Preached by the Ven. Mark Sluss at Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday, September 26, 2010
Showing posts with label Sluss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sluss. Show all posts
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Sermon by Deacon Mark Sluss 5th Sunday of Lent 2010
John 12:1-8
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
For myself, my sense of smell brings such vivid memories to me.
Certain smells bring back to me those times in my life where I encountered those smells. I will never be able to smell Patchouli without instantly thinking of Debbie Nelson-Linck. The smell of cherry pipe tobacco and butterscotch candies remind me of my grandfather. I especially remember the smells of the state fair in Ohio. I remember the smell of roasted corn; I remember the smell of French fries with malt vinegar, cotton candy and candy apples. My Dad loved going to the fair and we always hit the roast corn booth as soon as we got into the fair grounds.
I got this (hold up cologne bottle) from my mom, when we were cleaning out some of dad’s things. This for all intents and purposes, is what my father smelled like. This was his favorite cologne. I still take the cap off, and just smell, when I’m missing Dad, and it helps. What are the smells that trigger the most memories for you? Are they Christmas cookies baking?? How about thanksgiving turkey cooking? Anything else???
You see, smell is such a great trigger of memories. I try to place myself into the gospel reading today, here is Jesus, at the home of his friends, Lazarus, Martha and Mary, they have made a brief stop on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover. Bethany is within walking distance of Jerusalem they are having a dinner party for Jesus and his disciples are there as well. And as usual Martha is tending to the kitchen, and Mary is about to do something. Now recently Jesus has just recently raised Lazarus from the dead. So in an act of pure joy and respect and to honor Jesus for the gift of her brother’s life, Mary, who along with Martha would have been destitute without Lazarus, Mary does something so out of the ordinary, she takes a jar, of pure spikenard, and she gets down and anoints Jesus’ feet.
And wipes his feet with he hair. That’s what I find weird. Her hair? I mean come on.. ask Martha for a towel. How very odd, especially since this is such an intimate action. Especially within their culture, Mary and Jesus were not married, neither were they related. So surely the action would have been shocking to those present.
Can you imagine the smell of this Nard, filling the house. It would have been hard to not notice it. And then the criticizing starts, Judas chimes in, that this is such a waste, that it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Blah, blah, blah.
I try to imagine Mary here. Here she was doing something that she thought showed the joy and wonder of being friends with Jesus, and then to becomes the subject of criticism. I can imagine a bit of shame and embarrassment, when Judas attempts to call her to the carpet. But just then Jesus steps in.
He tells everyone to back off, and that Mary has done a good thing. The poor he says will always be with them, he himself won’t always be there.
And that Mary had bought the Nard to use for his burial. I can see Mary’s rationalization, she has just seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead and as a gift to Jesus, who she must see as one who defies death, and she uses the Nard to anoint him as a sign of joy and adoration.
You see nard is a fragrant oil, derived from the roots and hair stems of a plant not native to Palestine, but to the Himalayas. Nard had to be imported by caravan all the way from North India and Nepal. Half a world away to those in ancient times. This perfume was imported and used for a wide variety of purposes. Celebratory, cosmetic, medicinal and mortuary.
I look at it this way, Jesus was allowing this anointing to happen, knowing that he was to go to Jerusalem and die on the cross, he permits the use of the Nard so that they could form a very intense memory about their time together. Jesus gives this to them as a gift. Tying it to the smell of the nard, and then during the time of strife and persecution and in celebration, they would be able to remember back to the happy event at the home of Lazarus.
The woodsy, musty smell of Nard would always remind them of Jesus and a happier time, when he was living among them.
I think that one of the most amazing things about the action of the church is anointing. The church anoints to consecrate to set aside things.
And often our anointing oil is scented, with herbal components.
Often Sandalwood or rosemary, or some other aromatic I believe we honestly want to create a memory of the time. We anoint at baptisms, we anoint at times of sickness and we anoint at times of death. We want to hold those moments with us.
A dear friend once told me after a time in my life when I was praying very intently for guidance and on behalf of someone to come through a medical emergency, how powerful prayer is to a person. He went on to say, that when a prayer is answered, you fully realize how much an awesome responsibility prayer is. And I would add to that, and say what an awesome responsibility and power it is to pray in community.
And then to add another layer, that of anointing to the act of prayer is a very powerful sensory combination. We are fully engaged in almost all of our senses, sight, sound, and smell. We are fully there and in the moment.
No distractions, fully in the prayer. I have felt that total immersion in prayer once.
When my father had taken a very bad turn in the hospital, and my mother and brothers and I were told by the doctors that there was nothing left for them to do. And that Dad would not recover. I was devastated. I was thoroughly emptied. I went home and just cried and cried, But the next morning as I usually did I went to visit dad in the ICU. Mornings were the best time to go. Before regular visiting hours. The nurses didn’t seem to mind me being there. And quite frankly wearing a collar into a hospital gets you access to places people don’t normally get to go after hours. I took a bottle of anointing oil with me. And I started talking to my dad. I started out with just telling him how much he meant to me.
The machines were still going and beeping and whirring in their endeavor to keep him alive. I entered his room and the smells hit me, antiseptic, the smell of medicines, the smell of his perspiration and the smell of the soap that the nurses used to clean him up. I then started to pray. I prayed to God to take one of his own. I prayed that God would welcome dad, I prayed that the transition would be quick and not painful or scary for dad. I sat some in periods of silence. I sometimes begged and pleaded. And I cried some more. I then started to feel that there was another person in the room with me. Looking around expecting to see a nurse at the door, I saw no one.
But I started to feel at peace with the decision we were making, to let dad go. I realized at that very moment that Jesus was in the room with me.
Holding me up, in my time of grief and longing. Knowing full well what I was going through. Jesus understands grief. Jesus knows how much it hurts. Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. I then took out the bottle of oil and I started to anoint my father, and to say good bye to him.
I started with his head. The fragrance was sweet not overpowering, the oil was warming in my hands. I put it on his head and I kissed him. I then moved to his arms which were bruised from the many IV punctures.
And I rubbed the oil on them, I moved to his hands held them in mine, swollen noticing the indention where the previous week the hospital had to cut off his wedding ring. I put my hand up to his like I used to do as a child, to see how big his hands were next to mine. Almost the same size now.
His much more calloused, scarred from years of working. And I anointed them. Then I moved to his feet. Holding them up noticing that his body would react, a reflex we were told, his feet would kick and move.
I put oil on them, noticing how rough and dry his skin had become, noticing that the oil permeated the cracks of his heels.
When I finished I covered his feet with the blankets, placed his prayer quilt over him.
And the smells of the hospital room were replaced with the smell of the oil.
I washed my hands. I sat by his bed for another 15 minutes in silence and I finally said good bye to him. I left the room and never returned again alone, only going with family.
I had said my goodbye.
4 days later, the day we had decided that we would have the doctors turn off his respirator, was very sad. There were many friends there with us.
Renee Fenner was there, Ron Clingenpeel was there, and others were checking in as well, knowing what was to happen. I remember feeling confident that this was right. I remember crying of course, but not over the loss of dad, more over the grief of my mother and my brothers.
I was upset that they were hurting so much. I caught a whiff of the smell of the oil that had remained on the prayer quilt we had left with him. And I felt better. The preparation was so important for me.
It allowed me to be more involved in helping my family get through this time. I had grieved. And I would grieve more, but I was able to be there to help my family.
This is one thing that the church does very well for each other. When our provost Mike Kinman and I first met after he accepted the call here,
he asked me to think about what it is that the church can do for the community that other social service agencies cannot. What can we do that would better the community. I truly believe that to pray for our community, Pray for thanksgiving and in celebration of with and for our community.
In that total engagement that I experienced in praying for my father. I have seen what the church can do, in those times where we reach out. Not afraid of looking foolish to the community.
I am still awed by the reaction we received at the Komen walk last year, when Mike went out and Asperged the crowd in blessing. This year lets offer anointing as well! I am amazed at what the church does for the GLBT community at pride. Mass on the Grass is one of the major evangelical celebrations for the city. In sad times we can also pray for the community.
I picture a yearly celebration of the lives of police and firefighters who have lost their lives in the call of duty, held here in our space. I can picture a requiem mass for the downtown homeless who have lost their lives on the street, offering the church’s blessing to those who have lost their lives.
The city is right outside our doors every day. During the summer months there are fairs and street fests near the Soldiers Memorial that we can be open to offer support for. There are many marathons and parades that are held within blocks of us. We can gather to celebrate those who run and march. I look forward to us engaged with our community, opening ourselves and our gifts to blessing the city and our community.
Prayer is the only thing I can think of that we can offer the community that other social service agencies cannot. We can pray in celebration, in thanksgiving and in grief. We can bless and consecrate our city through our presence and active participation in the surrounding neighborhood.
