Readings for Nov. 4, 2007

Collect
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,

and you will not listen?

Or cry to you "Violence!"

and you will not save?

Why do you make me see wrong-doing

and look at trouble?

Destruction and violence are before me;

strife and contention arise.

So the law becomes slack

and justice never prevails.

The wicked surround the righteous--

therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

I will stand at my watchpost,

and station myself on the rampart;

I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,

and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

Then the LORD answered me and said:

Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so that a runner may read it.

For there is still a vision for the appointed time;

it speaks of the end, and does not lie.

If it seems to tarry, wait for it;

it will surely come, it will not delay.

Look at the proud!

Their spirit is not right in them,

but the righteous live by their faith

Psalm 119:137-144

Justus es, Domine

137

You are righteous, O LORD, *
and upright are your judgments.

138

You have issued your decrees *
with justice and in perfect faithfulness.

139

My indignation has consumed me, *
because my enemies forget your words.

140

Your word has been tested to the uttermost, *
and your servant holds it dear.

141

I am small and of little account, *
yet I do not forget your commandments.

142

Your justice is an everlasting justice *
and your law is the truth.

143

Trouble and distress have come upon me, *
yet your commandments are my delight.

144

The righteousness of your decrees is everlasting; *
grant me understanding, that I may live.

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.

To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."

Ben's Sermon from October 28th

I don’t know about you, but about this stage of the semester I am in need of a break. About now, I feel a bit like St Paul when he says: “I am already being poured out as a libation, and my time of departure has come. I have fought the good fight.” Although I haven’t quite finished the race, which is the next line in St Paul’s letter to Timothy, I don’t think there is anything wrong with having a pit stop half way through the race to recover. A week would do it, I reckon.

But compare getting away from it all for a week with getting away from it all for an entire lifetime. As we reach the mid point of this hectic semester, I want to share with you the words of a monk who lives in the Egyptian desert. See what you think; but I warn you, these words might seem totally bizarre to your ears. You might well ask yourselves, what do I have in common with such a monk? Listen to the wisdom he shows, though, telling us a truth that Jesus told in the Gospel: “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

“All you need” to live, the monk said, “is a piece of bread, and enough covering for the body. The less you have, the less you have to distract you from God. Do you understand?” There’s no way I can fully understand, but let’s listen on! The monk continued, “just look around this room. When I am here I think that the chair is in the wrong place, I must move it. Or maybe that the lamp is out of oil, I must fill it... But in the desert there is just sand. You don’t think of anything else; there is nothing to disturb you. It should be the same in a monk’s cell. The less there is the easier it is to talk to God.”

The less there is the easier it is to talk to God. This is a monk who worries about having one chair in his cell, because of the distractions it will cause. This is a monk who prefers the darkness and solitude of the desert to the dilemmas of whether or not to put oil in his lamp. He lives a life of utter simplicity, and still he is concerned that he might not be making enough room in his life for God. Wow!

We live in a world filled with stuff. From the moment I get up in the morning, I am thinking of the stuff I have to do, of which order to do it in, worrying whether I’ll get it all done. And that’s when I am not thinking about the stuff I have: wondering where the chairs in my office look best, and that’s chairs in the plural! In Evelyn Waugh’s novel, ‘A Handful of Dust,’ the main character spends the time when the minister is preaching thinking what color to paint his bathroom. I hope you aren’t doing the same right now!

Our lives are busy, but we can’t help making them busier. We think about things that don’t really matter. I doubt any of you feels good about being too busy. I doubt any of you would be like the Pharisee in Jesus’s story who was pleased with all he did, so that he prayed to God: “I thank you that I am not like other people.” But the message of the story is that, even as he prayed this, he wasn’t really thinking about God but about himself. He was filling his head with his good deeds and not with God. He has missed the point of being religious. It’s not about what you do, or what you have, it’s about who you are. And who you are without God is nothing.

“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be exalted,” says Jesus, speaking right to the heart of the problem that many of us face. Jesus is calling us to be aware that the stuff of our lives, our studies, our grades, our possessions, even being good, does not make us who we are; I am not constituted by what I do or buy; I am not what I eat.

