders in Psalm 119 to always and endlessly meditate on God's law, God's decrees, God's commandments - many of which, like the law of the Tithe (giving 10% off the top of the best of our resources), are positive, but others of which are warnings in the negative.

Take the poetry of the prophet Habakkuk, writing during the oppression of the Babylonian captivity 600 years before the time of Jesus. Habakkuk issues the oft repeated cry, "How long, O Lord, shall I cry for help?" That is, when might we see some relief.

God says, in effect, erect a sign by the side of the road large enough for runners to see as they are passing by. It is the origination of the old Burma Shave campaigns leading eventually to the invention of the billboard - that's right, God ordained Burma Shave signs and billboards!

" Henry the VIII/Sure had trouble/Short term wives/Long term/Stubble/Burma Shave"

On this sign, however, Habakkuk is to "write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may see it!"

The vision begins with a warning. In verse 4, those who are "puffed up" and proud shall not live. Then in verse 5 (note how the good stuff always comes one verse after our lessons leave off) God gets going:"Moreover, wealth is treacherous; the arrogant do not endure...like Death they never have enough, they gather all nations for themselves, and collect all peoples as their own." Those who attempt to live by their own devices have no life of good.

God's vision then gets on a roll, "Alas for you who heap up what is not your own!...Will not your own creditors suddenly rise, and those who make you tremble wake up? Then you will be booty for them because of all you have plundered."

Searching for an answer as to what qualifies as that which is "not your own," we surely recall Psalm 24 - "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it/the world and all who dwell therein." Again, just one verse after the 6 verses nearly all of us memorized as the Twenty-third Psalm, which itself declares, does it not, that all we need is the Lord?

For fun and for homework, you may wish to see what happens one verse after our story in Luke. Read Luke 19 verse 11 and the parable that follows. It is the oft misunderstood tale of a Master who leaves town to accumulate more "power," and leaves his slaves some money to do "business with" while he is gone. Two of them invest the money and make the Master more money. These investments often led to farm foreclosures leading to a lifetime of indentured slavery. The third buries the money and gives back the original sum: "I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit and reap what you do not sow."

This third is the "whistle blower." He unmasks the evil of those who amass fortunes off the back breaking labor of those who work day and night. He chooses to take the money out of circulation where it can no longer dispossess another family farmer.

When we take these lessons one verse further, we begin to see what is afoot. Habakkuk is urged to be patient in prayer, Bible Study and meditate on God's commandments - the endless 176 verse mantra of Psalm 119 returns this Sunday to remind us where true happiness and wealth really is to be had.

So will we be happy to get away with the minimum requirements? How much is enough? What need we do for salvation to come to our house today? Read, re-read and study these words - then go one verse or more further. See if our answers to these pivotal questions change as a result of our finding God's commandments to be our delight! Consider the law of the Tithe. Then remember the prophet:

Wealth is treacherous/The rich all huff/Like death they never/Have enough/ Habakkuk

Amen.

To Love God's Law

2010-10-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

17 October 2010 - Jeremiah 31: 27-34/2 Timothy 3:14-4:5/ Psalm 119:97-104/Luke18:1-8
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, St. Peter's at Ellicott Mills

Oh, How I Love Your Law!
"I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts." Jeremiah 31:33b

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation...." 1 Timothy:3:14-15

"Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long." Psalm 119: 97

"Then Jesus told them this parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart...And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?" Luke 18: 1, 7a

Psalm 119 gives us 176 ways to say the same thing - Happy are those who walk in the way of the Lord (Ps 119:1), Oh, how I love your law! all the day long it is in my mind (Ps 119:97). At 176 verses it is the longest of the 150 Psalms. It consists of 22 eight line stanzas, each stanza beginning with a sequential letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is an astonishing exercise in puzzle working, poetry and praise!

Psalm 119 calls for the kind of continued learning Paul commends in his letter to Timothy (which by the way would be the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament since the New had not been written yet!). As a subject of our recitation and meditation, Psalm 119 offers an entrance into a life of continued, endless prayer. So Jesus tells a story to underscore our need to pray always and not lose heart! It is what Paul elsewhere commends: "pray without ceasing."

And note the forceful summary by Jesus: for those chosen ones who pray day and night, justice shall come and come quickly.
Are we even aware of this linkage? That our prayers are to be linked to justice?

Don't we often tend to be rather selfish in our prayers? We would always like immediate results - but would like those results to be centered on what we want rather than what we need. And what Jesus says we need is to pray always and not to lose heart.

There is no better place to begin to pray always than with Psalm 119. One hundred and seventy-six verses reminding us to have Torah, God's law, in our minds all day long. The word "Torah" or one of its synonyms appears in almost every one of the 176 verses: Torah, law decrees, precepts, statutes, commandments, ordinances.

A Rabbi was once asked, "What does a Rabbi do?" He replied, "A Rabbi is to lead God's people to study Torah so that one day everyone will know Torah. On that day when everyone knows Torah, everyone will be a Rabbi so that there will no longer be any need for Rabbis!"

"I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts." Jeremiah 31:33b This is the dream of God as revealed to the prophet Jeremiah - that we become a people of experts in loving the law and living the law.

We in the church tend to suffer grave misunderstandings about this word law. These misunderstandings come from mis-readings of Paul, compounded by particular Christian theologians throughout the ages. The word "law" sounds static with the sole purpose of convicting us of sin and misdoings.

Whereas a regular reading of all 176 verses of Psalm 119 would reveal a much richer range of meaning. The "law" is a treasure, a gift really, that makes one wise and happy! The psalm is written in the first person, making the words of the psalm personal, words that belong to us, words that are given by God to be ours! Torah is not a static set of rules, but a map that provides a personal way of life, a guiding force, a pathway from which it is all too easy to stray - but is sweeter than all alternative paths available!

