Sermon: Sixth Sunday After Pentecost

Angela Shelley Wiggins

Long ago, in a far away place, there lived a powerful king with a vast and wealthy kingdom. Well, actually, he wasn’t quite a king, he was more of a puppet for the real rulers, but he liked to think of himself as king. So we’ll play along, we’ll call him king.

To celebrate his birthday, the king held a great feast--the kind of party only a king would throw. He invited his most loyal supporters and advisers. People came from the far reaches of the kingdom to join in the festivities. The guests wore their finest clothes, bright colors, fine linen and silk.

The best meats and cheeses were prepared; the finest wines were poured. Everything was extravagant and the guests feasted. It was a night they would long remember.

There were speeches and toasts, congratulations, and well wishes. The king brought in entertainers – singers, musicians, jugglers, dancers, magicians, and acrobats. There was something for everyone.

Even the king’s sons joined in wishing their father joy and prosperity. One of his daughters danced; a beautiful and exotic dance. The king was so pleased with her, so pleased to have won her admiration.

He said to his daughter, “I will give you anything you wish for, anything up to half of my kingdom.” The guests heard this vow, heard the king declare to his daughter that she could have anything she wished for.

The king was pleased when she replied that she would ask her mother for advice. So wise, he thought, to ask advice of her elders. Most people, he thought, would reply hastily, and waste their wish on something small and trivial. But not this girl, she would choose wisely, carefully; she would choose something she would not forget. But remember, at this party, things aren’t always what they seem.

The girl ran to her mother and told her that the king had vowed to give her anything she asked for, up to half his kingdom. What should she ask for, she asked her mother. Another horse or a castle of her own? Jewels, silks, gold? What would befit such a vow? What should she ask for so she would never forget this night? She asked her mother, “what about you, Mother? What do you want most in all the world?”

It was an easy question for her mother to answer. She wanted revenge more than anything else, revenge on the man who had shamed her. Her husband, the king, wouldn’t grant it to her; he had locked her enemy in protective custody. But now she saw her chance. She knew the king wouldn’t go back on a vow made before his courtiers. All she had to do was to put her request in the mouth of her daughter, and it would be granted. She would have revenge.

Quickly she told her daughter to ask for the head of her enemy to be brought to her. With a reckless vow, the king had promised to grant anything the girl asked for. This is not what he had in mind, but he could not refuse her. He would not go back on a vow made so publicly and so boastfully.

When the girl approached the king, he looked down at her, eager to hear her fondest desire. He wondered what she would ask for. He asked for silence so that everyone could hear the girl’s request. The guests leaned forward to hear her. She made her request: she asked for the head of her mother’s enemy on a platter. There was silence, then a gasp from the guests.

The king knew he could not deny his daughter’s wish. He had promised her anything, and this is what she had asked for. He asked the musicians and dancers to begin again, and sent his soldiers to the jail to fulfill the girl’s wish.

In less than an hour the soldiers were back at the feast. As they carried in a platter with the severed head on it, the crowd cheered.

At this party, things are not always what they seem. What should have been a joyous celebration, a life-giving event, becomes a death watch.

We’re startled by how the story ends. It has a gruesome, grotesque ending, the kind of ending that lingers in our minds and dances around in our imaginations.

At first the story sounds like generous hospitality, but it quickly becomes a story of excess and recklessness. The whole story is a story of distortions, of things out of proportion and out of balance. We see the ugly side of almost everything.

It’s also a story of reversals, starting with Herod’s fear that the man he executed is now alive. Herod put John the Baptist in protective custody, but protective custody becomes death row; and a birthday becomes a day for killing.

The king plays at being powerful, but his wife and daughter subvert his power, and lure him into murder. The dance of delight becomes the dance of death, pleasure turns to grief.

The one sent to prepare the way of the Lord is dead. The one chosen by God to announce good news is chosen for execution. John the Baptist came to proclaim good news, and he was killed for that proclamation, killed because of the power of his words.

Everything that seemed good, seems to have gone bad. It’s a night they’ll never forget, but for all the wrong reasons. But remember, at this party everything is not what it seems. There’s more here than the story of a martyr’s death.

Mark the evangelist consistently positions the life and mission of the John the Baptist along side the life of Jesus. In life John the Baptist points to Jesus, and his death continues to point to Jesus Christ. In the introduction to this story, Mark has the people question whether Jesus is actually John raised from the dead. When we see John the Baptist, Mark wants us to think of Jesus Christ. He tells the Jesus story with John as a parallel. When he tells of the death of John, we know he’s looking ahead to the death of Jesus. Mark ends his story with the resurrection of Jesus, and that’s the beginning of our story.

And that’s where our hope lies, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the new life we have in Christ. The Epistle lesson for today celebrates the giver of that new life, the life in which we are adopted as God’s own children. Unlike the king, the wicked stepfather, who promises half his kingdom, God has promised to us God’s whole kingdom, “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph 1:3). God has “lavished on us” the “riches of God’s grace.”

We don’t have to dance our way into God’s favor or trick God into doing what we want. Instead, God has “freely bestowed” grace on us, and has chosen us “to be holy and blameless before God in love.” Ephesians says we have “obtained an inheritance,” an “inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people” (v. 14).

Our story is a story of reversal, a story of adoption, a story in which we are forgiven, a story of life springing from death.