Lets not be afraid to step out and offer this gift to the neighborhood.
Afraid of embarrassment, for expending our gifts to something some would consider unnecessary and silly. We can serve Christ by anointing our neighbors, when we reach out to the community, when we hold up our neighbors, in their grief and celebration.
When we anoint and pray for our community we can engage our senses, and perhaps we can try to remember the story of the gospel today. That in building memories of our lives together in this city and neighborhood, that we honor Christ in each of us, we can become partakers of that dinner party in Bethany, and remember Jesus’ life here among us. We can remember the gift that Mary has given Jesus; we can remember that we can offer the same gift to Jesus, by reaching out to our neighborhood, with our extravagant gifts of prayer. For it is when we offer our selves wholly in prayer in love and celebration and mourning, to the city of St. Louis, we anoint Jesus once again.
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
For myself, my sense of smell brings such vivid memories to me.
Certain smells bring back to me those times in my life where I encountered those smells. I will never be able to smell Patchouli without instantly thinking of Debbie Nelson-Linck. The smell of cherry pipe tobacco and butterscotch candies remind me of my grandfather. I especially remember the smells of the state fair in Ohio. I remember the smell of roasted corn; I remember the smell of French fries with malt vinegar, cotton candy and candy apples. My Dad loved going to the fair and we always hit the roast corn booth as soon as we got into the fair grounds.
I got this (hold up cologne bottle) from my mom, when we were cleaning out some of dad’s things. This for all intents and purposes, is what my father smelled like. This was his favorite cologne. I still take the cap off, and just smell, when I’m missing Dad, and it helps. What are the smells that trigger the most memories for you? Are they Christmas cookies baking?? How about thanksgiving turkey cooking? Anything else???
You see, smell is such a great trigger of memories. I try to place myself into the gospel reading today, here is Jesus, at the home of his friends, Lazarus, Martha and Mary, they have made a brief stop on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover. Bethany is within walking distance of Jerusalem they are having a dinner party for Jesus and his disciples are there as well. And as usual Martha is tending to the kitchen, and Mary is about to do something. Now recently Jesus has just recently raised Lazarus from the dead. So in an act of pure joy and respect and to honor Jesus for the gift of her brother’s life, Mary, who along with Martha would have been destitute without Lazarus, Mary does something so out of the ordinary, she takes a jar, of pure spikenard, and she gets down and anoints Jesus’ feet.
And wipes his feet with he hair. That’s what I find weird. Her hair? I mean come on.. ask Martha for a towel. How very odd, especially since this is such an intimate action. Especially within their culture, Mary and Jesus were not married, neither were they related. So surely the action would have been shocking to those present.
Can you imagine the smell of this Nard, filling the house. It would have been hard to not notice it. And then the criticizing starts, Judas chimes in, that this is such a waste, that it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Blah, blah, blah.
I try to imagine Mary here. Here she was doing something that she thought showed the joy and wonder of being friends with Jesus, and then to becomes the subject of criticism. I can imagine a bit of shame and embarrassment, when Judas attempts to call her to the carpet. But just then Jesus steps in.
He tells everyone to back off, and that Mary has done a good thing. The poor he says will always be with them, he himself won’t always be there.
And that Mary had bought the Nard to use for his burial. I can see Mary’s rationalization, she has just seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead and as a gift to Jesus, who she must see as one who defies death, and she uses the Nard to anoint him as a sign of joy and adoration.
You see nard is a fragrant oil, derived from the roots and hair stems of a plant not native to Palestine, but to the Himalayas. Nard had to be imported by caravan all the way from North India and Nepal. Half a world away to those in ancient times. This perfume was imported and used for a wide variety of purposes. Celebratory, cosmetic, medicinal and mortuary.
I look at it this way, Jesus was allowing this anointing to happen, knowing that he was to go to Jerusalem and die on the cross, he permits the use of the Nard so that they could form a very intense memory about their time together. Jesus gives this to them as a gift. Tying it to the smell of the nard, and then during the time of strife and persecution and in celebration, they would be able to remember back to the happy event at the home of Lazarus.
The woodsy, musty smell of Nard would always remind them of Jesus and a happier time, when he was living among them.
I think that one of the most amazing things about the action of the church is anointing. The church anoints to consecrate to set aside things.
And often our anointing oil is scented, with herbal components.
Often Sandalwood or rosemary, or some other aromatic I believe we honestly want to create a memory of the time. We anoint at baptisms, we anoint at times of sickness and we anoint at times of death. We want to hold those moments with us.
A dear friend once told me after a time in my life when I was praying very intently for guidance and on behalf of someone to come through a medical emergency, how powerful prayer is to a person. He went on to say, that when a prayer is answered, you fully realize how much an awesome responsibility prayer is. And I would add to that, and say what an awesome responsibility and power it is to pray in community.
And then to add another layer, that of anointing to the act of prayer is a very powerful sensory combination. We are fully engaged in almost all of our senses, sight, sound, and smell. We are fully there and in the moment.
No distractions, fully in the prayer. I have felt that total immersion in prayer once.
When my father had taken a very bad turn in the hospital, and my mother and brothers and I were told by the doctors that there was nothing left for them to do. And that Dad would not recover. I was devastated. I was thoroughly emptied. I went home and just cried and cried, But the next morning as I usually did I went to visit dad in the ICU. Mornings were the best time to go. Before regular visiting hours. The nurses didn’t seem to mind me being there. And quite frankly wearing a collar into a hospital gets you access to places people don’t normally get to go after hours. I took a bottle of anointing oil with me. And I started talking to my dad. I started out with just telling him how much he meant to me.
The machines were still going and beeping and whirring in their endeavor to keep him alive. I entered his room and the smells hit me, antiseptic, the smell of medicines, the smell of his perspiration and the smell of the soap that the nurses used to clean him up. I then started to pray. I prayed to God to take one of his own. I prayed that God would welcome dad, I prayed that the transition would be quick and not painful or scary for dad. I sat some in periods of silence. I sometimes begged and pleaded. And I cried some more. I then started to feel that there was another person in the room with me. Looking around expecting to see a nurse at the door, I saw no one.
But I started to feel at peace with the decision we were making, to let dad go. I realized at that very moment that Jesus was in the room with me.
Holding me up, in my time of grief and longing. Knowing full well what I was going through. Jesus understands grief. Jesus knows how much it hurts. Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. I then took out the bottle of oil and I started to anoint my father, and to say good bye to him.
I started with his head. The fragrance was sweet not overpowering, the oil was warming in my hands. I put it on his head and I kissed him. I then moved to his arms which were bruised from the many IV punctures.
And I rubbed the oil on them, I moved to his hands held them in mine, swollen noticing the indention where the previous week the hospital had to cut off his wedding ring. I put my hand up to his like I used to do as a child, to see how big his hands were next to mine. Almost the same size now.
His much more calloused, scarred from years of working. And I anointed them. Then I moved to his feet. Holding them up noticing that his body would react, a reflex we were told, his feet would kick and move.
I put oil on them, noticing how rough and dry his skin had become, noticing that the oil permeated the cracks of his heels.
When I finished I covered his feet with the blankets, placed his prayer quilt over him.
And the smells of the hospital room were replaced with the smell of the oil.
I washed my hands. I sat by his bed for another 15 minutes in silence and I finally said good bye to him. I left the room and never returned again alone, only going with family.
I had said my goodbye.
4 days later, the day we had decided that we would have the doctors turn off his respirator, was very sad. There were many friends there with us.
Renee Fenner was there, Ron Clingenpeel was there, and others were checking in as well, knowing what was to happen. I remember feeling confident that this was right. I remember crying of course, but not over the loss of dad, more over the grief of my mother and my brothers.
I was upset that they were hurting so much. I caught a whiff of the smell of the oil that had remained on the prayer quilt we had left with him. And I felt better. The preparation was so important for me.
It allowed me to be more involved in helping my family get through this time. I had grieved. And I would grieve more, but I was able to be there to help my family.
This is one thing that the church does very well for each other. When our provost Mike Kinman and I first met after he accepted the call here,
he asked me to think about what it is that the church can do for the community that other social service agencies cannot. What can we do that would better the community. I truly believe that to pray for our community, Pray for thanksgiving and in celebration of with and for our community.
In that total engagement that I experienced in praying for my father. I have seen what the church can do, in those times where we reach out. Not afraid of looking foolish to the community.
I am still awed by the reaction we received at the Komen walk last year, when Mike went out and Asperged the crowd in blessing. This year lets offer anointing as well! I am amazed at what the church does for the GLBT community at pride. Mass on the Grass is one of the major evangelical celebrations for the city. In sad times we can also pray for the community.
I picture a yearly celebration of the lives of police and firefighters who have lost their lives in the call of duty, held here in our space. I can picture a requiem mass for the downtown homeless who have lost their lives on the street, offering the church’s blessing to those who have lost their lives.