At its core, Psalm 119 as a source of our daily prayer and meditation directs us to endlessly reflect on the Decalogue - the fancy theological name for the Ten Commandments. The first "table" or "tablet" of the Ten Commandments focuses on our love of God (4 commands), the second "table" or "tablet" focuses on our love of neighbor (6 commands). Jesus summarizes Torah, or the law, as just this in Mark 12:28-34 - Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind, and Love your Neighbor as yourself - and in Luke he gives the example of the Good Samaritan, concluding, "Do this and live." Luke 10:28

Jesus spent much of his time discussing the law, Torah, with any and all persons he could! Jesus demonstrates that continual focus, discussion and meditation on God's law is what leads one in the way of life that is really life, and offers justice for all people.

Torah as understood at the time of Jesus was a continual unfolding of God's will, new each day, new in each age. Torah, or law, was not confining, but empowering and necessary to being God's people in the world.

Meditating on the law day and night, as Jesus lives and instructs us to do ourselves, reminds us of our God given responsibilities to love and care for our neighbors - especially those in greatest need.

It turns out God does have a plan to care for those in greatest need: we are that plan!

How wonderful it would be if all of us, every day, would read all of Psalm 119! How might the world be different if our love of God's law was something we treasured in our hearts all day long? For Jesus this is faith - Torah in action every day.

So it is he asks, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

All that we say and all that we do will be the answer to his question. Amen.

Less Faith and More Fear

2010-10-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

3 October 2010/Proper 22C – 2 Timothy 1:1-14/Luke 17:5-10
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, St. Peter’s at Ellicott Mills

Faith and Fear

Many would agree with the proposition that we live in fear-full times. People fear for their jobs. People fear they may lose their homes. People fear an unidentifiable enemy may once again attack our shores. People fear there will not be enough resources to get through the next month, the next week, the next day. Parishes fear not having the resources to get through the next year. People fear the planet is undergoing irreversible damage due to human consumption. None of these fears is unfounded.

All these fears and more were in Paul’s mind as he wrote to Timothy. And Paul’s greatest fear was that Timothy and the young emerging church would be afraid to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ: “Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord…”

This fear evidently seized the disciples as well – they had a fear of having not enough faith: “Increase our faith!” they cry out. And when faced with all the fears that seem to spring up day and night throughout the world and in our own inner worlds, many are the times we feel like making the very same plea – Lord, give me strength – Lord, increase my faith – Lord, get me through the night.

To which Jesus replies, in essence, “You just need the tiniest bit of faith imaginable,” coupled with a metaphor or parable about the relationship between slaves and masters.

Admittedly, our Republic is still young enough that any discussion that begins with the word “slave” attached still raises high emotional reactions – and with good reason. There are examples almost daily to suggest that matters of race, which are inextricably tied to slavery, are still matters of deep concern. Just look at the firing of CNN’s Rick Sanchez for calling Jon Stewart “a bigot.”

But at the core of this metaphor Jesus uses is a relationship – a relationship that is anything but casual.

So as I was sitting in the chapel at Fairhaven yesterday waiting for a funeral to begin, I read all 176 verses of Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is a long meditation on those who “walk in the law of the Lord.” Other synonyms for law are his “statutes”, “commandments”, “righteous judgments”, and “your word.” Then there is this synonym in verse 38: “Fulfill your promise to your servant, which you make to those who fear you.”

One dimension of our relationship with the Lord is meant to be “fear.” Which got me to wondering as I sat there in the chapel at Fairhaven: “Why do we fear all sorts of other things, but no longer seem to fear the Lord?”

That is what is at stake here – the fear of the Lord. Elsewhere we read, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”(Proverbs 1:7, 9:10, Psalm 111:10, etc….) I have to believe that the question about increasing our faith is related to our inability to fear the Lord.

Which evidently leads St. Paul to write to Timothy, “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a strong mind.” To which Jesus answers, you don’t need a lot of faith, you just need a tiny bit of faith and a proper amount of fear – fear of the master, which can be read as respect, awe, and reverence for the Lord.

So we see that the fear that should be our real fear, fear of the Lord, is a mixture of awe, respect and ultimately must be coupled with trust and love. So much trust and love that just the tiniest speck of faith and fear should be enough to move mountains and uproot trees!

To truly develop such faith and fear, I would suggest reading all of Psalm 119 once a day for 30 days. I believe that at the end of 30 days you will have at the least a mustard seed’s worth of faith in and fear of the Lord. It will lead to a new appreciation for his commandments and statutes.

As we move into our Stewardship Season and prepare to make our pledges for the year ahead, there is one command that is given to guide us – the law of the Tithe – giving 10% of our resources to the mission and ministry of Christ’s Church. Why, we might ask ourselves, don’t we have enough faith in the Lord and fear of the Lord to respect His command to Tithe? Why do we waste so much time and energy fearing those things we have no control over at the end of the day?

Might living into the commandment to Tithe actually Increase our Faith?
And might becoming Tithers deepen our relationship with the Master?
Might becoming Tithers be one way to demonstrate our witness and testimony about our Lord?
Might just a little Faith and more Fear – Fear of the Lord – result in less Fear in and of the world?

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed

You can take trees and hurl them in the sea

The lame will walk and the blind will see

Wars will cease with the end of greed

Bread multiplies so there’s enough to feed

As you sow you shall receive

As you pray you will believe

Trust in the Lord, He’ll supply every need

As you follow Christ, you’ll begin to lead

Amen.