As the children of God, we are “marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” (v. 13). We are Christ’s own forever. That’s something worth celebrating, that’s a reason to throw a feast.

And so we do. Today and every Sunday, not just any feast, but a heavenly feast. We have a feast around this table, and we celebrate mysteries we don’t comprehend. As the children of God, we remember our redemption, our adoption, and we join in the heavenly feast.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Sermon: Fifth Sunday After Pentecost

The Very Rev. William Thomas Deneke, rector

On a weekend when we celebrate independence and freedom, we find that neither is absolute and both are exceedingly complex.

In 1776 independence was primarily defined as independence from the rule of Great Britain. But even then there were all sorts of corollaries. Many colonists had come to America primarily for religious freedom, although as the Church of England was a state Church, the boundaries between civil and religious authority were fuzzy. For a good number of colonists, the aim was freedom from the throne and Parliament but not entirely from British culture. The Boston Tea Party was a case in point. Only later would a separate American identity be formed.

Now 233 years after the original Fourth of July we look back and marvel at the revolutionary movement revealed in the Declaration of Independence. A movement of democracy still developing today.

The Declaration has always been in process. Early on voting rights were available only to free white males who owned property. Liberty for all has a broader meaning today than in the 18th Century.

And there is another big change. We live in an increasingly interdependent world. We are seeing that in the global economic crisis of our time. National boundaries for the most part are only partially conveyers of independence.

And it is worth asking: Is absolute independence a desirable goal? From a Christian perspective freedom is never defined by independence. The full maturity of people and nations is shaped by relationships defined in the Great Commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself."

This is paradoxical understanding of freedom. It shifts the perspective from simply freedom from to include freedom to. As we are freed from being consumed with ourselves we are freed to reach out to others. Being freed from fear and scarcity, we are freed to hope and embrace God's abundance. And being freed from self-loathing and guilt, we are freed to love our neighbor as ourselves, freed to love God and our neighbor who in an interdependent world is not only the person next door but also someone in Haiti, Honduras, New Orleans, and Belgrade, Serbia.

We sing hymns to celebrate this. Hymns such as "In Christ there is no East or West" and even "Joy to the World."

Moreover, this paradoxical understanding of freedom is underscored by the prayers of our church and especially the Collect for Peace in Morning Prayer. "O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom..."

"Whose service is perfect freedom..." For those of us bound and freed by the vows of our baptism, any celebration of independence and freedom must come to grips with this prayer.

It is true that likely most Christian nations in conflict have maintained that God is on their side. This may appear at times little more than a self-serving political ploy. Still this cannot dissuade us from the call of our faith to pursue freedom foremost in service to the One who said to love God and our neighbor above all else. From a Christian perspective true patriotism is the willingness to pursue this truth and to pray fervently for the council of the Holy Spirit in all matters of the state.

This weekend we celebrate all that is good about our country, and we do well to repent of all that is sinful. We continue to learn what freedom means and does not mean. We are amazed and thankful that from the early days of people landing on these shores a nation of immense achievement, generosity, and diversity has come forth and continued to develop.

And above all, we give thanks that we are blessed with abundant resources and opportunities to glorify God, whose service, indeed, is perfect freedom.

Prayer for the nation: BCP p. 820

Almighty God who hast given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in they Name we entrust with the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon: Third Sunday after Pentecost

The Rev. Benjamin Anthony
Episcopal Chaplain at Emory University


When belief in God is broached as a conversation topic, what ensues usually unfolds along the lines of rationality, logic or evidence. Or such belief is defended as an operation of faith, which is construed as the opposite of these other "empirically" based forms of human behavior. Belief in God and its attendant religious practices are situated as just one more form of human discourse, albeit one promoting largely discredited truth claims and where it has survived past its expiration date, religion is seen as liable to promote sectarian clannishness and "inspired" violence.

Religion's emergence into a competitive marketplace of ideas has exposed its weakness as a "system" capable of explaining everything. This is fine. Actually, this is a rather wonderful gift. In its inability to explain everything religion has a valuable, if underutilized freedom.

This freedom goes mostly unrecognized. Instead the pressures to make religion a "system of ideas" have induced in Christianity an amnesia for what makes religion—and the faith it sustains—possible. We seem to have forgotten that what makes faith possible (and worthwhile, I might add) is trust. Trust that the God we proclaim is loving, good and intent upon human flourishing. Trust that the lives we lead are gifts from this God. As religion becomes something of a minority report in contemporary culture, it will be increasingly tempting to make appeals to rationality, empirical evidence and proof as justification for its practice. I believe we would do well to look elsewhere. I believe we would do well to consider what it means to trust God and what signs constitute the trustworthiness of God.

Recently in the New York Times Stanley Fish authored a two-part column entitled "God Talk". In the column Fish took up the claims of an author named Terry Eagleton who has recently published a book in response to some of the louder voices of contemporary atheism. I won't summarize Fish's columns here or even attempt to characterize the responses to it. What I will say is this: I don't think it was originally intended to be more than a one-shot piece but the response to it, as measured by reader comments posted to the online edition, was so vigorous and polarized that Fish was moved to respond and refine his original post. By the time the editorial gatekeepers at the Times closed the articles to further reader comments, each column had generated nearly 800 comments apiece. Regardless of where one comes down on belief in God, it seems safe to say that a considerable number of people are concerned with the question and that the resources typically used to answer that question are better suited to generate heat rather than light.