The city is right outside our doors every day. During the summer months there are fairs and street fests near the Soldiers Memorial that we can be open to offer support for. There are many marathons and parades that are held within blocks of us. We can gather to celebrate those who run and march. I look forward to us engaged with our community, opening ourselves and our gifts to blessing the city and our community.
Prayer is the only thing I can think of that we can offer the community that other social service agencies cannot. We can pray in celebration, in thanksgiving and in grief. We can bless and consecrate our city through our presence and active participation in the surrounding neighborhood.
Lets not be afraid to step out and offer this gift to the neighborhood.
Afraid of embarrassment, for expending our gifts to something some would consider unnecessary and silly. We can serve Christ by anointing our neighbors, when we reach out to the community, when we hold up our neighbors, in their grief and celebration.
When we anoint and pray for our community we can engage our senses, and perhaps we can try to remember the story of the gospel today. That in building memories of our lives together in this city and neighborhood, that we honor Christ in each of us, we can become partakers of that dinner party in Bethany, and remember Jesus’ life here among us. We can remember the gift that Mary has given Jesus; we can remember that we can offer the same gift to Jesus, by reaching out to our neighborhood, with our extravagant gifts of prayer. For it is when we offer our selves wholly in prayer in love and celebration and mourning, to the city of St. Louis, we anoint Jesus once again.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Our lives need to be a ransom!
Preached by Reverend Mark D. Sluss
Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday October 18, 2009
“For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many”
I learned a very important lesson these past few weeks. Many of you know that I was permanently laid off from my job.
And to be honest for the past year, I was not very happy with the company that I was working for.
We received a new director, who really did not understand what the function of our department was, or what each of us did.
But he demanded an accounting of our time. I remember one big organization meeting where we had to give a presentation on our function to the senior management of the company.
The one thing that I came away with was that they still did not understand what it was our function did for the company.
We used to comment, that if we weren’t there to do the job then they would understand.
Over the last 4 years working at that position with the company, we survived, 4 different Reductions in Force (layoffs).
We weren’t touched, because enough middle management people understood that our function was needed.
We had built ourselves up, to think that our position was entirely too important for the company to survive without it.
Then September 3rd came, and I lost my job. The perceived importance, meant nothing, when it came down to numbers and dollars.
What was even more shocking was realizing that how much stock I had put in the power that I thought came from what I did for a living, it’s quite common in western society, we define ourselves by what we do, and we attribute a power system a social status to that.
I think it is a human condition to try to evaluate how important we are, in most venues of our life.
We compare ourselves to those around us. We try to determine a person’s station in life by their clothes, their car, their homes, and in St. Louis, “where did you go to High School?”
There is an odd desire, almost a need to want to be in a position of power.
This is not a modern day social dynamic, for we hear in the Gospel reading today, how the disciples are arguing over the places of power between them.
The disciples never seem to quite get it do they?
You see in their mind, they are still relating to the phenomena of Jesus and his teaching about the coming kingdom in terms that they understand.
Their society was a patronistic society, those with little power, had to petition those with greater power for favors, whether in business, or government (sounds a bit like lobbying).
Even their Passover rituals at the temple were a practice in patronism.
A sacrifice, is given to garner favor from the divine, in hopes that the favor will be granted.
James and John even petition Jesus for a favor, they want him to grant them each a seat at his side in the coming kingdom.
It’s like they didn’t’ even hear him say that he was to be killed, in the previous passages. “oh yeah, after all that’s over, can you do US a favor, give us seats of power?” If I were Jesus I’d be tempted to give them both an Eye Roll and say “sure I’ll get right on that you two”.
But Jesus uses this as a continued opportunity to again teach the disciples.
If they are ones who will remain loyal to Jesus, they will be treated by the Romans the same as Jesus.
And as with any group, the disciples don’t really consider themselves each equals and a family of believers, you see they are connected to Jesus the central figure, not to each other, with the exception of James and John who are connected to each other as brothers.
They disregard the others and ask their favor for seats of power. The other disciples were of course angry.
Jesus quiets this by stating that “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you will be slave of all” that most certainly would be a shock to them.
They had expected to ride along with Jesus and climb that social ladder, but Jesus goes and defines his mission not with the priests in the temple, or the elite of Judea, but lower than that, with the servants, and slaves.
Since servants and slaves would have worked in the family households, the disciples would have known that they performed the needs of the family who owned them without concerns or expectation to be paid back.
The disciples were to behave that way, as a part of the household, but not expecting payback. AND that is the way that we are to live, as servants of each other, performing the needs of the family and not for any type of payback.
When we offer our gifts and our sacrifices of support for the Cathedral, we should change our expectations, we shouldn’t give expecting to get a favor, or expecting some sort of recognition or payback.
That is still living into the patronistic society. We should approach this as slaves, or the way that Jesus told them, as a RANSOM.
That word just jumped out at me in the gospel this week. It constantly was the one word that caught my eye and my pondering.
A Ransom is an economic exchange that pays for the release of hostages. A sacrifice is a ritual to facilitate the transfer of a favor from God to the person giving the sacrifice.
A sacrifice is selfish, a ransom is not. For a Ransom pays for the release of hostages, persons who have no power, from one who holds power over them.
Jesus’ death is not a sacrifice for us, Jesus is a RANSOM. Think of it this way. When Jesus as the last supper describes the cup as being his blood “poured out for many” it does NOT refer to the sacrifice of forgiveness of sins that was made at the temple.
It refers to the Passover lamb, whose blood protected the households of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, and facilitated their release from bondage.
The Passover lamb gives its life as a Ransom for many. Now some might say that I am just splitting hairs here, no matter what lamb is referenced, the sacrifice or the ransom, the ultimate goal is the forgiveness of our sins right? Well yes and no.
The ultimate goal is the release from the bondage of poverty, sickness, loneliness (which are all symptoms of the separation from god), of our COMMUNITY, and I don’t mean the community of the Cathedral, but our City, and the world.
This naturally begs the question then “if we are the body of Christ, in the world today, how then do make our talents and gifts, to be a ransom?”
First off, we need to change our focus, like the disciples, we cannot give, and expect something in return, we are to be slaves.
We are to give ourselves as a ransom, to release a soul in our community.
Our giving should be not just a handout. Because that is a sacrifice. An offering to gain a particular outcome, most likely to get the person to move away from you. Give them a dollar so they’ll leave us alone!
No! our giving should be for ransom, we should give to those programs and services which release our neighbors from bondage, we should give to agencies that offer assistance for mental health, for addiction issues, for hunger issues.
We need to make our payment to release God’s people from those things that enslave them. We do good things here at the Cathedral.
But we have fallen into the trap of a quid pro quo, we give hoping for some favor to befall us or some particular outcome to come to fruition.
We give to assuage some guilt we have, over how much we have.
Our focus needs to be to give our gifts away. Give it all away to save even just one person, from the power that holds them. That holds them in the darkness of their captivity, we must purchase their release.
I am going to be working with the Justice and Mercy committee of the Cathedral to identify those services we can support that will bring about the release of our sisters and brothers who are in bondage.
And I am going to need your help to do this, if anyone has recommendations of those groups that we can reach out to in support, please forward those names to me.
I have already met with other clergy of the 6th ward, and we are developing a list of service providers, so that we do not duplicate efforts, and so that we can support each other.
Each of the Christian congregations of the ward are all working as servants, all slaves to release our friends from captivity, and to welcome them into the household of believers, out of their bondage, out of the dark.
Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday October 18, 2009
“For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many”
I learned a very important lesson these past few weeks. Many of you know that I was permanently laid off from my job.
And to be honest for the past year, I was not very happy with the company that I was working for.
We received a new director, who really did not understand what the function of our department was, or what each of us did.
But he demanded an accounting of our time. I remember one big organization meeting where we had to give a presentation on our function to the senior management of the company.
The one thing that I came away with was that they still did not understand what it was our function did for the company.
We used to comment, that if we weren’t there to do the job then they would understand.
Over the last 4 years working at that position with the company, we survived, 4 different Reductions in Force (layoffs).
We weren’t touched, because enough middle management people understood that our function was needed.
We had built ourselves up, to think that our position was entirely too important for the company to survive without it.
Then September 3rd came, and I lost my job. The perceived importance, meant nothing, when it came down to numbers and dollars.
What was even more shocking was realizing that how much stock I had put in the power that I thought came from what I did for a living, it’s quite common in western society, we define ourselves by what we do, and we attribute a power system a social status to that.
I think it is a human condition to try to evaluate how important we are, in most venues of our life.
We compare ourselves to those around us. We try to determine a person’s station in life by their clothes, their car, their homes, and in St. Louis, “where did you go to High School?”
There is an odd desire, almost a need to want to be in a position of power.