Shoshin

2010-09-25T13:36:00.001-07:00

26 September 2010 - I Timothy 6:6-19/Luke 16: 19-31
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, St. Peter's at Ellicott Mills

The Life That Really Is Life

Living at a time when the gap between the rich and the poor is ever-widening is one of the most pressing issues facing us, along comes Luke with this story about the Rich Man and poor Lazarus.

Coupled with this all too familiar parable is the First Letter of Timothy laden with imperatives to "fight the good fight," "take hold of the eternal life," " do good, be rich in good works, generous, ready to share," "take hold of the life that really is life."

And of course the familiar and oft misquoted, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil..."

Enter Michael Douglas stage right to reprise the role of Gordon Gekko in the sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. You have to love the irony of it all - synchronicity as Carl Jung would have it: Gordon Gekko and the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus crash into our collective consciousness side by side, all at once!

We like to call the Gospel "Good News." What is perhaps most interesting about this morning's lessons is that they are not, strictly speaking, "news" at all.

Jesus says as much. The pitiful image of the now poor, tormented rich man, begging for a drop of water, and then begging for Abraham, who appears as judge in the after-life, to send someone, anyone at all, to warn his five brothers not to squander their lives as he had.

Or, as Paul to Timothy would have it: "As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment...so that they may take hold of the life that really is life."

Alas, Abraham says, in effect, "This is not news. This is no warning. Since the time of Moses and the prophets it has all been said before."

That is, the Good News this morning is no news at all. It is yesterday's news. In fact it is yesteryear's news - yesteryear having been as long as 1300 years ago when Jesus told this story! And for us, of course, something like 3,300 years ago.

Yet, here we find ourselves, our nation, our government, and indeed most every nation on earth, placing our "faith" somewhere, anywhere, other than in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus. We give it all fancy names like "free markets," "capitalism," "trade agreements," "derivatives," and whatnot, but at the end of the day we are placing an tremendous amount of faith in money. What elsewhere Jesus calls "unrighteous Mammon," personifying money as a player on the world stage.

So we build bigger and bigger barns, filled with more and more stuff, until finally we get to the end of the line only to find that Paul to Timothy has it just right: "...we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it."

Footnote: other great world religions also ponder the problem of money. The Hindus believe keeping money in circulation is good karma, accumulating money is bad karma. Muslims have very strict guidelines for what we would call tithing. What with Islam developing out of Judeo-Christian monotheism this should come as no surprise. Seen as a reform movement within the monotheistic tradition, Islam agrees with Jesus on this one - you know what the Lord God Almighty says about money, so let's do it and tithe.

Yet, all these years beyond the attempts at the prophet Muhammad, blessed be his name, to remind the world of what was delivered by God through Moses in the wilderness, delivered to the prophets in and out of exile, and reiterated by Jesus during the Roman occupation, as an alleged "Judeo-Christian" culture in America we seem to have conveniently forgotten it all.

Enter Zen Buddhism - no I am not suggesting we all become Zen monks. But there is an idea, a way of approaching life in general really, that might help us to remember all that we tend to forget - remember all that we desperately need to remember.

Shoshin - or, Beginner's Mind. "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few." Shunryku Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Weatherhill, NY:1973), p.21

I think we approach these stories we call Gospel with more of the expert's mind than the beginner's. We believe we have heard them and heard them over and over and know what they are all about - until we do not hear them anymore. What else can explain the current socio-economic predicament and the environmental predicament?

Jesus is right. Abraham is right. We have heard it all before - so much so that we no longer hear it. Turns out the Good News, and the Best News, is Old News!

It is up to us to go back to our sacred writings and listen to them as if for the very first time, with no presumptions, no preconceptions, no clever exegetical, historical-critical explanations. We will be richly rewarded if we do.

Unlike the rich man's brothers, we have the opportunity to listen anew "with an empty mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's there are few." ibid

I believe it is in listening with a beginner's mind - Shoshin - that we "may take hold of the life that really is life."

Amen.

Like One Of Us

2010-09-11T14:37:00.001-07:00

12 September 2010/ Luke 15:10-10
The Reverend Kirk A. Kubicek, St. Peter's at Ellicott Mills

One Of Us

We come from Love, We return to Love and Love is all around. God is Love. Love is God.

So God comes to us as Jesus. God was one of us. Why, we ask? Why would God take such a risk? It is a risk, as it turns out, that means losing his life.

While God as Jesus lives among us we hear of him sharing meals with all kinds of people - just as we come to share a sacred meal today. We are here only because Jesus invites us to his table - it is, after all, his table, not ours.

When he eats with the religious insiders, the Pharisees and the Scribes who were experts in how to live life the way God expects us to live, he chides them for their pride, their lack of humility, and he takes them to task for their guest list - people very much like themselves.

He suggests inviting people utterly unlike themselves - and we may as well face it people not at all like us - the poor, the lame, the sick, widows, orphans, resident aliens, tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners.

Seemingly to make his point, that is where we find him. And the Pharisees and Scribes are not excited at all. You think they might appreciate him showing the way, offering fresh and new insights into how to do what God wants us to do, but no, we are told that they are grumbling!

"This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them, " they sneer!

Not at all enjoying a debate, not wishing to correct them or chide them any further, Jesus tells them some stories - one about a lost sheep and one about a lost coin. Oh, yes, and about a shepherd and a woman - who, as it turns out, are metaphors for God. God is like a shepherd. God is like a woman. This is what Jesus says.

Now it would be too easy to think that the lost sheep and coin represent lost sinners, and that God is out there searching high and low for them. And I suspect at least some of the Pharisees think this is what is going on. But we have already noted that God in Jesus does not need to go look for sinners! He is already surrounded by them at the dinner table - and THEY are listening to him, unlike the Pharisees and the Scribes. Ooooops!