One final comment: this is not a call for blinkered anti-intellectualism or a shortcut through the rigorous terrain of critical inquiry. Christianity is an historic religion which claims that the decisive events of salvation are human events and that redemption unfolds as a process of human history. But faith arises not just from evidence that verifies these events as "true" but in response to a God that is trustworthy. Said simply: Christian faith trusts that the God of Jesus Christ is the Creator and redeemer of the world. To that we turn.

Our turn towards the trustworthiness of God is helped along by a turn into today's Scripture texts. What I propose to do is to do a reading of them; specifically, I want to draw together the lesson from Job, its insights into God as Creator and the scene from the Gospel in which Jesus calms a windstorm and the fears of his disciples. What I hope such a reading will produce is a sense that the God who, as Creator is invisibly beyond all things becomes visible in Jesus.

The lesson from Job comes near the conclusion of the book. Job's friends have held forth, offering their partial understandings of how God governs the world and the affairs of people. Finally, God speaks. As if to emphasize the mysteriousness, God speaks "from a whirlwind," a narrative flourish that lends the speech an atmosphere of tremendous darkness. These are words freighted with incomprehensible gravity. God says to Job (and to us as well), "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?...or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?"

The only answer to be given goes something like "I don't know." Indeed this is the answer that Job gives when God's speech concludes after much elaboration. Job, humbled and chastened, says to God, "I know that You can do everything, that nothing you propose is impossible for You... Indeed I spoke without understanding of things beyond me which I did not know." (Job 42:2-3). On the one hand the power and hiddenness of God are accented and establish a limit for what human understanding can comprehend. This disparity, this gap that separates Creator from creature is impassable and any attempt to explore this disparity requires a measure of trust. Said simply, we may come to know our world well and intimately but that knowledge will always remain a darkened mirror reflecting the glory of God.

But we can say at least this much: God as Creator has brought the world into being with powers that infinitely surpass human imagination and as Creator, God shapes human destinies even more completely.

Now, let's turn our attention to the Gospel lesson. At first glance we seem to get a pretty straightforward affirmation of the insight we gained in the Job lesson. That is, we see that the power to subdue and order creation are at the disposal of Jesus, the Son of God. This miraculous display of power impresses the disciples. With the windstorm that had been buffeting their boat reduced to a dead calm, the disciples remark to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" We nod in ironic agreement for we, the readers of Mark's gospel, know who this man Jesus is. We know that he is the Son of God, right? But do we know what this means? Do we see Jesus as a kind of super human and fail to see the way in which he is actually perfectly human? In other words, does our faith owe to the narrow range of miracles that show forth Jesus' power to tame the forces of nature? Or does our faith owe to the rather greater miracle that is rooted in Jesus' relationship to God?

For in Jesus we see a perfect and pacific dependence upon God. And that tranquil, trusting relationship seems to me to be the overarching significance of this story from Mark's gospel. Before Jesus rebukes the windstorm, the narrator notes that Jesus was "was in the stern, asleep on the cushion." And immediately following the calming of the storm, Jesus asks his once panicking disciples, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" Framing the performance of this miracle are clues that disclose the true nature of God as Creator. Jesus rests, secure in the care of God, trusting that the Creator of all things is intensely and intimately present to him. The disciples fear and trust is ensnarled with anxiety and despair: their faith perishes in the world's relentless threats of chaotic return.

We see that Jesus perfectly embodies God's creative power and intent. Jesus trusts God completely and so discloses the trustworthiness of God. As Rowan Williams has said, we see that God's power is "the unlimited power to be there, to be faithful to and for a world that is deeply unstable and unjust and suspicious and uncooperative: the power to go on trying to get through at all costs, labouring and wrestling with the human heart" (Tokens, p. 19).

This is hardly proof that God exists or even that belief in God is empirically plausible. I'm not sure such comforts are available to us. Perhaps God cannot be proven to exist. But there are reasons to trust that this is the case.

The words spoken to Job from an arcane whirlwind become plainly visible in Jesus, the embodied Word of God. And we see that the purposes of God intend our well-being. We see that God has created us to have life and to have it abundantly. We see as Rowan Williams says that "God is to be trusted as we would trust a loving parent, whose commitment to us is inexhaustible, whose purposes for us are unfailingly generous; someone whose life is the source of our life, and who guarantees that there is always a home for us." (Tokens of Trust, p. 19).

Sermon - Second Sunday After Pentecost

Tracy Wells
Communications Coordinator
> click here for the scripture for the day


What does it mean to be "chosen" by God?

In the Hebrew scripture for this morning, we read the story of God choosing David to replace Saul as king of Israel. The prophet Samuel surveys the sons of Jesse and discerns that David is the one God has chosen.

In essence, the work Samuel does in discerning the next leader of Israel is the same work that discernment committees do in choosing the next leaders of the church. As individuals present themselves as interested in a career in ordained ministry, it is the committee's responsibility to listen and to pray, and to discern which of these individuals God has chosen to serve as deacons or priests in the church.

I stand before you today as a product of that process. The committees met, the prayers were said, the bishop was consulted, and at the end, all these people affirmed that they believe that I have been chosen by God to be a priest.