This is not a modern day social dynamic, for we hear in the Gospel reading today, how the disciples are arguing over the places of power between them.
The disciples never seem to quite get it do they?
You see in their mind, they are still relating to the phenomena of Jesus and his teaching about the coming kingdom in terms that they understand.
Their society was a patronistic society, those with little power, had to petition those with greater power for favors, whether in business, or government (sounds a bit like lobbying).
Even their Passover rituals at the temple were a practice in patronism.
A sacrifice, is given to garner favor from the divine, in hopes that the favor will be granted.
James and John even petition Jesus for a favor, they want him to grant them each a seat at his side in the coming kingdom.
It’s like they didn’t’ even hear him say that he was to be killed, in the previous passages. “oh yeah, after all that’s over, can you do US a favor, give us seats of power?” If I were Jesus I’d be tempted to give them both an Eye Roll and say “sure I’ll get right on that you two”.
But Jesus uses this as a continued opportunity to again teach the disciples.
If they are ones who will remain loyal to Jesus, they will be treated by the Romans the same as Jesus.
And as with any group, the disciples don’t really consider themselves each equals and a family of believers, you see they are connected to Jesus the central figure, not to each other, with the exception of James and John who are connected to each other as brothers.
They disregard the others and ask their favor for seats of power. The other disciples were of course angry.
Jesus quiets this by stating that “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you will be slave of all” that most certainly would be a shock to them.
They had expected to ride along with Jesus and climb that social ladder, but Jesus goes and defines his mission not with the priests in the temple, or the elite of Judea, but lower than that, with the servants, and slaves.
Since servants and slaves would have worked in the family households, the disciples would have known that they performed the needs of the family who owned them without concerns or expectation to be paid back.
The disciples were to behave that way, as a part of the household, but not expecting payback. AND that is the way that we are to live, as servants of each other, performing the needs of the family and not for any type of payback.
When we offer our gifts and our sacrifices of support for the Cathedral, we should change our expectations, we shouldn’t give expecting to get a favor, or expecting some sort of recognition or payback.
That is still living into the patronistic society. We should approach this as slaves, or the way that Jesus told them, as a RANSOM.
That word just jumped out at me in the gospel this week. It constantly was the one word that caught my eye and my pondering.
A Ransom is an economic exchange that pays for the release of hostages. A sacrifice is a ritual to facilitate the transfer of a favor from God to the person giving the sacrifice.
A sacrifice is selfish, a ransom is not. For a Ransom pays for the release of hostages, persons who have no power, from one who holds power over them.
Jesus’ death is not a sacrifice for us, Jesus is a RANSOM. Think of it this way. When Jesus as the last supper describes the cup as being his blood “poured out for many” it does NOT refer to the sacrifice of forgiveness of sins that was made at the temple.
It refers to the Passover lamb, whose blood protected the households of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, and facilitated their release from bondage.
The Passover lamb gives its life as a Ransom for many. Now some might say that I am just splitting hairs here, no matter what lamb is referenced, the sacrifice or the ransom, the ultimate goal is the forgiveness of our sins right? Well yes and no.
The ultimate goal is the release from the bondage of poverty, sickness, loneliness (which are all symptoms of the separation from god), of our COMMUNITY, and I don’t mean the community of the Cathedral, but our City, and the world.
This naturally begs the question then “if we are the body of Christ, in the world today, how then do make our talents and gifts, to be a ransom?”
First off, we need to change our focus, like the disciples, we cannot give, and expect something in return, we are to be slaves.
We are to give ourselves as a ransom, to release a soul in our community.
Our giving should be not just a handout. Because that is a sacrifice. An offering to gain a particular outcome, most likely to get the person to move away from you. Give them a dollar so they’ll leave us alone!
No! our giving should be for ransom, we should give to those programs and services which release our neighbors from bondage, we should give to agencies that offer assistance for mental health, for addiction issues, for hunger issues.
We need to make our payment to release God’s people from those things that enslave them. We do good things here at the Cathedral.
But we have fallen into the trap of a quid pro quo, we give hoping for some favor to befall us or some particular outcome to come to fruition.
We give to assuage some guilt we have, over how much we have.
Our focus needs to be to give our gifts away. Give it all away to save even just one person, from the power that holds them. That holds them in the darkness of their captivity, we must purchase their release.
I am going to be working with the Justice and Mercy committee of the Cathedral to identify those services we can support that will bring about the release of our sisters and brothers who are in bondage.
And I am going to need your help to do this, if anyone has recommendations of those groups that we can reach out to in support, please forward those names to me.
I have already met with other clergy of the 6th ward, and we are developing a list of service providers, so that we do not duplicate efforts, and so that we can support each other.
Each of the Christian congregations of the ward are all working as servants, all slaves to release our friends from captivity, and to welcome them into the household of believers, out of their bondage, out of the dark.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
You are what you eat!
Preached by the Rev. Mark Sluss at Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday, August 16
“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.”
When I was little I remember those Saturday morning educational commercial shorts, you may remember the ABC's “Time for Timer” series, the segments never carried official titles, but are referred to by memorable catch phrases in the songs' lyrics. Perhaps most memorable was "I Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese" in which the character Timer, recast as a cowboy with a thick Western accent, suggests "wagon wheels," sandwiches made with cheese slices and crackers as an easy and nutritious snack. (When Timer prepares one on a kitchen counter, he rolls it down the counter on its edge and proclaims, "Look! A wagon wheel!") Others included “Quickie Breakfast" (leftovers and other foods as an alternative for kids who don't have time, or are unable, to cook breakfast), and "Sunshine on a Stick" (how to make ice pops with fruit juice, an ice tray, and toothpicks, and of course "You Are What You Eat" (a simplified explanation of nutrients and how the body uses them), " When I began studying nutrition and metabolism in college, I saw how the various components of the food we eat are transformed by the enzymes of our body, into components to build our bodies, we truly are what we eat. The food we eat is broken down into it’s components and is transformed into the useful molecules that can be incorporated directly into our cells to become part of our physical body. What is a little disturbing here is that Jesus insists that his flesh is the bread that he will give for the life of the world. He says that who ever eats his body will live, because of him. You know it’s no wonder that those early Christians in Rome were accused of cannibalism.
How can we be expected to eat God?!? It seems so disrespectful. We have for the majority of our lives been taught about the food chain, that the stronger animals kill and eat the weaker or the smaller. How can we be stronger than God? How can we eat God?
It is the mystery of god in Christ, it is the gift of grace that allows us to understand this. God cares about us so much, God wants us to be together with God so much, that God is willing to come among us and to die. When God as Jesus came to be with us, Jesus strives to teach us, he tells us how things should be. Teaches us how we should treat one another, how we should treat God. But Jesus also teaches us that time, and what we currently understand about life and death are changed. We understand through life experience that to take and eat flesh means that the source of flesh must be killed. What Jesus leaves us with, by his life and resurrection, is that death is not the end of living, but a transition into something greater. Through his death, and the implementation of the Eucharist, Jesus spreads his life out to all of us. We become a part of Jesus and he becomes a part of us. Just as those bits of carbohydrates, and amino acids become integrated into our bodies, Jesus becomes a part of us. So Jesus through the act of dying on the cross, and offering himself as food for the world, spans time and jumps through us the saints and children of God to our present time. What we share at our Eucharist, is the same feast offered in that upper room prior to Jesus’ arrest. It goes on, and on, even though he is not physically with us. If we are so intimately connected to Jesus and understand this, how can we not know Jesus when he returns? We surely will be able to recognize that part of us that has been missing from us.
Jesus is a part of us and not just physically, for when we learn about nerves and how thoughts and memories are triggered by releases of chemicals in our nerves and brains, we can understand how Jesus can be a real component of our thoughts it’s also most assureadly that what we consume not only becomes part of our thoughts and memories, but the experience of eating also becomes part of our thoughts. Realistically, the action of eating also can become memories for us. Memories of meals can be some of the strongest memories we have. I remember quite vividly memories as a child, sitting with my twin brother Mike, on our dad’s knee, eating stick donut’s and drinking chocolate milk, while dad read us the Sunday Comics. That is a very treasured memory. Who among us hasn’t learned many lessons of life, sitting at the dinner table? Who hasn’t learned proper behavior or etiquette, at the dinner table? I think it is the same for us, at our Eucharistic meal, by what we hear and learn through the scripture readings, Jesus’ teachings become part of us as well. Jesus lives in us, and we in him. He promised us this. It is a mind blowing revelation that Jesus LIVES, through the lives of each of us, personally and individually. More importantly is the revelation that we live in Jesus as well. Our frail humanness becomes complete and divine through that relationship. God, through Jesus takes on our bodily form, to understand us completely. To reconcile our relationship to the God creator, by atoning for all our shortcomings and sins. We through Jesus, return to the same type of relationship humankind enjoyed with God in Eden. So how can we treat the members of our community differently or with hate or disdain, since we are all returned exiles, we are all citizens of Eden? Citizens of Eden we should rejoice at our homecoming. Welcome home to Eden.
