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April 30, 2006
Bill Schooler - April 30, 2006
Trinity Parish 4-30-06
3 Easter Acts 4:5-12
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved”
For most of my life, I have not had any trouble with the theology expressed in those words. Lately, however, because of my work as a hospital chaplain they have caused me increasing difficulty. How do those words strike you? Are you having any difficulty with Jesus being the only path to God?
In the VA Hospital System there are 39 known, recognized, and claimed religions by the patients we serve. Not all of them are Christian. At least 8 of them are decidedly non-Christian. The other 31 see God and Christ in very different ways.
The fact that we claim there is salvation in no one else but Jesus has become offensive in today’s cultural pluralism that commends diversity and variety. The challenge to us Christians today is “to interpret the exclusivity of this way to divine blessing in (a language) that is relevant to all people no matter what else might characterize them as individuals.” The religion of our childhood might no longer serve us well in our adulthood. We might want to take a new look at our relationship with God and where we are today instead of where we were.
As a hospital chaplain I minister to all patients and staff, regardless of their religious zip code. To do that requires me to be very clear about where I stand in my own faith.
Today’s reading from Acts is referring to a previous healing of a crippled beggar—or as we would say today, a handicapped person. Peter refers to “…how this man has been healed…” At the end of the reading, Peter uses the word, “saved.” The Greek word that Peter uses in both instances is, “Sozo,” which means both “healed” and “saved.” Throughout the book of Acts, this word, “sozo,” has the double sense of, “to heal” and “to save.” Knowing this has helped my struggle with the exclusivity issue.
If nothing else, I have learned in hospital ministry that there are many pathways to God. A hospital is a place of healing, not merely a place where a person is restored to health. Healing occurs on the spiritual level as well as the physical level. Both are necessary to the wholeness and well being of a person. A hospital has to treat the “whole” person. In our VA hospital we get many patients who suffer from grievous spiritual injury as well as physical injury. Both have to be attended to.
If I am called to the bedside of a dying American Indian patient, or to minister to a patient severely wounded in combat in Iraq who is Jewish, or has no preference of religion at all, or who might claim to be agnostic, I must minister to them, just as Jesus did. Jesus was not exclusive. He was extremely inclusive; so much so that it got him in trouble with the religious authorities. At these times I must honor the fact that there are many pathways to God. At these times, remembering that “saved” also means “healed” helps keep me focused on the spiritual injury in front of me. At these times I must do all I can to strengthen that person’s relationship with God.
Bishop Swing had a vision for all faith groups which resulted in the United Religions Initiative. He felt strongly, and rightly I believe, that our world’s problems would never be solved by governments and politics alone. Until the world’s religions began to talk to one another at the same table, nothing would ever get better. What do you think?
Someone described the world’s religions as the spokes of a wheel. At the outer edge of the rim they are far apart. As they approach the hub, the core, the center, they come closer together until they touch each other as they attach to the hub. Each spoke gives strength to the wheel.
The current struggle over immigration policy in our country strikes me as a clash between our national identity and multiculturalism. It is the same, to me, in our frequent appeals to patriotism, which I believe is really an appeal for nationalism. Real patriotism is dialogue. Nationalism is monologue—my way or the highway.
These struggles manifest themselves in religion as well. For example, there are those who identify themselves as Christians and believe Jesus is the only path to God. Perhaps they are right. On the other hand, Jesus has to be in their image as they see him for true salvation to work. It seems they have taken Jesus out of the path and substituted their Jesus in his place. They have the answer. Their view is the only view. Scripture is as they say it is. Using this approach makes it very difficult to reconcile 39 different religions where I serve.
I must confess that I am a Christian. My relationship with God has been formed and shaped by my knowledge of Jesus Christ as the Episcopal Church has taught me since I was a child. Jesus’ teachings and the life he led teach me about the nature of God. It is through Jesus Christ that I know that God loves us and how God loves us and how God expects us to love God in return and to love each other. “No other name in heaven is given by which we must be saved” [=healed]. It is in the healing that I see the face of Christ.