And I believe it, too. The discernment process and the ordination service do not allow for a kind of "oh, if you insist..." approach to putting on the collar. Aspirants for the priesthood are not allowed to play the role of the reluctant leader, having greatness thrust upon them. A large part of the discernment process is learning to claim one's sense of calling. When the bishop asks in the ordination service, "My sister, do you believe that you are truly called by God and his Church to this priesthood?" I must be able to answer confidently and firmly, "I believe I am so called."

In essence, I must stand up and proclaim to the world that I am chosen by God.

Sounds just a bit arrogant, doesn't it? -- maybe even dangerous. We are rightly suspicious of people who claim to be "chosen by God" -- for me, that language conjures up images of early Puritans proclaiming who is and who is not among the "elect" few whom God has chosen for salvation, in a system that I would call theologically abusive. Throughout human history, people have used language about being "God's chosen people" to justify pursuing their own self-interests, often through violence.

But what we miss if we think of being "chosen by God" as arrogant is the fact that being "chosen by God" does not make us any better than anyone else -- because here's the secret -- God has chosen EVERYONE. But we are chosen to do different things, to play different roles. Claiming to be "chosen by God" only becomes arrogant when we believe that the thing God has chosen us to do is better than the things God has chosen other people to do.

My grandfather, who was not a church-going man himself, used to always say, "What a good thing it is that God made us all different -- that's what makes the world go 'round." Or, in the words of the Apostle Paul in the letter to the Ephesians:

"[E]ach of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. (Ephesians 4:7, 11-13)

What role has God chosen you to play in building up the body of Christ? Even this passage from Ephesians is quite limiting, as it talks about people being called to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers -- but God also chooses people to be doctors and lawyers and English tea volunteers and vestry members and gardeners and finance committee members. Where do your gifts lie in serving God and bringing others to the knowledge and love of God?

In my experience of discerning my calling to the priesthood, I have come to believe that we all have a particular calling in life, a particular path that will bring us to a place of abundant blessing if we choose to follow it. I do not believe that God will reject us if we do not choose that path, but I do believe that we will find more fulfillment and abundant blessings if we do follow it.

In late college and the beginning of graduate school, I planned to pursue a career in journalism. I knew I loved studying religion, and I was also a good writer, so I thought I would combine these two things and become a religion reporter for a newspaper. My experiences in the world of journalism were all rewarding in some sense, and I believe that God was surely with me, guiding me and loving me through all that I did in that field of work. But while I was writing articles and copy editing newspaper pages, I couldn't shake the sense that there was something more important that I should be doing.

From the first time I began to read the Bible in earnest in late high school, I had been struck by Jesus's injunction to reach out to the poor. Passages from Scripture like, "If you love me, feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17), and "whatever you did to the least of these, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40), would ring in my head as I walked past homeless people begging for change on the streets of Cambridge.

Finally, I listened to the call and began to volunteer with an outdoor church for the homeless in Cambridge, similar to the Church of the Common Ground here in Atlanta. Although I felt completely unqualified and incompetent in this ministry, it certainly brought me much closer to God than journalism ever had. I began to write about my experiences with the Outdoor Church, and some of my mentors began to suggest that I might consider pursuing ordained ministry. Although every practical bone in my body told me it was time to get a "real job" and start making money to pay off my educational debt, I felt the call to devote intentional time to seriously discern whether or not I had a calling to ordained ministry, so I spent a year in intentional community living and discernment in Omaha, Nebraska, through one of the Episcopal Service Corps internships for young adults. While I know God would have been with me even if I chose not to go to Omaha, it became obvious to me once I arrived and met the wonderful people there who supported me in my discernment that I had found the place of deep blessing that God had for me at that time.

Listening to God's call is not often easy or practical, in my experience. But when God chooses us to do something, we actually have very little choice in the matter. From comparing notes with others in the field of ordained ministry, I have heard countless stories of people who have denied their calling for many years, pursuing another career, until finally they were able to accept God's call, to recognize their chosenness, and begin to live into that place of deep blessing to which God had been calling them all their lives. Like Jonah, we are finally unable to run from our calling, however scared we might be to accept it.

It has certainly been difficult for me to accept that I am chosen by God. Ironically, although I look for approval from others and struggle with perfectionism, it is actually difficult for me to accept praise, and even harder to truly acknowledge that I am fundamentally accepted, even chosen, by God. My perfectionism often leaves me feeling woefully inadequate in the face of the calling I have received. Perhaps that's why I was brought to tears by the following quote, which I first heard in a sermon that a friend of mine gave at St. James Episcopal Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the church I attended while I lived in Boston. It is often attributed to Nelson Mandela, but was actually written by Marianne Williamson, an author and minister in the Unity Church. She writes,

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

My years in discernment have begun for me the process of becoming liberated from my own fear -- fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of being hurt -- and becoming reborn as "a new creation" (as Paul says in 2 Corinthians), a more calm and confident version of myself who is able to claim her gifts and own her calling. The process is difficult and ongoing, but it is happening. I am learning to accept my chosennesss, to acknowledge that I am the beloved of God - to stand up and say, "Yes, I am chosen."

I believe this is what happens when we begin to follow the path that God has prepared for us -- we are brought face to face with our belovedness and are liberated from our fear. God begins to pry open our hearts to accept God's love and begin to offer it to others. It may not always be the path we would have expected to take; it may not be the path that others would have us take -- but it is the path God calls us to nonetheless. And it is an invitation to a place of great blessing.

My prayer is that each of you would find that path, that place of great blessing, in your own lives, and in doing so you would find yourselves face to face with a God who loves you and who chooses you - every day and every hour - to represent God's love to the world.