“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.”
When I was little I remember those Saturday morning educational commercial shorts, you may remember the ABC's “Time for Timer” series, the segments never carried official titles, but are referred to by memorable catch phrases in the songs' lyrics. Perhaps most memorable was "I Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese" in which the character Timer, recast as a cowboy with a thick Western accent, suggests "wagon wheels," sandwiches made with cheese slices and crackers as an easy and nutritious snack. (When Timer prepares one on a kitchen counter, he rolls it down the counter on its edge and proclaims, "Look! A wagon wheel!") Others included “Quickie Breakfast" (leftovers and other foods as an alternative for kids who don't have time, or are unable, to cook breakfast), and "Sunshine on a Stick" (how to make ice pops with fruit juice, an ice tray, and toothpicks, and of course "You Are What You Eat" (a simplified explanation of nutrients and how the body uses them), " When I began studying nutrition and metabolism in college, I saw how the various components of the food we eat are transformed by the enzymes of our body, into components to build our bodies, we truly are what we eat. The food we eat is broken down into it’s components and is transformed into the useful molecules that can be incorporated directly into our cells to become part of our physical body. What is a little disturbing here is that Jesus insists that his flesh is the bread that he will give for the life of the world. He says that who ever eats his body will live, because of him. You know it’s no wonder that those early Christians in Rome were accused of cannibalism.
How can we be expected to eat God?!? It seems so disrespectful. We have for the majority of our lives been taught about the food chain, that the stronger animals kill and eat the weaker or the smaller. How can we be stronger than God? How can we eat God?
It is the mystery of god in Christ, it is the gift of grace that allows us to understand this. God cares about us so much, God wants us to be together with God so much, that God is willing to come among us and to die. When God as Jesus came to be with us, Jesus strives to teach us, he tells us how things should be. Teaches us how we should treat one another, how we should treat God. But Jesus also teaches us that time, and what we currently understand about life and death are changed. We understand through life experience that to take and eat flesh means that the source of flesh must be killed. What Jesus leaves us with, by his life and resurrection, is that death is not the end of living, but a transition into something greater. Through his death, and the implementation of the Eucharist, Jesus spreads his life out to all of us. We become a part of Jesus and he becomes a part of us. Just as those bits of carbohydrates, and amino acids become integrated into our bodies, Jesus becomes a part of us. So Jesus through the act of dying on the cross, and offering himself as food for the world, spans time and jumps through us the saints and children of God to our present time. What we share at our Eucharist, is the same feast offered in that upper room prior to Jesus’ arrest. It goes on, and on, even though he is not physically with us. If we are so intimately connected to Jesus and understand this, how can we not know Jesus when he returns? We surely will be able to recognize that part of us that has been missing from us.
Jesus is a part of us and not just physically, for when we learn about nerves and how thoughts and memories are triggered by releases of chemicals in our nerves and brains, we can understand how Jesus can be a real component of our thoughts it’s also most assureadly that what we consume not only becomes part of our thoughts and memories, but the experience of eating also becomes part of our thoughts. Realistically, the action of eating also can become memories for us. Memories of meals can be some of the strongest memories we have. I remember quite vividly memories as a child, sitting with my twin brother Mike, on our dad’s knee, eating stick donut’s and drinking chocolate milk, while dad read us the Sunday Comics. That is a very treasured memory. Who among us hasn’t learned many lessons of life, sitting at the dinner table? Who hasn’t learned proper behavior or etiquette, at the dinner table? I think it is the same for us, at our Eucharistic meal, by what we hear and learn through the scripture readings, Jesus’ teachings become part of us as well. Jesus lives in us, and we in him. He promised us this. It is a mind blowing revelation that Jesus LIVES, through the lives of each of us, personally and individually. More importantly is the revelation that we live in Jesus as well. Our frail humanness becomes complete and divine through that relationship. God, through Jesus takes on our bodily form, to understand us completely. To reconcile our relationship to the God creator, by atoning for all our shortcomings and sins. We through Jesus, return to the same type of relationship humankind enjoyed with God in Eden. So how can we treat the members of our community differently or with hate or disdain, since we are all returned exiles, we are all citizens of Eden? Citizens of Eden we should rejoice at our homecoming. Welcome home to Eden.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Let us be the Good Shepherds
7-19-2009 Season of Pentecost Proper 11 - A sermon by Deacon Mark Sluss at Christ Church Cathedral
I have always lived with the assumption that sheep were pretty dumb animals. And that is probably more due to legend than any actual experience I have with sheep. Growing up in Arnold, Missouri we did not have any Sheep ranches around. My first interaction with sheep was in Nebraska. I was working for a large company in Omaha, and my boss, this crazy Norwegian guy, lived in a small town west of Omaha, called Elkhorn, and on my first trip out to see him for a department teambuilding barbecue, I got turned around and ended up on some different country road. This was before GPS Systems so I had no idea where I was. In the course of getting out of my car with a folding Map of the entire state of Nebraska, I noticed a most offensive acrid smell. It was then that I heard the bleating. And I realized that here on the edge of Nebraska Corn and Cattle country was a sheep ranch. And the smell was terrible. Wet dirty sheep whose matted wool looked more like ropes than fine fluffy wool, most foul of all the pile of sheep manure the rancher had piled close to the road. That was my experience, so my perception of all sheep was not the some fluffy white cute sheep, but of smelly and stupid animals. When I read the readings from this week, with the abundant images of sheep and shepherds and the vivid pasture themes, it was difficult not to have my vivid memory come back to that smell. You see my memory is triggered by smell. Cherry pipe tobacco always reminds me of my grandfather, Cool Water cologne reminds me of my dad. Sugar cookies baking remind me of many Christmases as a child with my brothers and I decorating those familiar cookie cutter shapes, in colored frostings and multicolored jimmies. When I read the scriptures for this week, I really did not want my mind to be drawn constantly to the memory of sheep droppings. So I did a little reading up on sheep and their behaviors and attributes. Richard Cobb of the University of Illinois wrote in 1999 a brief “Introduction to Sheep Behavior” for the Illinois Farm Bureau, in order to encourage youth agricultural projects utilizing herds of sheep. In his brief paper Cobb, makes sure to expel the myth that sheep are stupid. He says that sheep are very intelligent, somewhere between the pig and cow, in the barnyard hierarchy of intelligence. Aside from their intelligence, sheep see in color, they have poor depth perception and an almost unlimited peripheral vision, they also have excellent hearing.
In Jeremiah, we see that God, is comparing Israel to a sheep fold with God as owner rancher and the shepherds as the authorities raised up to protect and guide the sheep. God warns that there are false shepherds those who lead the sheep astray, scatter them, drive them away and kill them. God has plans to return god’s sheep to his fold. You see sheep while very intelligent also have some rather instinctive behavior; sheep will run from what frightens them, loud noises will cause sheep to flee. This natural flight response to danger is one way that sheep protect themselves. They run away. Sheep are gregarious, meaning that they group together, a sheep will always move towards another sheep. This is another defense mechanism, sheep will group together to increase their numbers for greater protection. Sheep will follow each other. This is because of their desire for protection and their gregarious nature. Sheep will always move towards another sheep or friend, and a friend is usually the shepherd who feeds them. It sort of gives a new perspective then to Jesus’ request for Peter to “Feed my sheep”. Jeremiah’s writing is a warning to those in authority, those who would scatter those whom god has chosen for his sheep fold. The problem is that this scripture from the prophet can be used by persons in various opinions (orthodox and inclusive, liberal and conservative), for it is subjective by how you define who is one of the bad shepherds? How do we identify those who would be leading the flock astray? Into exile, scattered? It’s all a frame of reference, for GLBT persons in this church for long we have associated ourselves, with the sheep who have been driven into exile, those who have been excluded from the church and church leadership. We cannot help but associate the recent actions of General Convention to be the work of God as referenced in the second part of the Jeremiah reading that which restores those sheep scattered into the fold. Yet I think we must always be aware that there are those who would see those actions to be that our current shepherds our bishops are the ones referenced in the first part, that they are those who scatter the flock into exile out of our Anglican Communion. How do we discern the true interpretation of this?