Instead of our work or our possessions defining us, who I am as a person, who you are as a person, who we are together here in Church, is given to us by God. God gives us our life. Put negatively, the truth is without God we have nothing, we are nothing. Put positively, if we have God, we actually have everything we could ever want. Our Egyptian monk had learned this. You who are here today, worrying about midterms or you grades or how to fit that other activity in, might need to relearn it. Ask yourselves, “Who am I?” Am I closer to my true self when I am away from it all, or when I am in the busy-ness of life?

Today, I want you to be clear that I am not asking you to live simpler lives; after all, I shouldn’t preach what I can’t practice myself. So I am not asking you to give up what you do or what is important to you.

So that’s what I am not saying. What I am asking is that you remember who you most truly are – a child of God. Without God you are nothing. So be humble about yourself; be willing to fail; be willing to stand before God and your friends and say, “I am not quite as perfect as I seem.” Because, in being humble, you’ll find within you the God who’s given you everything you have. It is God who has given you the ability to be who you are, even if you are upset with God that you don’t have more. It is God who, when you are humble, will be exalted, because then God can truly work in you.

Readings for Oct. 28, 2007

The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Joel 2:23-32

O children of Zion, be glad

and rejoice in the LORD your God;

for he has given the early rain for your vindication,

he has poured down for you abundant rain,

the early and the later rain, as before.

The threshing floors shall be full of grain,

the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

I will repay you for the years

that the swarming locust has eaten,

the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,

my great army, which I sent against you.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,

and praise the name of the LORD your God,

who has dealt wondrously with you.

And my people shall never again be put to shame.

You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,

and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other.

And my people shall never again

be put to shame.

Then afterward

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men shall see visions.

Even on the male and female slaves,

in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

Psalm 65 Page 672 or 673, BCP

Te decet hymnus

1

You are to be praised, O God, in Zion; *
to you shall vows be performed in Jerusalem.

2

To you that hear prayer shall all flesh come, *
because of their transgressions.

3

Our sins are stronger than we are, *
but you will blot them out.

4

Happy are they whom you choose
and draw to your courts to dwell there! *
they will be satisfied by the beauty of your house,
by the holiness of your temple.

5

Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness,
O God of our salvation, *
O Hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the seas that are far away.

6

You make fast the mountains by your power; *
they are girded about with might.

7

You still the roaring of the seas, *
the roaring of their waves,
and the clamor of the peoples.

8

Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your marvelous signs; *
you make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.

9

You visit the earth and water it abundantly;
you make it very plenteous; *
the river of God is full of water.

10

You prepare the grain, *
for so you provide for the earth.

11

You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges; *
with heavy rain you soften the ground and bless its increase.

12

You crown the year with your goodness, *
and your paths overflow with plenty.

13

May the fields of the wilderness be rich for grazing, *
and the hills be clothed with joy.

14

May the meadows cover themselves with flocks,
and the valleys cloak themselves with grain; *
let them shout for joy and sing.

2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18

I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Matt's Sermon from Oct. 21, 2007

The Bible holds a divisive place in Christian history. The understanding of its place in worship, in daily life, its authority and factual content, have changed constantly throughout the life of the church. Are we even sure of the position that the sacred writings are intended to hold? (pause)

Today’s reading from the second letter to Timothy helps us to understand what exactly we are to do with scripture. The author speaks of the “sacred writings” which Timothy has known since childhood. These sacred writings are the writings that make up the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, which is the only Bible available at this point.

These sacred writings of the Hebrew scripture are able to instruct us for salvation. Exactly how they are able to make us wise is given in the next sentence. They are useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. They are useful for teaching in the general sense of education, history, education, ethics, morality, but also for teaching about relationship with God. They are useful for reproof and corrections, terms which are specifically situated in the context of this letter, where the author firmly encourages Timothy to fight against those who are teaching unsound doctrine in the early church. And scripture is also useful for training in righteousness, that is, it is useful for learning about the right actions and deeds we can do in relation to others.