So it could be that Jesus is suggesting that those listening to the stories need to be found - that would be the Pharisees and Scribes, but that would also be us as we hear the stories now. Now the sheep and the coin can do nothing to be found - God does all the heavy lifting here searching and sweeping until finally, God finds one of us. There's nothing we can do to be found.

In between our coming from Love and returning to Love we often get lost. Most often we get lost in thinking and believing we know where we are going, when in fact the God who is Love has a different idea for us. Not to worry, Jesus seems to say. God is already out there looking for us - we just need to be ready and willing to be found. That may mean stopping, quieting our hearts and minds, and just waiting and, like the sinners and tax collectors, listening for that voice of God to break through the veneer of "togetherness" we wear on the outside to protect ourselves from all that may hurt us.

Don't worry, say's Jesus, God is already searching and sweeping - sweeping away all that separates us from the love of God.

But what if it is not just we who are lost? What if we have lost our faith? Or, never had it in the first place? Do we find ourselves sometimes in the place of the shepherd or the woman - seeking that which we have lost? Possible seeking the faith that has become lost to us?

To lose faith is simply to lose the conviction that one has been found in the first place. We begin to wonder whether we are being sought at all. We begin to wonder at one time or another whether there is in fact a shepherd or peasant woman tracking us down. What these stories say to us at times of lost faith is again, not to worry, for we have wandered into the place where we can be found - so now maybe we are the tax collectors and sinners instead of the Pharisees and Scribes. And again we need to be ready and willing to be found.

And how much fun is it to be found? Jesus says there is going to be a party, rejoicing - a celebration! In fact once the woman finds the lost coin she spends it for a neighborhood block party! Turns out that God as a peasant woman is searching and searching just so she can bring everyone back together for one big party!

So the question before the Pharisees and Scribes turns out to be, "Are you ready to party with all these outsiders? Because guess what? God is! She is really really ready for everyone to come home and Rejoice!"

So there it is: God becomes one of us, comes looking for us wherever we are, to take us all home for a big joyful celebration. The only question is, Do we want to be found?

If God had a name, what would it be
And would you call it to his face
If you were faced with him in all his glory
What would you ask if you had just one question

And yeah yeah God is great
Yeah yeah God is good
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus
Just tryin' to make his way home

If God had a face what would it look like
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
In things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets

And yeah yeah God is great
Yeah yeah God is good
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
He's trying to make his way home
Back up to heaven all alone
Nobody calling on the phone
Except for the pope maybe in rome

-Eric Brazilian/Joan Osborn 1995

Amen!

Shabbat Shalom!

2010-08-28T09:32:00.001-07:00

29 August 2010 - Proper 17 * Jeremiah 2:4-13, Hebrews 13: 1-8,15-16, Luke 14: 1, 7-14
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, St. Peter's at Ellicott Mills, MD
Shabbat Shalom
It is again, the Sabbath Day. We would do well to note the severe edit in our selection for today: verses 2-6 detail another healing on the Sabbath. This time Jesus throws down the gauntlet challenging the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or is it not?" But they were silent.

Then comes his observations, and let's face it, rather severe critique, of their social practices. And we may as well admit, who among us does not try to get the best seat in the house? In the stadium? At the restaurant? Who among us does not invite our closest friends for a meal? Or, those to whom we feel indebted due to their hospitality toward us?

Put in today's terms, who would ever want to invite Jesus to dinner? Or, who would invite Jesus to join us for our Sabbath observance? Beginning in chapter 4 of Luke's gospel we have one Sabbath episode after another in which Jesus takes the initiative to stir things up - beginning with his harsh words in his hometown synagogue (Lk 4:23-30), and now all these healings and radical critique of good table manners and Sabbath observance!

There are at least two things at stake in this enigmatic little episode - one to do with meals or banquets, the second to do with Sabbath, Shabbat, and the essence of the command to "remember the Sabbath."

Nearly half the words of the Ten Commandments (55 of 108) concern remembering the Sabbath. And they stand nearly in the middle as a bridge between the first three concerning our relationship with God, and the final six concerning our relationships with one another. There it is again, Love of God and Love of Neighbor, defined in 108 words delivered by God to Moses and the people of God at Mt. Sinai.

In addition to being a day of rest, set apart from the rest of the week when we are hard at work, Shabbat is to be a holy day set apart to build up the spiritual element within us - a renewal of our spiritual life in God! Today we are hard pressed to even remember that we have a spiritual life in God, let alone devote an entire day to contemplate what that means. It evolved as a day of study, a day to remember where we come from, a day to remember God as the creator of the universe, that all we are and all we have is a gift, a day to separate ourselves from the misery and slavery that for so many centuries were the lot of Israel - a day, once a week when the home of the humblest Jew was flooded with light! Shabbat banishes care and toil, grief and sorrow. On Shabbat, the most despised and rejected of men and women are emancipated from oppression and tribulation and degradation of this world, feeling themselves to be a prince or princess, king or queen, a member of a great, eternal and holy family!

A look inside the Jewish Sabbath reveals not a day of strict and dreary adherence to demanding rules, but rather households filled with Joy, Gratitude, Sunshine, Light and Love. Recalling the Exodus and Passover, recalling the Return from Exile, Sabbath represents a day to Return to God from the worries, claims and demands of the other six days of the week.

So the healings Jesus performs on the Sabbath seem to emulate the very essence of what it means "to remember the Sabbath" - to remember God's desire to liberate and unbind us from all that keeps us enslaved to that which is not of God.

Then there is the meal itself - the Sabbath meal or banquet. Meals eaten at table in the Jewish world of Jesus were not simply times to nourish oneself with vast quantities of food, but rather meals eaten at table are eaten as if the table is the altar in the Temple in Jerusalem. Consider that by the time Luke's gospel was committed to writing, the Temple and its altar were in ashes, and remain so to this day. Consider then just what sitting at table on Shabbat signifies right down to our own day.