We have to look at the behavior of the shepherd and the sheep; does the shepherd just drive the sheep out and scatter them, with no care for them? Or are they good shepherds, who feed them, and care for them, and provide for them as Psalm 23 references? Does the leader point the flock towards Christ? Or is the shepherd leading the flock towards their own gratification and promotion? Christ had such compassion for his followers. It’s evident; Christ fed his people, healed them, and wept at their deaths. Christ was the good shepherd, gathering to him the fringe of society, those who were cast out of the community, the tax collectors, and the unclean of Israel. In the gospel reading we see Christ acting as a shepherd, as the apostles return from being sent out, and rejoicing in their accomplishments, the come back and Jesus says “lets go on retreat” and they get in the boat and travel across the lake to Genassaret, where the people were like sheep without a shepherd, and Jesus had compassion for them, the people recognized him and rushed to him. Remember sheep will move towards a friend a shepherd who cares for them. Jesus recognized the tragedy of that community, they had no good shepherd. For too long many in the LGBT community have been like the people in this gospel, like scattered sheep. We have been driven out either by explicit or implied comments of unwelcome. And we like sheep have gathered together in groups, like Integrity or Oasis for protection. We have found places of rest with good caring shepherds, like our Oasis congregations. Sadly those places of rest, and renewal with caring shepherds are few and far between. Our Episcopal church changed that this week. During our General Convention, if you have been following the online blogs and twitters like I have, you would have heard that we have explicitly stated that the discernment and ordination processes within our church are open to ALL the baptized, and by reading the conversations and debates at the time of the voting, I believe it really means ALL the baptized. We also made a statement regarding blessings of same sex unions, especially for those bishops in geographic areas where civil unions and marriage for same sex persons are now legal. Our church has made some very bold statements about who we are, and what type of church we are at this time. Some look at this as a rejection of the Windsor report and of the Anglican Communion, and I imagine we won’t hear the end of the rhetoric on the part of those who disagree with us. But I have to continue to look at what good is coming from this. We are gathering together those whom the world has scattered, those who have been told they are not worthy, that they are dirty. We have now told them that their baptisms are not second rate, because of who they love. But their baptisms are just as valid and empowering for whatever ministry they partake, in whatever order they are called, either Lay, Bishop, priest or deacon. I am excited about what this will mean for us. As a congregation in renewal I am excited, of what these statements will do for us. We have to now even more be explicit in our welcome and language towards the GLBT community. In our gospel today Jesus urges his disciples to come away to a supportive community and rest awhile. We need to create in our walls that place of rest to claim the gifts of spiritual disciplines of retreat and prayer, by doing so, we can empower us to be about the work of healing. Healing our own wounds and those of the community around us, for the Gay person who has been so wounded by ostracism, to the homeless who has been wounded by the callousness of systems that perpetuate their status, to the lonely student, reaching out for any connection, we live in a broken and battered world. Our Cathedral should be a hospital for those broken people in our community. We should in cooperation with Centenary Cares, and our own Saturday Breakfast feed Jesus’ sheep in our community.
Then we will be the good shepherds, we will be the ones, who the scattered and injured sheep of our community rush to.
And we will know that we are about doing the work of God.
AMEN.
I have always lived with the assumption that sheep were pretty dumb animals. And that is probably more due to legend than any actual experience I have with sheep. Growing up in Arnold, Missouri we did not have any Sheep ranches around. My first interaction with sheep was in Nebraska. I was working for a large company in Omaha, and my boss, this crazy Norwegian guy, lived in a small town west of Omaha, called Elkhorn, and on my first trip out to see him for a department teambuilding barbecue, I got turned around and ended up on some different country road. This was before GPS Systems so I had no idea where I was. In the course of getting out of my car with a folding Map of the entire state of Nebraska, I noticed a most offensive acrid smell. It was then that I heard the bleating. And I realized that here on the edge of Nebraska Corn and Cattle country was a sheep ranch. And the smell was terrible. Wet dirty sheep whose matted wool looked more like ropes than fine fluffy wool, most foul of all the pile of sheep manure the rancher had piled close to the road. That was my experience, so my perception of all sheep was not the some fluffy white cute sheep, but of smelly and stupid animals. When I read the readings from this week, with the abundant images of sheep and shepherds and the vivid pasture themes, it was difficult not to have my vivid memory come back to that smell. You see my memory is triggered by smell. Cherry pipe tobacco always reminds me of my grandfather, Cool Water cologne reminds me of my dad. Sugar cookies baking remind me of many Christmases as a child with my brothers and I decorating those familiar cookie cutter shapes, in colored frostings and multicolored jimmies. When I read the scriptures for this week, I really did not want my mind to be drawn constantly to the memory of sheep droppings. So I did a little reading up on sheep and their behaviors and attributes. Richard Cobb of the University of Illinois wrote in 1999 a brief “Introduction to Sheep Behavior” for the Illinois Farm Bureau, in order to encourage youth agricultural projects utilizing herds of sheep. In his brief paper Cobb, makes sure to expel the myth that sheep are stupid. He says that sheep are very intelligent, somewhere between the pig and cow, in the barnyard hierarchy of intelligence. Aside from their intelligence, sheep see in color, they have poor depth perception and an almost unlimited peripheral vision, they also have excellent hearing.
In Jeremiah, we see that God, is comparing Israel to a sheep fold with God as owner rancher and the shepherds as the authorities raised up to protect and guide the sheep. God warns that there are false shepherds those who lead the sheep astray, scatter them, drive them away and kill them. God has plans to return god’s sheep to his fold. You see sheep while very intelligent also have some rather instinctive behavior; sheep will run from what frightens them, loud noises will cause sheep to flee. This natural flight response to danger is one way that sheep protect themselves. They run away. Sheep are gregarious, meaning that they group together, a sheep will always move towards another sheep. This is another defense mechanism, sheep will group together to increase their numbers for greater protection. Sheep will follow each other. This is because of their desire for protection and their gregarious nature. Sheep will always move towards another sheep or friend, and a friend is usually the shepherd who feeds them. It sort of gives a new perspective then to Jesus’ request for Peter to “Feed my sheep”. Jeremiah’s writing is a warning to those in authority, those who would scatter those whom god has chosen for his sheep fold. The problem is that this scripture from the prophet can be used by persons in various opinions (orthodox and inclusive, liberal and conservative), for it is subjective by how you define who is one of the bad shepherds? How do we identify those who would be leading the flock astray? Into exile, scattered? It’s all a frame of reference, for GLBT persons in this church for long we have associated ourselves, with the sheep who have been driven into exile, those who have been excluded from the church and church leadership. We cannot help but associate the recent actions of General Convention to be the work of God as referenced in the second part of the Jeremiah reading that which restores those sheep scattered into the fold. Yet I think we must always be aware that there are those who would see those actions to be that our current shepherds our bishops are the ones referenced in the first part, that they are those who scatter the flock into exile out of our Anglican Communion. How do we discern the true interpretation of this?
We have to look at the behavior of the shepherd and the sheep; does the shepherd just drive the sheep out and scatter them, with no care for them? Or are they good shepherds, who feed them, and care for them, and provide for them as Psalm 23 references? Does the leader point the flock towards Christ? Or is the shepherd leading the flock towards their own gratification and promotion? Christ had such compassion for his followers. It’s evident; Christ fed his people, healed them, and wept at their deaths. Christ was the good shepherd, gathering to him the fringe of society, those who were cast out of the community, the tax collectors, and the unclean of Israel. In the gospel reading we see Christ acting as a shepherd, as the apostles return from being sent out, and rejoicing in their accomplishments, the come back and Jesus says “lets go on retreat” and they get in the boat and travel across the lake to Genassaret, where the people were like sheep without a shepherd, and Jesus had compassion for them, the people recognized him and rushed to him. Remember sheep will move towards a friend a shepherd who cares for them. Jesus recognized the tragedy of that community, they had no good shepherd. For too long many in the LGBT community have been like the people in this gospel, like scattered sheep. We have been driven out either by explicit or implied comments of unwelcome. And we like sheep have gathered together in groups, like Integrity or Oasis for protection. We have found places of rest with good caring shepherds, like our Oasis congregations. Sadly those places of rest, and renewal with caring shepherds are few and far between. Our Episcopal church changed that this week. During our General Convention, if you have been following the online blogs and twitters like I have, you would have heard that we have explicitly stated that the discernment and ordination processes within our church are open to ALL the baptized, and by reading the conversations and debates at the time of the voting, I believe it really means ALL the baptized. We also made a statement regarding blessings of same sex unions, especially for those bishops in geographic areas where civil unions and marriage for same sex persons are now legal. Our church has made some very bold statements about who we are, and what type of church we are at this time. Some look at this as a rejection of the Windsor report and of the Anglican Communion, and I imagine we won’t hear the end of the rhetoric on the part of those who disagree with us. But I have to continue to look at what good is coming from this. We are gathering together those whom the world has scattered, those who have been told they are not worthy, that they are dirty. We have now told them that their baptisms are not second rate, because of who they love. But their baptisms are just as valid and empowering for whatever ministry they partake, in whatever order they are called, either Lay, Bishop, priest or deacon. I am excited about what this will mean for us. As a congregation in renewal I am excited, of what these statements will do for us. We have to now even more be explicit in our welcome and language towards the GLBT community. In our gospel today Jesus urges his disciples to come away to a supportive community and rest awhile. We need to create in our walls that place of rest to claim the gifts of spiritual disciplines of retreat and prayer, by doing so, we can empower us to be about the work of healing. Healing our own wounds and those of the community around us, for the Gay person who has been so wounded by ostracism, to the homeless who has been wounded by the callousness of systems that perpetuate their status, to the lonely student, reaching out for any connection, we live in a broken and battered world. Our Cathedral should be a hospital for those broken people in our community. We should in cooperation with Centenary Cares, and our own Saturday Breakfast feed Jesus’ sheep in our community.