The key word in this text that establishes the authority of scripture (pause) is “useful.” This is the Greek word ophelimos, which means, among other things, useful, beneficial, serviceable, or profitable. It never possesses the connotation of necessary or required or essential, but rather takes the position as something that can be of good service to us. Scripture is useful.

This is certainly not the perspective on scripture that we are used to in this age. But it is important to remember the setting in which the author is writing. The authorship of this letter is debated, but it is written probably sometime in the first or second century. In this period, access to scripture is nowhere near what it is today. Local synagogues would have had some, rarely all, of the books of the Hebrew Bible. Only the richest of individuals would have a personal copy. And most credible estimates of literacy peak at about 15% of the population. The author is certainly aware of the scant availability of the texts, the general lack of literacy among people in this period, and the difficulty of accessing, reading, and interpreting these texts, even for those who are literate. For him to say that scripture is anything more than an aid to a life of faith, to say that the reading and internalizing of scripture is necessary for salvation, would be to condemn a majority of the church in his time.

But now, since the reformation, with the invention of the printing press and the advent of public schools in the western world, a majority of people are literate and have access to the text. And with this change has come a change in the authority of scripture and the understanding of its significance. Now, when seeking to verify the authority of scripture, scripture is cited, and it all focuses on a single phrase, the verse from our reading today: “All scripture is inspired by God.” It appears clear, but when we take a closer look at the text, some questions may arise.

First, the phrase translated as “inspired by God” is actually a single Greek word, theopneustos, which, literally translated means God-breathed. Unfortunately, the word is so rarely used in the corpus of Greek literature that saying what it definitively means is impossible. “Inspired by God” is, I suppose, one possible understanding, but it is limited because of our preconceived notions of what inspiration means.

I prefer the phrase God-breathed, as there is a precedent for understanding what it means to be breathed on or into by God.

In the second of the two creation stories, we have this passage, “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust, and breathed into his nostrils.” And in the Gospel of John, Jesus breathes on his disciples and says “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Look, (pause) we, too, are God breathed. We have the breath of God in our lungs, we have received the Holy Spirit from the breath of Christ. As the book of Ecclesiastes notes, “All have the same breath.” But notice (pause) that despite being God-breathed, we are not infallible or inerrant or even right most of the time. Notice that Adam, after being inspired, in the original sense, by God, after being God-breathed to life and thus to action and to activity, promptly does the wrong thing.

So what does this make Adam? Does the fact that Adam is inspired but imperfect render him useless? No, Adam is useful. Adam’s story is useful. Adam’s story is an allegory for humanity, explaining aspects of the human condition and our human responsibility to the world around us. Thus, the story of Adam is “useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work,” exactly what this letter tells us today. The Bible, just like the people who are in it and their stories, just like all people throughout history, just like us, has been given life through the breath of God. But just like us, it should not be worshiped; if we hold it too dearly, we are committing idolatry. We are pushing God to the side, to the background, and acting as if the Living God has already finished speaking. The Bible is not God, and it does not hold the authority that is God’s alone. So read the Bible, and use it to learn and to grow in relationship with God, but never hold the Bible so close that you drown out the active voice of God speaking to us through ourselves and all the people of the world.

Readings for Sunday Oct 21, 2007

Jeremiah 31:27-34

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD. In those days they shall no longer say:

"The parents have eaten sour grapes,

and the children's teeth are set on edge."

But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

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. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 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; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Psalm 119:97-104

Quomodo dilexi!

97

Oh, how I love your law! *
all the day long it is in my mind.

98

Your commandment has made me wiser than my enemies, *
and it is always with me.

99

I have more understanding than all my teachers, *
for your decrees are my study.

100

I am wiser than the elders, *
because I observe your commandments.

101

I restrain my feet from every evil way, *
that I may keep your word.

102

I do not shrink from your judgments, *
because you yourself have taught me.

103

How sweet are your words to my taste! *
they are sweeter than honey to my mouth.

104

Through your commandments I gain understanding; *
therefore I hate every lying way.