The Lord has chosen YOU. Stand up and proclaim it to the world, and "let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works, and glorify God in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). Amen.

Sermon - Day of Pentecost

The Rev. Allan Sandlin, associate rector
> click here for the Scripture for the day

Our children, Thomas and Lizzy, grew up while our family was living in Germany. For both of them, I suspect, German is as much their mother-tongue as English. So imagine what it was like for Lizzy that day we first visited the school she now attends. Her eyes lit up when she walked into the classroom and recognized that the 12 year-old students were all speaking German with their teacher. She heard the language of her childhood, the language in which she first learned to read, the language the children in her Sunday School class spoke when the adults left the room. I don’t know exactly what she was feeling that day, but it might have felt like she’d come home.

What does it mean to hear a story told in your mother-tongue when you’re accustomed to hearing things through someone else’s culture, through someone else’s native language?

This morning, we’ve listened again to the Pentecost story from the book of Acts. Things started off normally enough but then people began to stand and read the lesson in other languages, mostly in their mother-tongue. Several languages, interrupting each other, all at once. What a great noise!

It gives us, perhaps, a glimpse of the chaos, the energy, the surprise of the first Christian Pentecost. Hearing Albert read in his mother tongue, Krio, and Cara read in Vietnamese and Gerritt in Dutch also reminds us that at Holy Trinity, our home countries and our mother-tongues are not all the same. It’s a gift, this diversity.

But don’t think for a moment this was meant to be a re-enactment of the first Pentecost. No. That was something entirely different.

The gospel according to Luke ends with the ascension of Jesus. The beginning of the book of Acts, written by the same author who wrote Luke’s gospel, picks up the story line. We find the disciples, now reconstituted as the 12 with the addition of Matthias (chosen, you’ll recall, by rather dubious means), gathered in a house somewhere in Jerusalem.

Some of Jesus’ last words to them still echo in their hearts: Don’t leave Jerusalem. Wait there for the promise of the Father. You’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and then you’ll be my witnesses. So now, ten days after Jesus’ Ascension, they were probably beginning to wonder how long the wait was going to be, maybe fear had begun to creep back into their hearts and minds.

And then this wild, strange thing happened. First came the sound, without warning, like a gale force wind. Then, like a wildfire, tongues of flame spread and danced above their heads. And the Holy Spirit filled them, giving them the ability to open their mouths and speak in languages none of them had studied in school.

I suppose the windows of the house must have been open, because a crowd soon gathered outside. Included in that crowd were Jews from at least 12 different nations, all living there in Jerusalem. They were residents of the city, not just in town for the festival of Pentecost. But Jerusalem wasn’t home to them—they understood the language spoken by the natives but it wasn’t their mother-tongue. It must have taken their breath away when each of them understood the disciples to be speaking in their own language. The crowd from Elam heard Elametic. (I made that word up…) Those who hailed from Pamphylia heard Pamphylian.

After the noise died down and after the disciples finished speaking about God’s deeds of power, the crowd was awe-struck. Amazed and perplexed. Some of them seemed curious, willing to ask questions about what this might mean, wondering together at the very mystery of these simple, unsophisticated fishermen suddenly able to speak a new language with eloquence. Some of them were open and wanted to hear more.

But not all of them. These others scoffed and turned away in disgust. Their minds and hearts slammed shut as they sneered ah, they’re just a bunch of babbling drunks.

And that’s all it took. Peter stood up and found his voice. With strength and confidence, he began this passionate, articulate sermon. Keep in mind, this is Peter speaking. Peter who a short while ago was denying that he even knew Jesus. Now he speaks with assurance. The part of his speech you heard this morning, is only the prelude to a mighty powerful sermon, a sermon that will reach the hearts of many in that crowd. If you were to read all the way to the end of the sermon, you’d know that 3,000 people were baptized as a result of hearing it. Not even Rick Warren can match that.

No one expected Peter to be able to stand up and preach like he did. But here he was, stepping up to the task with authority and strength. Where’d he get that power? Where’d it come from?

And where did those disciples learn to speak languages they’d never even overheard in casual conversation? Where’d they find the power to speak so fluently and tell God’s story in language that sounded like a clear bell? How are people ever enabled to do things they should never in a thousand years be able to do? And over the air comes the refrain You’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and then you’ll be my witnesses.

Of course, there are different ways of witnessing. In the telling of the Pentecost story this morning, the first language we heard was not actually heard at all. You saw it. Ginny moved to the center of the aisle and began to interpret the story in American Sign Language. What a witness our interpreters are—and what a gift to us are those who speak and listen through their hands.

Everything we’ve heard thus far suggests that receiving the gospel has to do with words, words, words. The disciples were given words to speak that would open hearts to God. Peter used words to confront people, to remind them of what they already knew about Jesus and to enlighten those who’d never heard anything about him.

But there are ways to witness to the gospel of Christ without using words.

St. Francis of Assisi is given credit for being the first to say it like this: Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.

But sometimes it’s the very language we use in church that blocks the ability of some to hear. While those of us who worship here week after week might feel right at home, if Episcopalese isn’t your mother-tongue, well…how welcome would you feel?

Or how would you receive the good news of God in Jesus Christ if you are a single mother with a challenging 4 year-old in tow or a gay couple wondering if it would be ok to have their photo taken together for the parish directory or how do you hear the gospel if you are still learning to speak English or if your home at the moment is the Decatur Inn?