God works in mysterious ways. God also heals and saves in mysterious ways, ways that may not be our ways. Paul teaches that we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. The Episcopal Church can be a hard place to do that for some people, because the Church won’t come right out and tell you what to do about everything. You must think for yourself. Of course the Church has doctrine and theology along with its own set of rules and regulations. We differ in a number of respects from our fundamentalist brothers and sisters. For example, fundamentalists believe that the Bible is the literal Word of God. Intellectually, academically, and theologically we cannot accept that. We believe the Bible contains the Word of God and each generation must search out and interpret its meaning. God is a living God, not a dead God. This puts us at odds with others who say that their view of scripture is the correct and only one, and this is all done in their Jesus’ name.
Where do you think you stand in all of this? Have your views of religion, church, Jesus, God changed over the years? If so, how have they changed? Have you become closer to God or separated farther than before? What do you need right now to feel the presence of God in your life? Which is more important to you—religion or your relationship with God? Is there a difference?
Today’s Collect prays that Jesus made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of the bread. It further prays to God to open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work. Jesus did not hide himself from us. On the contrary, he made himself clearly known to us, so much so that the disciples deserted him when things got rough.
Jesus brings his transparency to all of us.
“God is light and in God there is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.” Here is the inclusiveness of Jesus. Light does not discriminate. It shines on all that it touches. It hides from no one. It excludes no one. Here is the healing power of Jesus, to love all persons, regardless of their religious zip code.
“We’ll walk in the light, beautiful light,
Come where the dewdrops of mercy are bright,
Shine all around us through day and through night,
Jesus, the light of the world.”
April 16, 2006
Anne Jensen - Easter Morning, 2006
Easter Year B 2006 Acts 10:34-43 Mark 16:1-8
Welcome! Part of the good news this morning is that you are here! People come to church on Easter for many reasons. Perhaps you are here with friends; perhaps you are new in town and haven’t found a church yet; perhaps this is a difficult time in your life and you yearn for some word of comfort. Perhaps you came to hear glorious music and have your spirits lifted. And maybe you came because you come every Sunday! Whatever brought you here, I’m glad to see you. We welcome you with joyful music and the best story ever told. Christ is alive! The church is filled with the fragrance of spring flowers, signs of new life which the gospel proclaims. We come with hope and expectation that we will meet the risen Christ and be filled with joy. We’re all dressed up and we have some place to go! The place is here…and Jesus Christ is here. How do we meet him?
We meet him in the words of Peter in today’s lesson from Acts. You remember Peter...he denied knowing Jesus three times that awful night after Jesus was arrested. What changed him from a frightened liar to a great preacher? Two things: the Resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter was witness to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. As fascinated as he was by Jesus, he didn’t get what God was doing until after the resurrection. Jesus didn’t come just to a small group of people in the Eastern Mediterranean as a moral teacher, although he surely was that. Jesus. Jesus came for all people. “God shows no partiality…” Peter’s message about Jesus is for everyone. Jesus was anointed by God; he healed the sick and relieved the oppressed. He was crucified, “but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and rank with him after he rose from the dead.” From his own experience he has confidence to say, “...everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
In fact Peter himself is evidence. He’s an example of Jesus’ transformative power. Peter has been forgiven for his outbursts and even more for his denial of Jesus. He personally knows the power of being forgiven….and the gift of the Holy Spirit. That, my friends, is an unbeatable combination! And it is a combination open to everyone of us. How that happens exactly is as big a mystery as the resurrection itself is.
What happened? Maybe w should call today’s story the Case of the Empty Tomb or Rendezvous in Galilee. Then we would know we were dealing with a mystery. The problem with a mystery is that we want to solve the puzzle, and this mystery remains just that. Mark’s gospel narrative invites us into the mystery. The setting has its own kind of romance…the women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, came to the tomb just after sunrise, carrying spices. They are practical women, and they are caring women. They want to give Jesus, even in death, what they can…a proper burial. They are worried about how to enter the tomb. “Who will roll away the stone?”
The stone is already rolled back! The women enter cautiously. A young man dressed in a white robe is sitting on the right side, and they are alarmed. The young man says what all messengers from God say, “Do not be afraid.” “Do not be alarmed.” Of course they are alarmed! “…you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He as been raised; he is not here. Look. There is the place they laid him.” There is the heart of the mystery: the empty tomb. “He has been raised.” Go, tell the disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is God’s action! Violence, sin and death do not have the last word. God has acted even when human beings have done their worst.
The women saw the empty tomb. Surely one of the great ironies in Mark’s gospel is that after all the times Jesus tells those who have experienced his healing power, “Tell no one,” the angel says to the women, “Go tell!” They are so frightened that they run from the tomb, too frightened and too amazed to speak. They are dumbfounded. How long before they find their voices and tell the disciples? I don’t know, but we know they did tell others.