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

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 through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Ben's Sermon from last Sunday

Sermon preached on Sunday, October 13, 2007

Some of you might have heard the rumours around town. Some of the students at the Episcopal Chaplaincy have seen me. Once a week, my Catholic friend who teaches theology and I go to the gym and lift weights for Jesus.

So even the Chaplain has fallen prey to the obsession with the body beautiful. If my friend and I try to explain in theological terms what our trips to the gym are all about, we say we’re making a sacrifice – a sacrifice of time and effort, not to mention money, to stay fitter and healthier. Sacrifice is about giving something up, so as to attain a higher reward. Sacrifice means giving up time, making extra effort, giving money. So at the gym I am making a sacrifice. No pain, no gain, right?

Who says that no-one makes any sacrifices these days? And I don’t just mean those brave souls sacrificing their lives as soldiers or fire-fighters. Going to the gym is one type of sacrifice that most of you probably do. In fact, we make great displays of this particular sacrifice. Hemenway Gym has large windows looking out, I guess so the people on the treadmills or exercise bikes have something to look at – but also so as to show off their hard work to those outside the glass. This is a public display of the sacrifices we make of our time, our effort, and our money, for the benefit of the body.

But if we are willing to do this for the sake of our physical health, why are we so reluctant to make sacrifices for our spiritual health? “No pain, no gain,” is just as good a slogan for our spiritual life, surely? We have to give things up, to make sacrifices, for the benefit of our spirit.

True, our spiritual health is not so easy to display. Most Episcopalians could think of nothing worse than saying our prayers in front of a big window overlooking Harvard Yard! But in today’s readings we heard that our spirits are just as important as our bodies.

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the leper who’s come to thank him for healing this horrible skin disease, “your faith has made you well.” Faith – in other words, the life of the spirit, his life with God – has made him well. Think about it. Most of us, when we are sick, just want our bodies to get better and don’t give a second thought about how miserable our spirits are. Most of us, when we go to the gym, don’t give a second thought about our spirits – even though often our spirits are often raised by doing it. But this leper’s spiritual wellbeing was just as important to Jesus as his physical health. When people are sick we say that their spirits are low for a reason, because our bodies and spirits are so interconnected. Think how debilitating leprosy must be to your spirit. So when the leper returns to say thank you – when he shows Jesus gratitude for what he’s been given – then Jesus knows that his spirit has been restored just as much as his body.

Ten lepers were healed by Jesus, of course, but only one of them realized what this gift really meant. Only one of the lepers realized that he had been given new life, new spiritual as well as physical life. “Jesus, Master,” all ten of the lepers cry, “have mercy on us.” And Jesus does have mercy: he sends them off to see a priest, and they are healed of their leprosy in a way they could never have dreamed possible. Jesus gives them a gift, the gift of physical health, but he also offers them the gift of spiritual health. How many of us forget that we’ve received not just gifts of health and of intellect, but also spiritual gifts? How quickly nine of the lepers forget the gift they’re given; and how many of us do likewise?

Our example here is the leper who came and gave thanks to Jesus – a Samaritan leper, an outcast two times over, by virtue of being a leper among an outcast people. Of the ten who were healed, you might have thought he was the one who’d give thanks the least to a Jewish rabbi like Jesus. This leper gave twice, in fact: once by giving money to the priest, according to the law of Moses, and once by giving thanks to Jesus. The double outcast gives a gift two times over. The Samaritan leper realizes not just that his physical condition has been healed, but that he has received new life in Jesus, the life of the spirit, the life of faith. He embodies what St Paul tells us in his second letter to Timothy: “If we have died with [Christ]” – died to the old life of sin, and put on the gift of new life – then “we shall also live with him.”

God’s overflowing generosity created us, and even more generously redeemed us through Jesus his Son, and that generosity is what gives us our purpose… Our purpose is to act like gifts, to be gifts to one another. Our purpose, like the Samaritan leper, is to realize that life is God’s gift of live, and of new life in Jesus, and to live like it. I often say to people, “I am God’s gift to the world!” They don’t seem to understand that I am speaking a vital theological truth. The fact is each one of us is God’s gift to the world, God’s gift to one another. So let’s live like we’re God’s gift to the world and say thank you.

