Christian formation doesn’t happen without you.
O God be in my mouth as I speak for you and fill this
place with your great grace that we may leave this place less of what we use to
be and more of what we ought to be, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and savior.
Amen
And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “there
will be scorching heat and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to
interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to
interpret the present time.
When it comes to handling Bishops in the Episcopal Church
I have three important rules. First as rector you need to remember when they
are coming to your church for their annual visitation each year. Second, you
should never make fun of their pointy hats (they are by the way called mitres).
And the third, and most important rule of all, is to never, ever make your
bishop feel old.
I learned this valuable lesson a few years ago, when I
took a young college student to meet my former bishop in southwest Florida.
This was his pre-ordination interview and an opportunity
for the bishop to get to know Stephen before sending him off to seminary.
As the hour passed, I thought things were going reasonably
well……
Stephen was making a good first impression….
the bishop was smiling (always a good sign)….
In fact all the signs pointed to a successful first
interview for Stephen…
However our first pothole appeared on the road, when the
conversation turned to a discussion of seminaries….
The bishop was waxing poetically about his days at
Sewanee, the beauty of the place, the professors they had, (back in the day),
and what a wonderful experience he had up on the mountain.
Of course, I know that some folks think Sewanee is a bit
too isolated….but the bishop assured Stephen that it was not….
In fact to demonstrate how “hip” Sewanne was, the bishop
told him that each Monday morning the theology professor would come into class
and give the students a quiz on what Archie Bunker had said the night before….
At this point in the interview there was a moment of
silence……Stephen looked at the bishop…looked at me…and innocently said, “Who is
Archie Bunker?”
At that moment the Titanic struck the ice berg and I
decided it was time to wind up that interview….before something else happened….
As I said before, Rule number 3, never make your
bishop feel too old.
Of course, it works both ways, the bishop should have
realized that someone born in 1979 was not up on mid-seventies television…ALL
IN THE FAMILY, MASH and my personal favorite THE JEFFERSONS.
But so often in life, we fail to read the signs around us,
or get so caught up in our own experience that we lack the ability to see what
should be obvious.
This is I suspect what is going on in this morning’s
gospel. Jesus like the prophets that came before him, can read all the signs. He
knows what is going on, he realizes that people have replaced faithfulness to
God with religious ritual, acts of mercy are being measured out in teaspoons,
and the religion of Israel is devoid of any passion and excitement.
Jesus sees hypocrisy all around him, he knows the
prophetic history of his nation, he knows that God’s judgment has fallen on
Israel in the past when it has lost its way, and this will happen again, if the
people do not repent. Jesus sees that the interview is going badly and he
doesn’t understand why folks fail to see the signs all around them.
In his frustration, Jesus lashes out. He reminds his
listeners that like the prophets of old, he is a bringing a fire to the earth…he
is not the prince of peace…but the prince of division….he has come to set
people against each other in their own households…..
He is on fire for God’s word and he does not mind turning
up the heat as a way of inspiring his people.
Jesus sees people around him that lack passion in their
lives. And his message to those who first heard his voice and for those of us
who hear these words today is the same.
Wake UP and see the signs around you! See a
world that is in pain, see people that are suffering, see people that hunger
for the good news of God’s salvation.
As we approach the upcoming church year, I can relate to
how Jesus feels.
We have a wonderful staff, a great program, new education
classes, a sense of excitement, but not much happens at a church unless you are
all here. In fact, your presence each week, your response to what is offered is
a key to how God begins to go to work in each of our lives.
As members of this church, we are called through our
baptism to live a life of continuing growth and to strive for spiritual
maturity.
Each of us has been called to St. Martin’s for a reason.
As church members today we are bolstered by that wonderful cloud of witnesses
that has gone before us. Each of us are here….waiting expectantly for something
to happen….
But in a society that increasingly trains people to be
entertained, it is easy to forget that a lot of what we gain from our
experience in church depends on us….depends on the depth of our commitment to
Christ.
This is why I often remind folks that part of reading the
signs of God presence in the world is the ability we have to hear that voice
and respond.
Jesus’ contemporaries wanted cheap entertainment. They
wanted faith to be something that was easy to market, easy to digest, and easy
to sell.
They did not count on the level of commitment that Christ
expected. Pick up your cross he told them… You must be willing to lose your
life for my sake….what shall it profit a person to gain the world but lose his
or her soul…..
People did not really hear what Jesus was saying because
they thought the interview was going so well.
For us, though it is not a matter of knowing who Archie
Bunker is.
No my friends, instead in this place and at this time, we
are given the opportunity to listen to God’s voice, to see the signs that
surround us, and to respond to God’s call in our lives.
This is a call that hopefully none of us is ever too old
to hear.
Let us commit ourselves this year to be lead by Christ,
and to lead others to know him, to love him and to serve him. Amen