The traditional greeting on Shabbat is "Shabbat Shalom!" Shalom means more than just peace. Shalom means whole, complete, full, welfare, justice. It is the essence of our Baptismal promise, "to strive for justice and peace for all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being." BCP 305 We have all seen the bumper sticker, "No Justice, No Peace/Know Justice, Know Peace."

So the greeting, "Shabbat Shalom," suggests that we remember that at very heart of this most central of the Ten Commandments is remembering that God wants and seeks the liberation and release of all those whose lives are bound by misery, slavery, worry, rejection, injustice and indignity.

For our Sabbath observance we gather as a community at a common table. Among other things, the Sacrament of his Body and Blood on this table represent the essence of Shabbat Shalom - a foretaste of that heavenly banquet, a foretaste of life for all persons in God's Kingdom.

Today's story serves up several challenges for Christians in all times and in all places. One is to dissuade Christians from all presumptions of privilege, noting that one day we will all be seated according to our Host's will, not our own. Presumption of privilege - whether based on things like race, class, gender, nationality, native tongue or even religion - not only do not distinguish us, but if we allow them to define us at all will ultimately, says Jesus, disgrace us.

We do not determine who is worthy to sit at God's table. The counterintuitive message in here, of course, tells us that our table ought to be surrounded by strangers - strangers who are poor, crippled, lame, blind, widows, orphans and resident aliens. That is, and the Pharisees are not alone in this whatsoever, "birds of a feather flock together" is not what the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus has in mind when commanding us to "remember the Sabbath."

Shabbat Shalom - two words we would do well to hold together. Shabbat Shalom - two words that in essence sum up what God means when commanding us that to Love God and Love Neighbor means to participate in God's reign today, here and now. Who we invite to sit at God's table defines who we are and whose we are.

Perhaps inviting Jesus to dinner and to our Sabbath Worship is just what we need to do - on a more regular basis! Shabbat Shalom!
Amen.

A Dog In The Manger!

2010-08-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

15 August 2010/Proper 15 - Isaiah 5:1-7/Hebrews 11:(1-28),29-12:2/Luke 12:49-56
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, St. Peter's at Ellicott Mills, Maryland
The Dog In The Manger
The Bible can be said to be a record of God's creation and how God intends for this creation to be tended, cared for, kept in some sort of conformity with God's dream. Which, as Howard Thurman has observed, is a dream of "a friendly world of friendly folk beneath a friendly sky." The great surprise in the Biblical record is that God's primary strategy for carrying out this dream of his is us - that's right, we are created male and female in the image of God (imago Dei) to take care of creation the way God wants it to be.

Walter Rauschenbusch, in a little book titled The Social Principles of Jesus (1916) notes what he saw happening in the world of 1916, "The desire for private property has been the chief outlet for selfish impulses antagonistic to public welfare. To gain private wealth men have slaughtered the forests, contaminated the rivers, drained the fertility of the soil, monopolized the mineral wealth of the country, enslaved childhood, double-yoked motherhood, exhausted manhood, hog-tied community undertakings, and generally acted as the dog in the manger toward humanity." p. 192 This could have been written on this morning's OP-ED Page!

So does it surprise us that from time to time God is disappointed in our overall stewardship of creation? Today we get two examples of God's frustration with our care for the earth and care for one another - especially those "others" who are utterly unlike us, without resources (widows, orphans and resident aliens as the Bible describes them), and even our enemies - those who wish us harm and those whom we have injured or offended.

First, there is God in Isaiah, some eight hundred years or so before Jesus, who had chosen Israel to be a little demonstration community of how this all should work. The people of God are God's vineyard, a sort of model organic vineyard taking the most meticulous care of the vineyard as well as the people who worked it, visited it and lived around it. It takes no careful exegesis to hear the utter pathos in God's lament, "What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done it? ... I looked for justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!"

The last time God had heard such a cry they were slaves in Egypt. The Exodus, the Wilderness experience, the giving of the Land, the Law, and especially the law of the Sabbath, was to have resulted in a land of justice and peace among people and with the land - instead there was an increasing gap between the haves and have nots, and the Land was being wasted, and bloodshed was rampant.

Fast forward eight hundred years. God as Jesus comes to live among us once and for all to show us how to be the demonstration community he has always dreamed we would be. We should note these are hard times - life under Roman rule was a vast and harsh, culturally diverse set of societies, unrelated by languages, economics, religions and histories, all forced into political unity by a brutal military presence. The vast majority of those under Roman rule resented or hated the forced political unity, and experienced few, if any, benefits from its social and economic structures. It was a non-democratic, rigidly hierarchical, status-based world of haves and have nots - mostly have nots. Bass, Diana Butler, A People’s History of Christianity, p.27

Jesus came to change all of that - to draw to himself a community of people dedicated to living out God's dream. Suddenly he finds himself in Luke's gospel surrounded by people like his own disciples arguing over who will be the greatest when God's Kingdom supplants Rome, wanting to rain fire on their Samaritan enemies, and quibbling siblings, whom he has already labeled "fools," more interested in how much they can get out of their father's estate rather than how much they can contribute to the new community of Christ - a world which Luke displays later in the Book of Acts as a community that shares all resources so as to provide for "the least of our sisters and brothers."

So can we blame him if he appears to be out of sorts? Feeling much as he did eight hundred years earlier he must feel like saying all over again, What more can I do for you to show you how this all works? Love of God and Love of Neighbor - devotion and ethical behavior. Can I break it down any more simply than this? I am not here to validate the status quo - that is devotion and identity to family kinship groups is no longer going to work. Devotion to God and to loving others will. Does anyone hear me at all? Turns out God does care what we are or are not doing.