There are practical ways in which we can live as a gift, can live as a big thank you to God. The Israelite slave girl in our Old Testament lesson gave us an example. This girl makes a very small appearance in three short verses of Scripture (2 Kgs 5:2-4). She is a captive in the house of the commander of the Syrian army, Naaman, a seemingly insignificant person in the service of a “mighty warrior.” She is not in a position where you’d have thought she’d live life as a gift, and yet she gives the gift of good news to Naaman’s wife. Because this girl knows there is a “prophet who is in Samaria,” Naaman ends up going to the prophet and being cured of his leprosy. One small word from one small person, small in the grand scheme of things, can end up having massive results. Living life as a gift can bring healing to others. So, for you or me, saying an encouraging word to someone who is feeling low, or visiting who’s lonely or sick, can be the opportunity for God to work. The Israelite girl shows us that there are plenty of ways to give to others from what little we have and to be giving abundantly.

We make sacrifices for our bodies, which help us live active lives. But how much more could we make sacrifices for our spirit, and truly fulfil our purpose as gifts of God? No pain, no gain, right?

Collect
Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Psalm 66:1-12 Page 673, BCP

Jubilate Deo

1

Be joyful in God, all you lands; *
sing the glory of his Name;
sing the glory of his praise.

2

Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! *
because of your great strength your enemies cringe before you.

3

All the earth bows down before you, *
sings to you, sings out your Name."

4

Come now and see the works of God, *
how wonderful he is in his doing toward all people.

5

He turned the sea into dry land,
so that they went through the water on foot, *
and there we rejoiced in him.

6

In his might he rules for ever;
his eyes keep watch over the nations; *
let no rebel rise up against him.

7

Bless our God, you peoples; *
make the voice of his praise to be heard;

8

Who holds our souls in life, *
and will not allow our feet to slip.

9

For you, O God, have proved us; *
you have tried us just as silver is tried.

10

You brought us into the snare; *
you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.

11

You let enemies ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water; *
but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.

12

I will enter your house with burnt-offerings
and will pay you my vows, *
which I promised with my lips
and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.

or

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."

But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, `Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel."

Psalm 111 Page 754, BCP

Confitebor tibi

1

Hallelujah!
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, *
in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation.

2

Great are the deeds of the LORD! *
they are studied by all who delight in them.

3

His work is full of majesty and splendor, *
and his righteousness endures for ever.

4

He makes his marvelous works to be remembered; *
the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.

5

He gives food to those who fear him; *
he is ever mindful of his covenant.

6

He has shown his people the power of his works *
in giving them the lands of the nations.

7

The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice; *
all his commandments are sure.

8

They stand fast for ever and ever, *
because they are done in truth and equity.

9

He sent redemption to his people;
he commanded his covenant for ever; *
holy and awesome is his Name.

10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; *
those who act accordingly have a good understanding;
his praise endures for ever.

2 Timothy 2:8-15

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David-- that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he will also deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful--

for he cannot deny himself.

Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

Luke 17:11-19

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Ben's Sermon from Oct. 7, 2007

I wonder how many of you have visited the Grand Canyon? I did three years ago now, and it was stunning. I could barely take it all in, it was so enormous. Nine miles wide, 270 miles long, one mile deep. Formed over 6 million years, this is one of the most stunning parts of God's creation. Containing rocks from the bottom of every ocean on earth, it is a geologist’s dream. A lot of people find it easier to worship God in the great outdoors than inside a church. You might be one of them. When you are standing on the edge of an enormous canyon, you can kind of understand it! But for those who are here, who have made it inside a church today, let me tell you why it is good that you have. For I believe it is only if we come together to hear about God, only if we see what the Bible has to say about the world as God’s creation, that we can understand the meaning of nature.

Jesus used a lot of natural images to teach us about God and the world in which we live. He described the world we live in as permeated by God’s kingdom, as shot through with the glory of God – if we could only see it. “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted into the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Or, in another version of the same saying, with only the smallest faith you could move a mountain. Underlying this seemingly crazy claim, Jesus says that nature belongs to God and that, if you think nature is awesome and powerful, what about the God who created it?