How do you hear, how to you receive the good news God is offering?

There came a point came in my life when I could no longer hear the good news of Jesus

through the voice of the Baptist preachers who formed me in the faith. Maybe the volume just got turned up too loud. But I could no longer hear love, I couldn’t hear compassion, I couldn’t hear anything above the din, the loud seemingly uncompromising voices.

Did you happen to read Tracy Wells’ Pentecost meditation in the e-news last week?

Tracy calls to mind the 4th chapter of Luke’s gospel. In particular, it’s a verse Luke must have still had in his mind as he was writing the book of Acts. Early in his ministry, Jesus stood up in his hometown synagogue and read from the prophet Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

Then, Tracy asks a good question. How has the Holy Spirit anointed you to preach the Gospel?

For don’t you know, all of you who’ve been baptized have already been anointed by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses. It’s part of the covenant made at baptism and reaffirmed again and again throughout our lives in the church. So the question is, how will you do that? How has the Holy Spirit anointed you to preach the Gospel?

Last week, I attended a conference for preachers. Preachers like me, who do this week after week. Five days of listening to sermons, at least 3 a day, and singing hymns side by side with 1,500 other preachers from across the country. And oh, my goodness, the preachers we had with us. It was like going to the All-Star game, although instead of Manny Ramirez and Chipper Jones, we had Fred Craddock, Barbara Brown Taylor, Raphael Warnock and oh yes, Desmond Tutu. It was a rich time. It was really something to hear those people preach the gospel.

But we also heard the gospel through some very fine music and singing—a little jazz and some awfully good gospel music—but it was the congregational singing that really rocked the place. The organ was grand but it was when the organist would lay out for a verse or two and let us sing a capella…that’s when we began to preach the gospel. Maybe you’ve had such an experience—a moment when the music carried you to a place where the spoken word could not go. But maybe that’s just me.

There are other ways the gospel can be preached, other ways to witness to God’s love.

Some people go their whole lives without standing in a pulpit, but they find other ways to preach the gospel. Other ways to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I’ve been told that Russ Wallace doesn’t really enjoy being in front of the congregation, not even to read a lesson from the Bible. But those 17 years of mission trips to Honduras, taking medicine and his skills as a doctor to places and people where they are so desperately needed—that’ll preach!

How has the Holy Spirit anointed you to preach the gospel?

Well, that’s one question. And it’s a good one.

Then there were those in the crowd who listened closely and attentively and heard the good news in a way that went straight to their hearts. They received a gift from the Holy Spirit as well—the gift of hearing.

By the way, did you catch what Jesus said toward the end of the reading from John’s gospel this morning? What Jesus says there feels almost subversive to me. Lest we imagine that everything we need to know about faith and life is contained in words recorded in the Bible, Jesus himself comes along and says

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all the truth…

Now I wonder. How has the Holy Spirit anointed you to hear? Were you paying attention? And what did you hear?

Sermon - Seventh Sunday of Easter

Angela Shelley Wiggins, seminarian

In late spring we do a lot of sending off – we celebrate graduations and send our graduates out to do new things. We prepare for summer weddings and we send the couple off to be a new family. When the school year ends, we'll say goodbye to colleagues and neighbors who are moving away for new jobs. We say "best wishes" and "stay in touch," and promise we'll see each other again. It's a time of joy and possibility, of sweetness with a touch of sadness mixed in.

We're proud of the graduates and excited for the newlyweds and the neighbors who've found new jobs in new places, but sometimes we want things to stay just like this, just a little longer. We try not to talk about the sadness we feel in the midst of all this hope, joy and promise. Sadness because we recognize that while something good is beginning, something else good is coming to an end.

I remember the summer between high school and college. I was so excited I started packing in June. In the last few years, as children of our friends have graduated, and we've watched our friends send them off into the world, I've become more aware of the parents' perspective. We've talked about the apprehension that lurks just beneath the joy, their sense that it's come too soon.

They worry: Will everything be okay? Are they prepared? Did we do enough? Did we do too much? Did we teach them everything we meant to? What did we forget?

And they try to pack in every bit of wisdom and nurture they can before summer ends. Sometimes they resort to extreme measures. They pull out the big guns – Dr. Seuss. He's never let them down before.

Oh the Places You'll Go is a typical Dr. Seuss book in many ways. It has the clever rhymes and whimsical illustrations, but its intended audience is a little older. This book began as a graduation speech. Now it's a popular graduation gift from parents and godparents, a fun way to express their hopes and their apprehension. It's a chance to sneak in that last dose of parenting before sending the graduate out into the world.

After years of bedtime renditions of The Cat in the Hat and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, it's fitting to send the graduate off with one last bedtime story, a story that promises success, "98 and ¾ percent guaranteed."

Dr. Seuss expresses the joy and optimism of proud families: "Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!" He proclaims, "Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest."

But Dr. Seuss is also a realist. He acknowledges, "sadly, it's true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you." He writes about places where "streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked." But he's sure the graduate will emerge from the dark times and continue the journey.

Dr. Seuss also warns the graduates about the perils of loneliness, "Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you'll be quite a lot." And he tells them that being alone can be very frightening, "so much you won't want to go on." But he assures them, "But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak."