Tucked neatly between these two episodes of Divine Frustration is the witness of someone who evidently does hear him and does get it - the mysterious and unknown author of the Letter to the Hebrews - curiously regarded these days as "not a letter" and "not to Hebrews at all," but a treatise to a group of early Christian who seem to have already lost their way prior to 70 CE.

It is by one who understands that Christianity at its outset was not a set of beliefs so much as a new way of life - a way utterly different than life in the Roman Empire. By enacting the teachings of Jesus, Christianity changed and improved the lives of people and served as a practical spiritual pathway. Why did Christianity succeed in the Roman Empire? Not because it offered “other worldly compensations for suffering in this life,” rather it was a faith that “delivered potent antidotes to life’s miseries here and now.” All grounded in a faith in which we are to Love God and Love our Neighbor. It was this faith that propelled them to do things in ways contrary to the Empire. Ibid, p.26

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen...By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear." That is how this eleventh chapter of Hebrews begins - and it catalogs, beginning with Abel, Abraham, Noah, Rahab and others, just what people who have grasped God's dream have done, not knowing how things would eventually work out!

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of God.Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." Hebrews 12: 1-2

Back in 1916 Rauschenbusch cites this passage from Hebrews when he writes, "The man who wrote the little treatise from which this is quoted saw the history of humanity summed up in the life spirits who had the power of projection into the future. Faith is the quality of mind which sees things before they are visible, which acts on ideals before they are realities, and which feels the distant city of God to be more dear, substantial, and attractive than the edible and profitable present. Read Hebrews 11. So he calls on Christians to take up the same manner of life, and compares them with [people] running a race in an amphitheatre packed with all the generations of the past who are watching them make their record. But he bids them to keep their eye on Jesus who starts them at the line and will meet them at the goal, and who has set the pace for good and fleet persons of all time." ibid p.189

There are those who have gone before. There are those who see the dream now. There are those who will be greeted by Jesus at the goal. The good news is that because we look to Jesus to perfect our faith, we can be like them. The only question is, will we? Amen.

Give, Forgive, Lead, Deliver

2010-07-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

25 July 2010 – Hosea 1:2-10//Luke 11:1-13
Give, Forgive, Lead, Deliver/Ask, Seek, Knock
God’s strategy ratchets up – instead of Amos’ looking at a bowl of fruit or a plumb line as a metaphor for what message the prophet is to carry to a people who have lost their focus on God and neighbor, now in Hosea the Prophet must become the metaphor and marry a whore. That is right. Hosea is the metaphor of adultery and infidelity to demonstrate our need to repent.

Note that the land is distressed. We read elsewhere in Hosea that “Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air; end even the fish of the sea are taken away.” (4:3) Look at how we have failed to care for God’s creation. Whole species disappear daily. The land and bays polluted with petro-fertilizers. Hosea could have been written today!

All because the people had made military alliances with foreigners, wasted resources on defense, turned back to worshipping idols (“My people inquire of a thing of wood, and their staff gives them oracles – For a spirit of harlotry has led them away; they have left their God to play the harlot.” 4:12)

Hosea re-visions a new Israel – a new people of God. After marrying Gomer the harlot, after she bears children with other men, Hosea welcomes her home and forgives her as a sign of God’s love for those who repent and return to the Lord! Hosea acts out God’s mercy.

Just as Jesus does - only God’s strategy pushes even further than with Hosea – Jesus is [not was] the word of God that speaks of a new creation. Creation – the very thing we attempt to dominate, manipulate and manage as resource for our own idolatrous addictions!

Even when we create a department like the EPA to restore and care for creation we corrupt it into an institution that serves corporate greed in the name of the gods of Profit and Comfort! Idolatry. Agencies tasked to protect the seas from underwater drilling turn their heads while we drill, baby, drill. Idolatry. We allow mining interests to blow off the tops of mountains, filling in valleys, destroying streams and rivers. Idolatry.

Prophets demand action – and then offer a new vision to lead us into an unknown and unknowable future with God, rather than the all too knowable future of our own making.

Idolatry and its twin, self-serving and self-deceiving Ideology, always want to absolutize some arrangement of power and knowledge, so that we may bow down to the work of our hands. We never seem to get past the Golden Calf! [Brueggemann, Texts That Linger, Words That Explode, p 38]

Prophetic speech and action always exposes, critiques and assaults every phony absolute, for all such absolutes of nation, race, party, consumption, corporate greed or sex will end in death.

Hosea critiqued the twin powers of the monarchy, idolatry, and rapacious destruction of the land. Jesus faced a similar situation – the Imperial Power of Rome which was in the process of setting the template for all such imperialistic empires to acquire more and more territories from which to extract resources to feed the endless appetites of those who manage and manipulate the political and social arenas – which in turn rapes the land. Hosea’s metaphor of whoredom and infidelity is more apt today than ever.

Jesus knows this – and so do his followers who are seeking an avenue by which to address the God of the Exodus/Passover – the God of deliverance, mercy, forgiveness. How shall we pray, they ask? It has been said by Anne Lamott that there really are only two prayers: Thank You, and Help Me! Jesus puts them together. One notes it does not closely resemble our liturgical Lord’s Prayer – that is, the tradition has managed to update, expand and change it as each unfolding era demands a new telling of it.

After acknowledging God as “hallowed,” a way of saying “thank you,” it moves on into what can only be described as rather impetuous and demanding “help me” language: give, forgive, lead and deliver us. Acknowledging we are incapable of giving, forgiving, leading and delivering ourselves. Do we get this when we pray? Jesus’ parable that follows is just as demanding, asserting that the life of prayer is grounded in asking, seeking and knocking until we can awaken God from slumber. It is a lesson in assertiveness training!