Then we will be the good shepherds, we will be the ones, who the scattered and injured sheep of our community rush to.
And we will know that we are about doing the work of God.
AMEN.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Easter 6: Leaving Room for the Spirit
Preached by the Rev. Mark Sluss at Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday, May 17
In 1993, I had started to attend the Cathedral in Chicago, after moving into the city from the Northwest Suburbs. My roommate attended there, so we went to church together, he was already plugged in there and I needed to meet people, so it seemed like a good idea. I attended there for about 2 years. Then in 1995 I was doing all kinds of ministries, I was an acolyte, a thurifer, sub deacon, and a Master of Ceremony (comparable to our Vergers), and in support of my room mate we were starting a Young Adult group at the Cathedral. We had planned a couple of events. And to be completely honest they had very low attendance. I was beginning to feel spread very thin. In spite of all the things that I was involved in, in spite of all the friends I had made, I just did not feel “connected” to God in that space. Yes everyone was nice, the church was beautiful, they prided themselves in doing GREAT Liturgy. Due in part to their Canon Liturgist who ran the acolytes, readers and intercessors with an iron fist! But the feeling I came away with most Sundays was “that was a good performance, no one messed up today”. Instead of feeling renewed, refreshed, or regenerated, I felt like we had just put on a show.
Given the poor fruit we were bearing in the one endeavor that I was trying to get off the ground, the one thing that I thought would fill me up, I became discouraged, and a bit bummed over the situation. At that time I reviewed those times in my life where I truly felt connected to God. When did I feel that what I was doing was blessed by God, and truly connected and blessed in whatever action I was doing? It is a practice I advise you to do from time to time. Look back at your life, when did you feel God was right along side you, honestly leading you, and giving you blessings? What was the time like? What were the feelings? What action did you do? What about the situation seemed to hold God with you? What was your attitude? What was your subconscious doing???
I began to think about the period of time just after I had been baptized. It was in March of 1988. I was graduated from then Southwest Missouri State University (now it is Missouri State University). I moved to Columbia Missouri, and was attending Calvary Episcopal Church. I was involved with the campus ministry group, and truly felt connected. OK, sure I wasn’t a student, and I was attending the parish and partaking of the young adult group there. I first met Heidi Clark then and she invited me to help out with the parish youth groups. And it was within those groups that I truly felt the presence that god was working with us. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was recently baptized, or living in community, or what, but everytime I did something for and with the community at Calvary I felt blessed. I felt connected and a part of something greater. The feeling was one of elation, one of a true “lightness” of body and mind. My attitude was one of awe and wonder at what God was doing with us. Yes it was messy at times, but that was part of the wonder for me. We were doing things at least to me that seemed “from the hip’ and God was working through us.
When I reflect back on this time, with regards to the situation I was in at the Cathedral in Chicago, I realized that at least for me, with the pretty building the regimental acolyte corps, the perfect liturgy a sort of restriction was being placed on us. It was then that I made the decision to change parishes. I told myself it was the “corporate-ness” of the cathedral that wasn’t feeding me. And that is true, but in the end I truly think it was that I didn’t feel empowered to get down to ministry with the living God, Life is organic and the Cathedral in Chicago was to me a sterile controlled environment to interact with God. Things worked out well for me though. Once I made the decision to move from the Cathedral, I decided to try the little parish church in the adjoining Ravenswood, neighborhood just south and west from where I lived, All Saints, Ravenswood.
All Saints Parish was unique, they were a mission church on the rebound in an up and coming rehabbed community of Chicago. The sanctuary had old radiator heat that leaked in the winters and the carpeting was frayed and held together with duct tape. In the summer, because of an ambitious sexton’s idea to varnish the pews, in the scant few weeks of heat of Chicago, the varnish melted so you had to bring towels and sheets with you so that you didn’t stick to the pew. And no one seemed to mind. You see All Saints was a parish that was alive. If you wanted to try to do something you could. I often say that All Saints was messy enough that we left room for the Holy Spirit to move amongst us. God was at All Saints and at Calvary doing new things with us. We weren’t afraid to fail. We weren’t afraid to look foolish.
What it is that gave us that attitude, I have to say that it is friendship. Friends do not point and laugh at you for your failure. But uphold you and cheer you on in your endeavors. That was the difference between the cathedral in Chicago and All Saints yes I went to the Cathedral with a friend, and to make friends, but that community for me did not take shape. All Saints did. And to be honest Calvary was the same situation, I became friends with our Mike Kinman and Heidi Clark, some twenty one years ago. And we were doing good things. And we were being blessed in our endeavors. And we are going to continue to do good things and I pray we will continue to be blessed in our endeavors.
And now we have a new Provost that 21 years ago was just my friend Mike and still is, and plans are being implemented here at this cathedral. I feel an excitement and an anticipation that I haven’t felt in a while. I feel a great sense of possibilities. The possibilities that could and will occur when we lighten up and let the spirit move in and around us. Yes it is going to feel strange and dangerous, it usually does feel dangerous when the spirit starts working, to let loose of those things that feel comfortable for us. But it is a new time for us, and the spirit longs to be set free to do the new things that God calls us to do. The spirit wants to move in this place. The spirit is not a pet to be kept with us, kept in a pen of rigid liturgical formulas, like in the cathedral in Chicago felt for me, the spirit wants to be loose!
God does new things all the time. New and unexpected things. It is a common theme, that when we send missioners out from this place, that they come back, and say “it wasn’t what I expected”. “I thought I’d be ministering to them, and in fact I think they served me more than I did them”. It is the relationships we build that help us to minister together. Not at or for someone else. And it’s making those friends and traveling together, getting dirty together, in the vineyard, that the spirit comes and dances and abides with us.
God pours out his spirit on to all, in our reading of Acts, even Gentiles get the gift of the Spirit, can you believe it?? EVEN the Gentiles; wonder what the historical equivalent of GAFCON, or the Southern Cone thought about that, even to the GENTILES! The mission to spread the gospel to the gentiles was solemnized by the gift of the spirit at that moment. If God pours out the spirit to even Samaritans, Ethiopian Eunuchs, and now in this reading, Gentiles, who are we to say that spirit isn’t offered to gays and lesbian folk as well? I have seen the spirit move and bless LGBT people, in many communities, and especially at Pride fest. We hear stories from those attending on how God is blessing the fruit of ministries in these areas. And like Peter says “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people?” And if so then how can we deny these baptized members all the sacraments that the church offers? Ordination and yes even Marriage. Many of you may have been reading about the recent happenings with the Anglican Consultative Council, and their adoption of the most recent Covenant statement (of course with some changes). But it still calls for moratoria on Blessings and Ordination to the Episcopacy. To those of us LGBT persons it appears that the instruments of communion are trying so tenuously to keep the communion together, trying for unity sake to hold onto relationships with those that want to exclude a group that God obviously calls into the family as well.
It is disheartening at times to hear the rhetoric being offered by bloggers and observers, of persons working behind the scenes to sabotage all the good work that the communion is doing. IT is those provinces that are working together that see such fruits and blessings of god in progressing the mission and works that we feel called to do together. Take for example our own missions together with the Diocese of Lui. Our friendship and sharing of stories and relationships together bless us both with the grace to travel together. Yesterday and today our missioners are leaving for Lui. And I know that the spirit dances and moves in those relationships and friendships that will be rekindled and those that will be created.
God works and supports us through our community of Friends. When we gather together we can accomplish greater things.
Jesus called his disciples friends and Facebook wasn’t around then so he must have meant it to be more than just a status update. It is in friendship and love that we are known to be followers of Christ. It is in community that the spirit comes and guides and blesses our works. Like my friend Mike said last week, it is time for us to reach out across the various services and spend some time abiding with each other. Being friends with one another, not just Facebook friends like the 2516 friends Mike has on Facebook, but honest face to face friends, friends in the body of Christ. Supporting each other and ministering together and to each other. Being friends, dinner friends, shoulder to lean on friends, altar guild friends, Saturday morning breakfast friends… friends in and around all the ministries that we are called to by being friends in and of Christ. And being friends in Christ is a ministry in itself. So let’s get dirty, let’s get messy and lets make a few mistakes, lets try something new and be willing to admit our failures. Let’s give each other a Monopoly “get out of jail free” card that can be turned in when you sing the wrong verse, turn the wrong way, drop a prayer book or leave floaters in the chalice. Let’s allow enough room to recognize the Holy Spirit in here with us. Moving amongst us, blessing us and empowering us to do all the good things God promises will come to us when we do abide together as friends. Let’s abide with one another this summer and rediscover the friendships we share that make US the community that is Christ Church Cathedral. Amen.
