Sermon 161. 18 Nov 18 Sir 24:9-12; Heb 2:11-18; Lk 2:41-52 Entry-Dedication

As Preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Chapel


Whenever I think about the life of the Theotokos a theme that always emerges is her willingness to hear [harken to] the word of God and go where that word is leading, exemplified by the story of the Annunciation. But today’s feast goes back to when Mary was a very young girl and under the guardianship of her parents. It is their action that inaugurates Mary’s very special life’s journey. Their decision to take her to the Temple, not just for a blessing but to dedicate her to a holy life under God’s protection, is a response of gratitude to God for the gift of the child Mary coming to this couple despite their advanced age. The story of this Temple visit and the early life of Mary come to us from a proto-evangelical source, the Gospel of James, that did not make it into the canonical corpus of the Bible but was of great popularity in the early centuries of the church. So, it is no surprise that the church incorporated this feast of Mary into the festal cycle of the church year, possibly in response to the popular affection for Mary and this event, but also as an important element in what the church wants to teach us by this story.

Mary’s early life becomes a process of purification preparing her to be the vessel used to bring God’s son into this world. For the church these stories are all about bringing Jesus Christ into the world as a human being and thereby affording humankind a pathway to salvation as the letter to the Hebrews proclaims. Since God’s motives and actions are always pure love, then Jesus’ birth from a virgin is symbolic of that purity made available through this particular human agent. Mary’s willingness to listen for and then carry out God’s word is the first lesson of her life for us.

But I think linked to this is another message that we might pay attention to. Like “willingness” noted above, another characteristic runs throughout the story of Mary’s life, namely: “dedication”. Mary dedicates her life to Jesus, first by bearing him and nurturing him during his childhood, but also by standing by him throughout his ministry.

The common understanding of “to dedicate” is to assign, to commit or to give over. If you dedicate a song you’ve written to a friend, it means the song belongs to them. If you dedicate yourself to a project, it means you give yourself to it. Joachim and Anna took the first step in this dedication. But Mary continued to live her life with renewed dedication to what her parents had initiated.

I can remember hearing that a tradition in some Roman Catholic families was to dedicate the first son to the church, usually by guiding him toward the priesthood. This was also common among Orthodox families. And today’s gospel lesson reminds us of how Jesus’ parents annually took their son to the temple to accomplish a similar duty. That begin with his presentation as a child. The Feast of the Theotokos we celebrate today is about the same desire, only it is for Mary. It is a sign of gratitude for a gift freely given.

Our life, indeed all life, is also a gift from God. Mary, prompted by her parents’ action, becomes a model of dedication to this special mission of God, first by her agreement to bear the Son of God, and then to be a faithful participant in his life and work all the way through to his death on the cross and beyond. For many believers she is the compassionate human access point to her son and through him to God. The numerous shrines around the world dedicated to her are a living testimony to this reality. A path to Wisdom as the one praise in Sirach.

To what do we dedicate our lives? How do we show that dedication? God loves all creation and creatures, including human beings, flawed though we may be. That love is given to us freely. That love is also translated into support for what we have chosen to do with our lives. We have many options, and by the way we live, we give birth to Jesus Christ over and over again.

A celebrity from the middle of the 20th century, in speaking about approaches to life concluded by saying: “...and the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live.” It may be no surprise to some that this quote is from Vince Lombardi, a very successful professional football coach, known also for his ardent dedication to equality and justice within his control. Mary’s example would fit this image perfectly. Might we strive to do the same?

OCTOBER 21, 2018 ISAIAH 25:6-10, 2 CORINTHIANS 1:8-11, LUKE 5:29-39

As preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom Chapel

There is a common thread in all three readings this morning. 

First, Isaiah tells us of God providing his chosen people all kinds of rich food—a real feast. The pall of tears and disgrace would be lifted, and salvation granted to those who had waited for the Lord. Who would not be joyful?

St. Paul found his terrible heavy burden lifted, and he was able to hope that any other hardship he endured would also be aided by God enabling him to be joyful and give thanks to God.

Matthew was so joyful at having been chosen by Jesus to follow him that he gave a great banquet. It must have been an open-door policy. The pharisees and scribes were there, besides many tax collectors and others from all walks of life. The pharisees and scribes might not have been so joyful at being answered in the way Jesus answered them by saying, in effect, “The righteous do not need me, but sinners do, and when the bridegroom is present there is no fasting.”  The others at the banquet had many reasons to be joyful upon hearing Jesus’ answers.