Peter testifies to the resurrection because he sees the risen Lord; the resurrection changes everything—or from another perspective, makes everything clear. It solves a lot of other mysterious prophecies, but the resurrection is God’s mystery.
Peter the preacher is a man fully alive. He is an Easter person. The apostles became Easter people, people who even if they didn’t see the empty tomb experienced the presence of the living Christ. And that made them feel alive. Irenaeus, one of the early church fathers, wrote, “The glory of God is the human persona fully alive.”
How would the people around us know that we are Easter people? What is the sign of our being a witness to the resurrection? It is this characteristic of being fully alive—of being people alive in our faith in a way that gives us energy for enjoying and appreciating the gifts of creation—of being people alive in our faith so that we live with awareness of the conditions of others and live lives of compassion. There was a son that floated around the church in the late sixties and early seventies that had a refrain “They will know we are Christians by our love.” Love in this case is not cheap sentiment, but love that compels us to action for the sake of others. Easter People are alive in their faith because they have been forgiven and made whole; they are alive in their faith because they have seen the mystery of the resurrection and know that with God anything is possible. Easter people have hope, and it all comes back to the resurrection. God can do what we cannot.
The best example of an Easter person I can think of is Bishop Desmond Tutu. He’s 75 years old now and has had a bout with cancer, but he’s still full of life. He’s alive in his prayer. He does Morning and Evening Prayer no matter where he is! He is fervent in his prayer. He can be tough too. At the time when the apartheid laws were at their worst and he was under death threats, he said he did not worry whether he would be killed, because if he were, God would raise up someone else to finish the work. He spoke on behalf of people who had no voice, calling for equality and inclusion at his own peril.
He’s alive in his work of reconciliation, which he still does. After the laws of South Africa were changed, he headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which undoubtedly kept South Africa from civil war. During the hearings he would break down and weep at the stories people told. He is a man of great compassion.
And he is a man of great joy. He is filled with joy…he laughs, his smile is a mile wide, and he dances. He embraces a vision of inclusiveness that has room for everyone. All these characteristics are signs of what it means to live as a witness to the power of the resurrection.
We can’t all be Desmond Tutu, but we can recognize within ourselves and in others the aliveness that reveals the love of God and celebrate it. Howard Thurman, a powerful spiritual writer of the mid twentieth century, wrote, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” We can live as Easter people, witnesses to the resurrection. It is a joyful and loving way to live, and it has a ripple effect. God’s love is contagious!
Christ is alive and brings light to our lives. The tomb cannot contain him, no can we. Finally the Living Christ is also the Good Shepherd. The staff he carries is not to punish the flock, but to bring them back to him. Come to the Resurrection Celebration! Come, eat and drink new life!
May the joy and power of the resurrection live in you and through you.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
And your line is: “The Lord is risen, indeed!”
April 02, 2006
Anne Jensen - Lent 5
Lent 5 Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ps. 51:11-16, Hebrews 5:1-10, John 12:20-33
Trinity Parish - April 2, 2006
“The days are surely coming,” says the Lord, “When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts…No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord.;… “ I will forgive their iniquity , and remember their sin no more.”
The people of Israel had not been faithful to their God. Jeremiah makes the comparison to marriage. The Lord was the husband and Israel the unfaithful wife. It is Israel who has broken the covenant, not God. God promises a new covenant, not one carved in stone or written on parchment, but one that is written on the heart, a covenant that abides within each person.
This is huge! God is creating the circumstance to start over! What God envisions is a covenant in which the people truly wish to love and obey God from within, not because the law says so. Love of God cannot be legislated. It must come freely from within. Love and obey…we think of love as a matter of the heart, an inclination that grows into desire, and so it is, ..... but we balk at obey. What? We give control over to someone else? That’s hard—it goes against all that our culture says; it goes against our ego needs. But wait a minute; think of your spouse or your best friend, someone you love dearly. Then imagine 0that your beloved friend expresses a desire or gives you some good advice or even chastises you for your own good or the good of your relationship or some other relationship. You listen and you hear what he or she says.
My own allergy to the word obey improved immensely when I learned that the word obedience comes from the Latin word that means to hear. When we hear the words of the beloved, our response is to act accordingly out of love, or at least negotiate to a place of mutual understanding. Out of love, you work to stay in relationship. Hearing and doing. What we do reflects our love.