Dr. Seuss is confident that the graduate will endure these challenges, and accomplish good things. He captures the hopes and prayers of parents, godparents, and teachers. He writes the words parents are searching for as they send their children out on their own.

It's funny how the other calendars of our lives sometimes intersect with the lectionary. In our regular lives, we're sending forth graduates, newlyweds, and friends. We're preparing ourselves for new relationships and changing relationships.

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus is preparing his disciples for a new kind of relationship. When Jesus is no longer physically present, they will relate in a whole new way, and Jesus wants to prepare them for that time.

Like parents sending graduates off into the world, Jesus is preparing to leave his disciples to leave them on their own, yet not alone.

The first half of the Gospel of John is sometimes called "The Book of Signs" It tells of the signs and wonders Jesus did to reveal who he was – the Word Incarnate, God Among Us. The second half of the Gospel of John opens with the Last Supper and it relates Jesus' instructions to his disciples on how to live when he's no longer present among them.

The Gospel of John positions this prayer of Jesus at the end of the Farewell Speech to the disciples, and just before the account of the passion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. It's a turning point in the story.

Jesus' words in the Farewell Speech and in his prayer give us a glimpse of what Jesus wants for his disciples. It's not a To-Do list or a checklist. Instead, it's in John's poetic language that slows us down to contemplate the mysteries he describes. In the Farewell Speech and prayer, we hear Jesus' hopes for his disciples, his prayer for his disciples, for us.

The relationship between Jesus and the first disciples is changing. The time of seeing Jesus perform wonders is ending. The time of eating and drinking with Jesus is coming to a close. No longer will they be an intimate group gathered around the table They will no longer see Jesus physically present among them, but Jesus wants them to know he's not leaving them alone and unprotected.

Over and over at this Last Supper he tells them, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." Jesus says, "I will not leave you orphaned." And "My peace I give to you."

We would like to include some of the assurances Jesus offers in our own sending forth messages. We want our graduates, our newlyweds, our colleagues to know they will not be alone. We want them to not be afraid. We want them to have peace. Imagine how much more comforting it must have been for the disciples to hear that although Jesus is leaving them, he's not leaving them alone.

At the conclusion of the Farewell Speech, Jesus prays to God the Father, both for his own work and for his disciples. Jesus prays for the disciples gathered in that room for the Last Supper, and he prays for the disciples gathered today in this room. Jesus prays for us, for his disciples in all ages and places. And this is his prayer. First he prays, "Holy Father, protect them in your name." Jesus says that he protected his disciples while he was on earth. Now that he is "no longer in the world," he entrusts them to the care of the Father.

Jesus prays for us just as we pray for the ones we love. The prayer we pray for those absent from us is the prayer Jesus prays for us, "Father, protect them. I can't be with them. Father protect them."

Jesus prays for protection for his disciples, "that they may be one, as we are one." He prays that his disciples will be one, will be unified, just as he is one with the Father.

Jesus also prays that his disciples will be protected from the evil one. This is similar to the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray, the prayer we say every week, "save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil."

The other main petition in this prayer is "sanctify them in the truth." Jesus prays that God will sanctify his disciples, He prays that God will sanctify us, set us apart to do God's work. It's interesting that Jesus didn't say, "Set aside a few from among them." Instead his prayer is for "those whom you gave me." Jesus prays that all his disciples will be set apart.

Most of us like the idea of Jesus praying for our protection. We'd like to be protected from danger and evil. It's a little more disquieting to hear Jesus pray for God to sanctify us, to set us apart, All of us. Not just the super-holy, not just the clergy, but all of us. Sanctified, set apart for God's work. All of us.

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus' work in the world is coming to a conclusion. His work was revealing who God is and he has done this work through signs and wonders. And Jesus' work, revealing the glory of God, will be accomplished in his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. And his work will be accomplished through his disciples who will continue to reveal who God is. We have been set apart for this work, the work of revealing who God is. Sanctified by God through the prayer of Jesus.

In the liturgical calendar, We're in the seventh Sunday of Easter, between the ascension of Jesus, and Pentecost. Ascension, the day we mark Jesus' physical absence and his glorification, And Pentecost, when we celebrate the fulfillment of his promise to send the Holy Spirit in his absence.

We live in the fulfillment of that promise, with the presence of the Holy Spirit. We're celebrating mysteries we cannot describe, and telling stories we cannot comprehend. This is the work we've been set apart for, the work of making God known.

When we remember that we are the ones set apart, we have a new perspective. We're not staying behind and sending others off. We're all set apart to do the work of God, we're all sent out to make God known.

As Dr. Seuss concludes, "be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, you're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way!"

Or as the Book of Common Prayer puts it, "Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit. Alleluia, alleluia!"

Amen.

Sermon: Fourth Sunday of Easter

Justin Yawn, seminarian

Here we gather again on the fourth Sunday of Easter. It is a day where we hear the texts that many of us here might find familiar. First, we hear about Peter and John defending their actions to the Sanhedrin. Proclaiming the love of God and not denying it. Next, John, in our lesson, tells us about the love of God and how it should be incarnated in the love we have for others. Lastly, we approach the Gospel, the famous image of Christ as the Good Shepherd. Many people in the world use the image of a shepherd to describe Jesus. All of these stories are rich and full of meaning, but I want to focus on our two passages attributed to John.