A common thread through all three is this: Be joyful in the lord! 

Mother Antonia Brenner spent 30 years in prison, although she had committed no crime. Twice married and divorced, and having raised her seven children, she determined to devote her life to the service of Jesus after he had appeared to her in a dream. A priest invited her to help him in his prison ministry at La Mesa in Tijuana, Mexico. It was an overcrowded prison that housed over 8 thousand inmates. Eventually Mother Antonia made private religious vows, and obtained permission to live in one of the cells in the women’s section of the prison. In the prison she walked freely among murderers, gang members, and other desperate inmates. Her loving presence often quelled violence. Near her death she said, “Happiness does not depend on where you are. I live in prison, and I have not had a day of depression in 25 years. I have been upset, angry, sad, but never depressed.” 1.

 

This is the kind of joy we can strive for.

The third thing Jesus said does not resound with any particular encouragement to be joyful: Don’t use new cloth to patch an old garment, and don’t put new wine in an old wineskin. Jesus is speaking not only to the pharisees who had disapprovingly asked him questions, but to all the other people there, and to us.

 Jesus was pleading that we not shut our minds to new ideas. The Holy Spirit is ever leading us to be open to grow in truth and wisdom. If we think we have the whole truth already, what would make us keep looking and searching? We all need to make time in our lives to ponder the mysteries of our faith. We don’t necessarily need heavy philosophical and theological books for our meditations. Take the Apostle’s and Nicene creeds. Take the Our Father, and ponder how we understand what any of these phrases means to us now, as perhaps differently from when we first learned our faith. 

 Take time to spend in contemplation of the God we have come to know.  Perhaps the creeds, the Our Father, and a few favorite prayers are all that some of us need to spend our time well. If they are joyful throughout the day and night, no matter what hardships and pleasures have come their way, they can be also grateful to God for this grace. The rest of us need more to satisfy our longing and searching.  Flannery O’Connor reflected that we live in a world increasingly convinced that there is no ultimate divine source. Many people are more concerned with the processes of consciousness than with the objective world outside the mind. Our experiences of God come to us through our bodies, through all of creation. Let us ponder well what our entire life means. 

 If, like St. Paul, life is so difficult we feel like despairing, remember God is with us as we suffer.  Nothing will befall us that will destroy us if we can but trust in God’s goodness. In the meantime, pray that we may be joyful in the Lord.

God is with us!

 1. (From Blessed Among Us by Robert Ellsberg.)

Sermon 160 Oct 7; Is 61:1-9; 1Cor 15:1-11; Lk 4:16-24. Rejection

As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Chapel

        “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

“A prophet is never welcomed in his own town.”

How well do we respond to rejection? Not always very well, speaking for myself. The emotional field that is stirred up can be vast and varied: Anger, dejection, self-doubt, self-pity, or self-justification, rejection of the other to just scratch the surface. And how much more difficult it is when the rejection comes from family or close friends? But for Jesus Christ, this rejection is part of a larger message St Luke is laying before us with this incident.

This morning’s gospel reading is really the third tableau of a series that St Luke is painting to show us how Jesus’ mission came to be.  Prior to this scene, we have the baptism of Christ and the temptations of Christ in the desert.

Some commentaries point to the role of the Holy Spirit making Jesus aware of his vocation through these three experiences. At Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending on Jesus in the Jordan brings the opening message from God that this Jesus is God’s son. A message for Jesus and for us. Then the spirit leads Jesus into the desert where he needs to face those inner yearnings for power and prestige common to human beings. The smooth-talking devil delivers the temptations and Jesus fends them off with scriptural authority. Finally, today’s event involves Jesus selecting a passage from the prophecy of Isaiah, not by chance but by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The text describes what the Good News is that Jesus is to bring to Israel.  It’s not a new message, but rather the revivification of God’s long-standing call to humanity, one too easily ignored.

So, Jesus quotes scripture in a way that challenges his listeners. They do not want to hear it and they reject him and his message. But this is God’s message. When Jesus says this passage is being fulfilled at this time, he is saying that the fulfillment is coming through him, through Jesus, and his mission, the mission he is now embarking on.