This, by the way, is how the story begins way back in Exodus – under devastating oppression in the empire of Egypt, the people wail and moan until God finally hears their cry and delivers them.

Blinded by a political and economic system that demands conspicuous consumption, grounded in covetousness – the perceived “need” for the newest, greatest, biggest innovation of the moment – we find ourselves all the way back in the landscape of Hosea – the empire has gone ideologically idolatrous, and creation is disappearing and falling apart at an alarming rate. Who shall advocate for the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and the very land itself? In Hosea, God plans to make a covenant with creation instead of us!

One wonders what sort of new “strategy” and prophetic voice might have a chance of waking us out of our obvious slumber – for it is now we who have been asleep, unable to see the ways in which we sow the signs of our own, and creation’s, destruction? Would that we could look at a plumb line, or look at a basket of fruit and be inspired to repent and re-vision what it means to live in this world of God’s making. Or, learn the lesson of Hosea.

Will a simple re-telling of the Hosea prophecy lead us to see that we are the whoring people? That we are the adulterous generation Hosea and Jesus speak of? That we have simply gone off the rails and are living about as far away from “your kingdom come” as a people can get? Can we see how we are meant to be wedded to creation in a marriage of nature and grace?

It is one thing to give thanks for the bounteous gifts we have been given – Thank you. Yes. But are we capable of crying out, “Help me!” with any sense that what we are really asking is for God to help us from ourselves?

Despite knowing that use of the Internet now eclipses all commercial air travel in use of energy resources, I still use the Internet to research portions of this sermon and feed my need to consume more products more efficiently. Despite knowing that air conditioning accounts for one-fifth of all of our nation’s energy consumption, it took me until two days ago to put our thermostat up two more degrees from 78 to 80.

We desperately want to pray to be forgiven, but do we sincerely pray to be lead and delivered from temptation and evil?

After thirteen chapters of what may be the most harsh condemnation in all of prophetic literature, in the final and fourteenth chapter we hear, “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord…I will heal their unfaithfulness, I will love them freely….I will be as dew to Israel; he shall blossom as a lily…” (14:1-2a, 4-5)

There is hope on the unknown horizon of the future – if only we will do as we pray and allow God to lead and deliver us. Even though God is weary of a people who have turned their backs on him and his creation, he stands ready to take us back. If only we will return. Amen.

Standards

2010-07-10T19:05:00.001-07:00

11 July 2010/Proper 10C - Psalm 82: 3-4 Luke 10:25-37

The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek, St. Peter's at Ellicott Mills

The Standards

The Reverend Robert Bonner was a mentor of mine - taught me much of what I know about Stewardship and Parish Ministry. He often told a story about his son Bruce. Bruce was a football player in Texas where they take football mighty seriously. In the off-season the coach required his players to be on the track team for conditioning. Bruce's high school was not all that big, and as they were handing out track team roles, they got to High Jump and Bruce was the one boy left - so High Jump it was! Now as a football player Bruce was not exactly built like a high jumper - long and lean - but was rather shorter and stout. Nevertheless, every night when Bob came home, there was Bruce in the backyard with a broom handle suspended between two jury-rigged poles. They call those poles "standards" - two standards hold the high jump bar. Bob would ask Bruce at dinner every night, "How high can you jump, son?" And Bruce would hold his hand just below his shoulders and say, "This high!"

Along came the day for the first track meet. Bruce was anxious about the high jump. Bob said, "Bruce, just do your best. That's all any of us can do." Off Bruce went. Bob had to do some work for the church that day and so could not attend the track meet. When he came home he asked," Bruce, how did the High Jump go today?"

"Well," said Bruce, "remember I told you I could jump this high?" pointing to just below his shoulders. "Yes," said this Father. "Well, today they started with the bar this high," he said, pointing just below his chin." "That's OK, son, all that matters is you tried your best....I am proud of you just the same." God is like that - sets the bar high and forgives us the difference.

A lawyer comes to Jesus and asks, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" That is, what are the standards - what does God expect from us? Jesus says, "There are two standards," just like the high jump. " You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." In fact those two standards are so basic to following Jesus that the Church used to begin the Eucharist every week with just those words of Jesus: you shall love God and love your neighbor. We call this The Great Commandment, the cornerstone of Great Command Christianity.

When asked, "And who is my neighbor?" and just what does this love look like? Jesus answers with a story. It is about a man who is mugged on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite, we are told, pass him by without offering any assistance. This suggests to me that whoever compiled Luke was not all that familiar with life in Israel since the priests are Levites, but that is for another day. As we all know, a Samaritan comes by and helps the man - thus the expression, Good Samaritan. Not only does he help the man, but provides money for extended care. For the lawyer, probably a Pharisee, to say the Samaritan was the only one who showed mercy is quite surprising - since Samaritans were considered unclean, unspiritual enemies of Israel because they refused to worship in Jerusalem with everyone else.

The point of the story, of course, is that the person you least likely expect to be your neighbor is your neighbor and you are meant to love them just the same as Aunt Sally and Grandpa Joe.

That is, Jesus sets the bar pretty high. Not at the height we are used to living at, but always just a little bit higher. This is where God's mercy, or forgiveness comes in. Later Jesus says, "I want you to be perfect just like God is perfect." Whoa, Nelly! That is setting the bar pretty high! But along with that comes a promise - for those who try to jump over the bar but miss, I will forgive them the difference, as long as they love God and love their neighbor - all neighbors, always and everywhere. I am proud of you just the same.