“If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed”: I don’t think Jesus’s words are meant to be taken literally; instead it’s hyperbole, like speaking of a camel going through the eye of a needle. Jesus is telling us that, usually, we don’t have faith. Usually we forget that the God who made the mustard seed or the mountain has a purpose for our lives too. If you could only see it, Jesus is saying, if you only had faith, then you would see God’s awesome purpose for your life – as awesome as the Grand Canyon.

The Canyon is the way it is because water has been running through it over the past six million years. Nature left to its own devices does just what it wants. But think not only of rivers making canyons and glaciers making fjords; lions eating other animals or think of tsunamis crashing into islands. They all do just what they want and it’s dangerous.

But to the Christian, even in the threat of nature we find the promise of God’s saving power. There are two ways of looking at nature. We can look at it as it is in itself – in all its rough and tumble, in all its wonders and horrors – and we can look through it to see our Creator and Redeemer. The first is the way in which geologists and evolutionary biologists tend to look. And I don’t think they are necessarily wrong, given the terrors of the natural world. But that doesn’t prevent you from also looking at it as God’s creation – as the work of a Creator whose purpose is at work within it. We should have faith in God, says Jesus, faith that the invisible God is at work in the visible creation.

Think of your own life. Does your life seem to be part of a world in which everything does just what it wants, that is full of rough and tumble, that’s sometimes wondrous but more often scary?

The language we use suggests our lives are often dominated by the violence of nature. We are constantly told, “It’s survival of the fittest out there” – that we live in a “dog-eat-dog world.” The law of nature, we are told, is that only the strong and clever survive, while the weak and stupid fail. But Jesus tells us that human beings are like sheep: not clever but stupid, not strong but weak, unless they are guided by their shepherd. This is a different view of nature: not survival of the fittest, but of obedience to the God who made creation, discerning God’s purpose for you by following the shepherd. And yes, there will be personal suffering, there will be dens of lions, but that is where growth might happen; as Jesus said in today’s gospel, we will be told to “gird yourself and serve me,” often without thanks, but that is what creatures are called to do for their awful Creator – awful in its original sense of filling us with awe.

The book of Revelation gives us another natural image of what life looks like for Christians. Following the shepherd actually means following the one who became the Lamb slain for us upon a cross. Jesus was obedient to God’s will, Jesus was servant of all, and it led to his death. But the writer of the book of Revelation is granted a vision of the saints, surrounding the Lamb who sits upon the throne: “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night within his temple; and he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, nor shall they thirst any more; the sun shall no more strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd.”

For Christians, things are not quite as they seem at first sight. Here in the book of Revelation, what looked like a disastrous situation, a gathering of those who have died for their faith, is actually the opposite of disaster. These saints have been washed in blood, but washed clean. The world might seem dog-eat-dog, but according to Scripture this kind of violence can hold the key to salvation. The writer of Revelation sees the invisible creation that is hidden in this one, where saints have sacrificed themselves in delight for they know the ruler of all that is, the ruler of both the visible and invisible creation. They know that service to God and to others, which can sometimes lead to pain and suffering, is the true purpose of creation.

So we must not forget the invisible creation which is hidden away within this one – hidden like the mustard seed – and which, with faith like a mustard seed, we can see in this world. Look around with the eyes of faith: God’s creation is a place of abundant life, life without end. God’s creation is a place of glory, glory that we are offered to partake of in good faith, a faith that will let us see the way creation truly is. Creation is a place where blood is spilled – there is no mistaking that – but, for Christians, the blood of the Lamb does not signify death but the very life of the world.

Ben's Sermon from Sunday

A sermon preached by the Rev’d Benjamin J King at Christ Church on Pentecost 17, 2007

You don’t need to be from New England to realize that there’s something different about southerners. You don’t need to be from southern California to know northern California is like different countries. You could be from Ireland or from Italy, from China or from India, and you would think there is a north-south divide. It was also true in ancient Israel. Since the death of King Solomon, the Hebrew people had been divided into two kingdoms – one ruled from Jerusalem in the south, and one ruled from Samaria in the north. Around 800 BC, the two kingdoms were still close enough to consider themselves as representatives of one people, the people of God, but they were like two different countries.