That mission, articulated long ago by Isaiah, is: “to bring glad tidings to the poor... proclaim liberty to captives... recovery of sight to the blind... let the oppressed go free... proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” But his listeners will have none of it. This is not the kind of liberation they are expecting. Even more, when he goes on to point out that God’s favor fell on the Syrian Naaman and the woman from Sidon rather than on God’s chosen, allowing the Hebrew God to break out of the confines of being their local tribal god to a universal God, this they cannot process. So, they run Jesus out of town and try to push him off a cliff, as Satan tried to do from the pinnacle of the Temple.

St Luke, more than any of the other gospel writers, returns over and over again to the theme of Jesus being on a mission to the poor and outcasts of society. Jesus is undeterred by rejection. He knows his mission and he will carry it out as it is his Father’s will.  So, for us to participate in Jesus’ mission, we need to pay attention to the mission statement from Isaiah. Take it to heart and act upon it.

As for Jesus’ example in the face of rejection, we can take away this lesson: know who you are, know what you’re about and do not let detractors deter you.

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Sermon for the Feast of the Cross

 Sept. 14, 2018 
Brother Christopher

Holy Wisdom Chapel

Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king!”

It doesn’t take much imagination to feel the suffering of so many in the world. Every day, every hour, we see and hear stories of tragedy and sorrow: just this past week, a black man being shot in his own apartment by an off-duty police officer who mistakenly thought he was in her apartment, a suicide car bomb killing many in a crowded area of Kabul, a report that one in five girls have suffered some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18…20%! A shooting in California leaving 6 dead… That’s just this past week, and even this is only the tip of the iceberg. The scope of such horror and injustice can become altogether numbing. And how often the question that accompanies such stories: “Where is God?”, “How could a good God allow such evils?” For so many, the evil and suffering in life prevents them from belief, from believing in a God of infinite love and compassion. And so they stare blankly towards the future with no hope save what they can get for themselves in this life.

The significance of the feast we celebrate today, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, is how it’s the Church’s response to the toxicity of violence, injustice, and evil. It invites us to see, to look on a deeper level at the unfolding complexity of life and perceive how God is not detached or distant from any of it. “Here is your king”, said Pilate to the Jews, saying far more than he knew or understood. For what we celebrate today is God’s response to humanity in Jesus, who we believe became incarnate as a human being, to share fully in our nature. This is the Divine kenosis, how in Jesus God emptied himself of his Divine consciousness and shared fully in the human condition. Jesus felt what we felt, experienced the broad range of suffering that all human beings do, and because of that, he is able to be present with us, compassionate with us in all our trials. He does so as the Risen Lord, who suffered, died, and was raised to new life. There’s a reason why in our tradition there’s a body on the cross: Jesus suffered in the flesh, and in that suffering reveals the extent God will go to reveal God’s absolute, unconditional love for us.

And it doesn’t stop there. While the cross was a physical, concrete event in the life of Jesus, it has now become a symbol that encompasses the whole of creation. As we sing in the second sticheron of the feast: “The cross is raised on high this day, sending forth its power to all the earth, to all four corners of creation, its arms extend salvation’s awesome grace…” Whenever we see a cross we’re reminded of God’s fundamental stance towards us: sacrificial love. This is why we wear crosses around our necks: to remind us of God’s constant and invincible love for us and to witness that to an uncomprehending world.

But the mystery deepens even more: we’re called to manifest the same love by sharing in the meaning of Christ’s cross. Jesus wasn’t being evasive when he said memorably, “If you wish to become my disciples, you must take up your cross daily and follow me.” I don’t think he was advocating masochism here. Taking up our crosses doesn’t mean mimicking the precise kind of suffering and death Jesus experienced, but facing the personal sufferings and deaths that come with the specific circumstances of our own daily lives. We’re not called to carry literal wooden cross beams, but rather all of the difficulties, disappointments, failures, sufferings and trials we inevitably experience. And the good news is that these are not the last word. Jesus did not come to simply die on a cross, but also to rise from the dead, to walk in newness of life, and to once again become the Cosmic Christ who draws all creation into communion with himself. Which is why we can see that our crosses are not ends in themselves, but springboards towards something beyond them, something new and life-giving, something leading to holiness. And so we raise the cross on high and proclaim its victory!