Back around 1993 my friend and mentor Bob developed a malignant brain tumor. It was a difficult time for Bob and his family. One Saturday as I was rattling about the parish office, the phone rang. I confess I don't always answer the phone on Saturday, but this time something within me said to answer that call. It was Bob. I was shocked. He said most days he could not really talk much, but on good days he liked to call his friends and was thinking of me. I was truly humbled. Then he said, "Do you want to hear the rest of the story about Bruce?" "Of course! I said.

Well, says Bob, Bruce is dyslexic, so he was in high school an extra year and was ineligible to play football, but come fall Bob saw Bruce going to practices every day. He asked him why? Bruce said, "Well, I know that if I don't do something with discipline I'm going to get myself in trouble, so I do it for myself. But also, I am bigger and stronger than most of the team, so I figure if I go out there and push them around it is better for the team as well."

I do it for myself, and I do it for the team. That is what the Big Command Christianity is all about: doing something that is good for yourself and good for the team - God's team that is.

Standards. They hold the bar high inviting us, challenging us, to do better than we think we can. Mercy. God in Christ stands ready to forgive us if only we will try our best to love God and love neighbor. Do it for yourself, and do it for the team. You will be glad you did.

Thank you Bob, and keep jumping Bruce, now a priest in the Episcopal Church. Amen.

Love the Lord with all your heart

With all your Soul

And all your mind

Love your neighbor as yourself

Every one

All of the time

Jump as high

As you can jump

Look as far

As you can see

Don't give up

And you will find

You are the person

God wants you to be

> Copyright Sounds Divine

What Are You Doing Here?

2010-06-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

20 June 2010/Proper 7C - 1Kings 19:1-15a * Luke 8:26-39

Often after all is said and done there are only questions. Only questions remain. As Elie Wiesel has often suggested, God loves questions - it is only we who are left unsettled. So we turn to stories like the ones before us this morning seeking answers to our questions, only to discover that God has other questions for us.

Like, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Despite God not being in earthquake, wind and fire, despite God's emerging from " a sound of sheer silence," we can imagine that when God asks this question it reverberates like rolling thunder across the plains of the mid-west, shaking every thing and every one in its path. Addressed to us it should at least make us shudder: "What are you doing here?" It appears that that is what God wants to know. What are we to say? What is our answer? What are we doing here? Or, for that matter, what are we doing anywhere? Anywhere at all?

All the times one might wish for an encounter, a verifiable experience of the Almighty, seem to vanish in a mist when once we are face to face with God and the questions are put directly to us. Unless we can answer as Elijah does, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts..." our answers will no doubt fall somewhat short of God's expectations. Or, if God does not have expectations, which is altogether possible after an eternity of trying to communicate with us, God must at least have hope - hope that perhaps this time we have something to say for ourselves.

Suddenly we identify with the "man of the city who had demons." When faced with God's questions for us we want to shout out, "What have you to do with me? I beg you, do not torment me!" After all, we all have demons of one sort or another. Sure, after generations of practice we manage to keep them locked up and out of sight deep down in some mysterious place inside of our selves - or so we want to believe until those unexpected moments when they just come flying out, striking out at whatever or whomever is in our way.

God, aka Jesus, however, refuses to be intimidated by even the worst of our demons and asks what strikes us as an easy question, but one that means to get to the very essence of our being, "What is your name?" Anyone who doesn't believe that these gospel stories have been carefully crafted and edited has no idea how loaded the man's answer really is. For when he says, "Legion," it means a whole lot more than the implied "for many demons had entered him." Legion is a word the people in the Roman Empire knew all too well - a Roman Legion was comprised of about 6,000 soldiers and an equal number of support troops. To any and all residents of the Roman Empire these legions represented an occupying force whose presence meant loss of control over every dimension of their own society and lives.

The Tenth Roman Legion, by the time Luke tells this tale, had utterly destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple - and isn't it curious that the symbol flying on the banners of the Tenth Legion was that of a Boar - a pig, a sign of being unclean, of being gentile, of being "other" - now the recipient body for the demons named legion that tumble headfirst into the sea and drowned. Sometimes Bible Study and Exegesis does pay off in a deeper understanding of these otherwise quaint and provincial stories.

One expects a cheer to go up from the crowd! The man is clothed and in his right mind. The Legion of demons are gone. Someone who has the power to challenge the forces of darkness and vanquish them is in the neighborhood. But no. The Pork Futures market has just collapsed. The man who was previously under some sort of control, ostracized from the rest, is now uncontrollably back in their midst. So all the people, not some of the people, or even a lot of the people, but all the people ask Jesus to leave. And without as much as a moment's hesitation, Jesus complies with their request.

Understandably the man, now healed, now made whole, asks to go with Jesus. Obviously he has not heard how the voyage over had almost capsized the boat and drowned the disciples like the pigs. He does not ask to go, we are told that he begs to go with them no matter how dangerous it might be to do so.

Our text has Jesus telling him to go home. The word there is oiko - household - from which we also get oikonomos - household management, or in English, Economy; and oikologia - study of the household/household relations, or in English Ecology. It turns out this story does have something to say about the economy and about ecology.

"Go home and tell others what God has done for you." And that is just what the man does. As Jesus and the disciples head back across the sea, the man tells the story of what God has done for him.

With any luck we are left to discover that vanquishing the Tenth Roman Legion, seeking righteous revenge, is not, at the end of the day, the lesson embedded in this tale. Nor does following Jesus mean fleeing where you now find yourself. To follow Jesus can mean to stay right where you are to tell the tale.

Leaving us, as always with God's questions for us. What has God done for you? Have you told anyone your story and God's story? Which is just one more way of God asking, What are you doing here? Believe it or not, God really wants to know, God hopes we have something new to say - for the future of the whole world depends on our answers to His questions. Amen.