Of course a lot of stereotypes build up around the differences between north and south. People from the other place speak funny. Or they eat strange foods. Or they have no culture. Northerners in all the nations I’ve mentioned, think of themselves as the hardest workers and that that southerners enjoy their leisure a bit too much. In ancient Israel, though, the opposite stereotype was true. It was the people of the north who enjoyed themselves rather more than they should, and spent too much time building large estates and eating fine foods, and not enough time working.

So Amos says, anyway, about the northern kingdom. But he would say that, wouldn’t he? Amos was a southerner; his king lived in Jerusalem in the south, not Samaria in the north. But he was called by God to be a prophet to the north when, typically of a Hebrew southerner, he was hard at work herding his sheep. A busy man, with much to do, he didn’t have time to go tell those northerners that they had grown lazy and sinful with their wealth. But that is exactly what God wanted him to do.

In today’s lesson we heard Amos telling the northerners: “Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches…; who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp…; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of [their people]! Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.” (Amos 6:4-7)

What incredibly specific things to criticize. Amos doesn’t deal in generalities or preach pious platitudes; he has concrete examples of what must change: the ivory beds, the idleness of the songs, the size of the drinking vessels! Amos knew exactly what was wrong with this culture. Archaeological evidence tells us that the northern kingdom was going into general economic decline just at the time the very wealthy were building bigger houses than ever. Irresponsible spending was their sin. And getting rich at the expense of others. When a recession set in back then in ancient Samaria, when increasing numbers of people were starving, the wealthy went on living the high life. But, warns Amos, those who “trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain” shall not live in their houses for much longer (Amos 5:11). God’s punishment will be upon them. Indeed, the kingdom of Samaria fell soon after. In 721 BC, the Assyrians took some 27,000 Samaritan people into exile – at which point they disappear from the historical record, some of them probably ending up as far away as Asia.

Let us remember that the God of Israel, who sent Amos to the northern kingdom some 2800 years ago, is the same God whom we worship today. Kingdoms change. Empires wax and wane. But people are pretty much the same today as they were in the days of Amos. Our culture spends money on things which just aren’t important. Consider my friend who lives in California: he spends an outrageous amount of money having special water imported from Japan just to wash his face in! Think of all the airplane gas – not to mention money – that is being burned to transport water from one rich country to another one that already has more than enough of its own water. There are plenty of opportunities for a godly use of wealth instead of transporting water across the northern hemisphere.

It’s not just countries that experience the north-south divide. Splits between north and south operate today on a global level, splits about which Amos would have something to say. Think about the people in the southern half of our world. Our Presiding Bishop tells an interesting fact about the Millennium Development Goals: apparently the amount it would take to provide primary education to children in the southern hemisphere is one-half of the amount we in this country spend each year on ice-cream. One half! Now this is not to say we should eat less ice-cream, God forbid! Rather, what if ice-cream lovers like me considered giving half as much to Oxfam each year as we spent on ice-cream? Buy a four-dollar tub of ice-cream – send two dollars to Oxfam. That’s the kind of concrete change that Amos was calling for. His challenge to the Samarians and his challenge to us is to find real ways to do something better with our wealth. And all of us here are wealthy by comparison with the global south.

The prophet says nothing about wealth being wrong in itself, but wealth brings with it great responsibility. The wealthy Samaritans’ sin was not being wealthy; it was failing to recognize the “ruin” they were bringing on their people by spending money on themselves alone. In the story Jesus tells in the today’s gospel, the rich man’s sin was not to be dressed in purple and fine linen, nor to feast sumptuously, but rather his sin was to wear and to eat these things when there was a man with nothing lying outside his gate.

Today, as in Amos’s day, as in Jesus’s day, we in the north have a responsibility to do something with our riches. Instead of feeling guilty about all that we have, we need to put it to good use. Today, God is calling each of us to look outside of ourselves – not to be focused on our own desires alone, but upon the needs of others, and so to see the God who is bigger than us all.