Doug and I have an ongoing conversation about what is in the marriage contract or covenant. For example, when I make a request about some chore that he doesn’t want to do, I might point out that it is in the marriage contract. But it also works in reverse. For example, if I have the 5 PM Eucharist and need to go set up, even if he has been sleeping or reading, he gets up and comes with me. I have often said, “Oh you don’t have to come.” And his response is, “Yes, I do. It’s in the contract.” Our actions reflect whom and what we love. Out of love, God is working to stay in relationship with us.
Obedience to God is love of God in action. Out of love, we listen and we act according to God’s desires as much as we are able. The law provides ways to help show that love. God knows we can’t do it all. That’s why God reaches out to us through forgiveness. Jesus taught us to forgive one another as God forgives us. This is central to the new covenant that is written on our hearts. The new covenant is based on grace and forgiveness. Grace is God’s answer to human sin.
As we explored forgiveness last week we acknowledged that usually it is not easy to forgive. When forgiveness is easy, we just do it, and move on. We get stuck on the forgiveness that is hard, when we have been deeply hurt or when we bear the guilt for what we have done or failed to do. Lent is a time to reflect on our own need of forgiveness and our need to forgive others.
This morning we heard the choir sing a portion of Psalm 51, a beautiful prayer of confession. Can we with the psalmist pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me?” In verse three the psalmist says, “For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.” Most of us consider ourselves pretty good people, not overly sinful, and that’s probably true. Yet we all experience sin. Karl Barth quipped, “Of all the doctrines of the Christian faith, sin is the easiest to prove.” The evidence is all around! No matter who we are, we all get soiled and have to take a bath. I find that it is so much easier and such a relief to acknowledge my sin, my ego, my failures, and my foibles, and to receive God’s forgiveness, than it is to remain in the fiction that I am always good.
The psalmist knows that God has the power to reverse his situation—to change him. Not only can God wash away the sin and guilt, God can restore the relationship. He writes, “Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.”
Joy is the fruit of asking God’s forgiveness. The fruit of forgiving ourselves and others is a restored relationship with God, our neighbors, and ourselves. I believe any time we are estranged from one part of that combination, we are estranged from the other two, as well. For example, if we are separated from God, our relationship with our neighbors will be strained and we will not be our true selves.
God has done for us in Jesus what was promised in Jeremiah. Through Jesus we find forgiveness of our failures. Jesus told us the story of the Prodigal Son so that we would understand the magnitude of God’s gracious forgiveness, which makes a new relationship possible. The father in that story did not exact a confession; it was the son who wished to confess. His moment of truth came when he was in the field with the pigs and realized they were better cared for than he was. He returned home willing to be a servant to his father. Are we like that son who realizes that the father offers a better kind of life? Are we willing to return as a servant? Are we ready to be greeted with joy?
Jesus, as we heard in the lesson from Hebrews, is our great high priest. One of the roles of the priest was to identify with the people before God. Jesus as our priest is our mediator and advocate. Through him we find the power to receive in our hearts the new covenant. Through him we have a way back to God. With our new covenant, and a renewed spirit we will have hearts that are growing every day, hungering to know, love and serve God.
As part of our service this morning, we have a rite of reconciliation. Forgiveness is an ongoing part of Christian life. One of my favorite parts of the prayer book is the question in the baptismal service, “Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?” Note the word “whenever” not “if”. I find it reassuring that there’s no expectation on the part of the church that we will live sinless lives, and that forgiveness is always a pathway that is open to us.
There are papers and pencils in the pews. This is your invitation to write down what you want God to forgive. What sin do you want washed away? What fear or resentment do you want to unload? Where do you seek reconciliation in your life? Don’t try to write the full story; just use a word or phase. You and God will know the fullness of your heart and mind. If you cannot offer full forgiveness right now, offer what you can. Make a first step or a next step. Let die that part of your ego that keeps you from being your best, most loving self.
After a period of silence for writing, the ushers will collect the papers (folded over) and bring them forward. They will go into a bag, and then on Easter Eve they will be burned in the new fire of Easter. No one will read them.
This morning hear the words of absolution as if they were spoken only for you. Imagine Jesus laying a hand on your head and saying, “you are forgiven; your faith has made you whole.”