In 1993, I had started to attend the Cathedral in Chicago, after moving into the city from the Northwest Suburbs. My roommate attended there, so we went to church together, he was already plugged in there and I needed to meet people, so it seemed like a good idea. I attended there for about 2 years. Then in 1995 I was doing all kinds of ministries, I was an acolyte, a thurifer, sub deacon, and a Master of Ceremony (comparable to our Vergers), and in support of my room mate we were starting a Young Adult group at the Cathedral. We had planned a couple of events. And to be completely honest they had very low attendance. I was beginning to feel spread very thin. In spite of all the things that I was involved in, in spite of all the friends I had made, I just did not feel “connected” to God in that space. Yes everyone was nice, the church was beautiful, they prided themselves in doing GREAT Liturgy. Due in part to their Canon Liturgist who ran the acolytes, readers and intercessors with an iron fist! But the feeling I came away with most Sundays was “that was a good performance, no one messed up today”. Instead of feeling renewed, refreshed, or regenerated, I felt like we had just put on a show.
Given the poor fruit we were bearing in the one endeavor that I was trying to get off the ground, the one thing that I thought would fill me up, I became discouraged, and a bit bummed over the situation. At that time I reviewed those times in my life where I truly felt connected to God. When did I feel that what I was doing was blessed by God, and truly connected and blessed in whatever action I was doing? It is a practice I advise you to do from time to time. Look back at your life, when did you feel God was right along side you, honestly leading you, and giving you blessings? What was the time like? What were the feelings? What action did you do? What about the situation seemed to hold God with you? What was your attitude? What was your subconscious doing???
I began to think about the period of time just after I had been baptized. It was in March of 1988. I was graduated from then Southwest Missouri State University (now it is Missouri State University). I moved to Columbia Missouri, and was attending Calvary Episcopal Church. I was involved with the campus ministry group, and truly felt connected. OK, sure I wasn’t a student, and I was attending the parish and partaking of the young adult group there. I first met Heidi Clark then and she invited me to help out with the parish youth groups. And it was within those groups that I truly felt the presence that god was working with us. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was recently baptized, or living in community, or what, but everytime I did something for and with the community at Calvary I felt blessed. I felt connected and a part of something greater. The feeling was one of elation, one of a true “lightness” of body and mind. My attitude was one of awe and wonder at what God was doing with us. Yes it was messy at times, but that was part of the wonder for me. We were doing things at least to me that seemed “from the hip’ and God was working through us.
When I reflect back on this time, with regards to the situation I was in at the Cathedral in Chicago, I realized that at least for me, with the pretty building the regimental acolyte corps, the perfect liturgy a sort of restriction was being placed on us. It was then that I made the decision to change parishes. I told myself it was the “corporate-ness” of the cathedral that wasn’t feeding me. And that is true, but in the end I truly think it was that I didn’t feel empowered to get down to ministry with the living God, Life is organic and the Cathedral in Chicago was to me a sterile controlled environment to interact with God. Things worked out well for me though. Once I made the decision to move from the Cathedral, I decided to try the little parish church in the adjoining Ravenswood, neighborhood just south and west from where I lived, All Saints, Ravenswood.
All Saints Parish was unique, they were a mission church on the rebound in an up and coming rehabbed community of Chicago. The sanctuary had old radiator heat that leaked in the winters and the carpeting was frayed and held together with duct tape. In the summer, because of an ambitious sexton’s idea to varnish the pews, in the scant few weeks of heat of Chicago, the varnish melted so you had to bring towels and sheets with you so that you didn’t stick to the pew. And no one seemed to mind. You see All Saints was a parish that was alive. If you wanted to try to do something you could. I often say that All Saints was messy enough that we left room for the Holy Spirit to move amongst us. God was at All Saints and at Calvary doing new things with us. We weren’t afraid to fail. We weren’t afraid to look foolish.
What it is that gave us that attitude, I have to say that it is friendship. Friends do not point and laugh at you for your failure. But uphold you and cheer you on in your endeavors. That was the difference between the cathedral in Chicago and All Saints yes I went to the Cathedral with a friend, and to make friends, but that community for me did not take shape. All Saints did. And to be honest Calvary was the same situation, I became friends with our Mike Kinman and Heidi Clark, some twenty one years ago. And we were doing good things. And we were being blessed in our endeavors. And we are going to continue to do good things and I pray we will continue to be blessed in our endeavors.
And now we have a new Provost that 21 years ago was just my friend Mike and still is, and plans are being implemented here at this cathedral. I feel an excitement and an anticipation that I haven’t felt in a while. I feel a great sense of possibilities. The possibilities that could and will occur when we lighten up and let the spirit move in and around us. Yes it is going to feel strange and dangerous, it usually does feel dangerous when the spirit starts working, to let loose of those things that feel comfortable for us. But it is a new time for us, and the spirit longs to be set free to do the new things that God calls us to do. The spirit wants to move in this place. The spirit is not a pet to be kept with us, kept in a pen of rigid liturgical formulas, like in the cathedral in Chicago felt for me, the spirit wants to be loose!
God does new things all the time. New and unexpected things. It is a common theme, that when we send missioners out from this place, that they come back, and say “it wasn’t what I expected”. “I thought I’d be ministering to them, and in fact I think they served me more than I did them”. It is the relationships we build that help us to minister together. Not at or for someone else. And it’s making those friends and traveling together, getting dirty together, in the vineyard, that the spirit comes and dances and abides with us.
God pours out his spirit on to all, in our reading of Acts, even Gentiles get the gift of the Spirit, can you believe it?? EVEN the Gentiles; wonder what the historical equivalent of GAFCON, or the Southern Cone thought about that, even to the GENTILES! The mission to spread the gospel to the gentiles was solemnized by the gift of the spirit at that moment. If God pours out the spirit to even Samaritans, Ethiopian Eunuchs, and now in this reading, Gentiles, who are we to say that spirit isn’t offered to gays and lesbian folk as well? I have seen the spirit move and bless LGBT people, in many communities, and especially at Pride fest. We hear stories from those attending on how God is blessing the fruit of ministries in these areas. And like Peter says “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people?” And if so then how can we deny these baptized members all the sacraments that the church offers? Ordination and yes even Marriage. Many of you may have been reading about the recent happenings with the Anglican Consultative Council, and their adoption of the most recent Covenant statement (of course with some changes). But it still calls for moratoria on Blessings and Ordination to the Episcopacy. To those of us LGBT persons it appears that the instruments of communion are trying so tenuously to keep the communion together, trying for unity sake to hold onto relationships with those that want to exclude a group that God obviously calls into the family as well.
It is disheartening at times to hear the rhetoric being offered by bloggers and observers, of persons working behind the scenes to sabotage all the good work that the communion is doing. IT is those provinces that are working together that see such fruits and blessings of god in progressing the mission and works that we feel called to do together. Take for example our own missions together with the Diocese of Lui. Our friendship and sharing of stories and relationships together bless us both with the grace to travel together. Yesterday and today our missioners are leaving for Lui. And I know that the spirit dances and moves in those relationships and friendships that will be rekindled and those that will be created.
God works and supports us through our community of Friends. When we gather together we can accomplish greater things.
Jesus called his disciples friends and Facebook wasn’t around then so he must have meant it to be more than just a status update. It is in friendship and love that we are known to be followers of Christ. It is in community that the spirit comes and guides and blesses our works. Like my friend Mike said last week, it is time for us to reach out across the various services and spend some time abiding with each other. Being friends with one another, not just Facebook friends like the 2516 friends Mike has on Facebook, but honest face to face friends, friends in the body of Christ. Supporting each other and ministering together and to each other. Being friends, dinner friends, shoulder to lean on friends, altar guild friends, Saturday morning breakfast friends… friends in and around all the ministries that we are called to by being friends in and of Christ. And being friends in Christ is a ministry in itself. So let’s get dirty, let’s get messy and lets make a few mistakes, lets try something new and be willing to admit our failures. Let’s give each other a Monopoly “get out of jail free” card that can be turned in when you sing the wrong verse, turn the wrong way, drop a prayer book or leave floaters in the chalice. Let’s allow enough room to recognize the Holy Spirit in here with us. Moving amongst us, blessing us and empowering us to do all the good things God promises will come to us when we do abide together as friends. Let’s abide with one another this summer and rediscover the friendships we share that make US the community that is Christ Church Cathedral. Amen.
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