The Gospel today portrays Christ as the Good Shepherd. As I mentioned earlier, it is a common image, but, I do not know about you all, I actually do not know exactly what a shepherd’s life is like today or even in 1st century Judea. Have no fears I did some research into the subject. Shepherds, in Jesus’ time, were really cut off from most of society. Their main job was to insure that their flock had water and food. If they were serious, as I think Jesus is depicted as, they would actually sleep outside with the sheep to insure their safety. However, their obedience to their flock put their own life in danger. It was a job that had to be taken seriously. It was not a job for the weak, but a job for the dedicated and strong. Shepherding in the desert had its own challenges. Water was not an abundant resource in the desert as many people may know if they have been to a desert before. Predators abided in many places and the sheep often wanted to go into the dark corners for shelter. The shepherd had to keep track of all of these things.

As Lawrence Moore points out, “Jesus, in John 10, picks up on the “frontline” aspect of shepherding: “I am the gate” (10:7) and, in our text this week, “I am the good shepherd”. Note that this follows on immediately from the verse, “I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly”. Jesus then moves immediately into the image of the shepherd whose “goodness” is seen in laying down his life for the sheep. Jesus is not saying, “I am the good shepherd because I am prepared to lay down my life for the sheep”. This is not about risk-taking. Jesus is the shepherd who will give abundant life to the sheep at the expense of his own life.”

Jesus has reminded us that he has the ability to protect us. Our response to this loving kindness is to follow, follow Christ where he leads us. Christ says that he did what the father commanded and gave up his life for others. He acted in obedience, more importantly; his life was centered on God. Christ loved us and Christ loved God. We too are called to that place of love. To love others as a shepherd loves their flock. Christ had God, and we have both to lead and guide us. This is a gift that we should not take for granted. Knowing that Christ is our protector and leader is the first step toward living into the faith Christ calls us too.

When I was a young boy about 12 I was involved in the Boy Scouts of America. I spent many nights camping and scurrying around remote marsh hammocks with my friends and my father. One particular thing I disliked to do was go out at night and collect firewood in the dark. I was always scared that I might stumble onto a snake or maybe even the boogie man would get me. It never occurred to me that my dad was right there with me the entire time. He was keeping his eye on me and he always knew when I needed help or was very scared. Many times he would come and walk with me, so I would not worry about the creatures of the night. I felt safe. Dad was my shepherd who looked after me, whom I trusted and loved completely. Eventually, I became comfortable in this relationship and was able to go out and get my work done without him standing right next to me. However, I always knew he was watching over me and he was only a call away if I needed him.

This is what the risen life of Christ is about. Christ has been there by our side and Christ is there with us even when we don’t see him. Just as a Shepherd stays with its flock, so too does Christ stay with us. Our life with Christ calls us to embody the love he has for us and express this love to those around us. In one sense, we are sheep who rely on Christ and in another sense we are the instruments of Christ in the world.

Our epistle today encourages us to live out our faith. James, mentions in his letter that faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Here too, John is making a similar claim that we should let our love for Christ overwhelm us and lead us to love those around us. It is incarnating our faith in Christ that leads to transformative power in the world. It leads us to places that we would not normally go. It leads us to Honduras, New Orleans, Serbia, Africa, India, Haiti, and the list goes on. Our love for Christ helps us to recognize those in need around us. We do not just keep this love concealed for ourselves and for those whom we trust but we express to all people.

Last night at our Welcome Table Service, Ed spoke about the Clean Water ministry in Haiti. Particularly he spoke about prayer and how he understood prayer in his own life. But, what I saw standing before the congregation last night was a man who was incarnating the love of God. He was not letting his own fears or faith become a stumbling block. Ed found a way to touch God’s creation in transformative ways. When I look out in the congregation this morning I see faces of people who reach out to those around them and embody the love of God the same way Ed does. People who are not afraid to act in love. People who look at outreach as a normal part of their lives. The mission statement of Holy Trinity is a wonderful witness to the love each congregant here has for those around them. Holy Trinity challenges us to open hearts to God and doors to community. If I had time this morning I would tell stories about the various times I have seen this mission statement embodied by parishioners here. Your faith is strong and it is through this faith that you are acting.

Robert Cole-Turner says that faith is never alone and when God creates saving faith in our hearts, God creates active love. Everyone sitting here today has the saving faith of Christ in their hearts and we must remember this and continue the work.

We are the body of Christ on Earth and it is our job to live out our faith in our actions. For some this comes in the form of outreach to those in need. For others it might be a simple act of kindness and even for others it might be taking time to pray for someone who has hit a rough patch in their life. There is not one uniform way to live out your faith. The important thing we need to remember is that Christ is our leader and protector and all we need to do is align ourselves with the will of God and trust in Christ.

If you think back to Holy Week, our readings on Holy Thursday included two commandments Christ left us with are echoed in the epistle today. First to love God and secondly to love our neighbor. I know Holy Week is long past and we are into the joy of the Easter season and resurrection. But, these two commandments are important to remember as we live into the risen life. It is an easy task God calls us to. When we live into this risen life Christ challenges us, challenges us to seek and serve those around us. To remember that everyone of God’s creation is our sister or brother. Also, we must not forget that Christ is with us and guiding us every step of the way. Christ is our shepherd, protector, and friend. The one who will never leave our sides, but one who calls us to live out our faith in the world and to reflect God in all that we do.

When we begin to live out this faith, things happen. Wells are dug providing water to over 60,000 Haitians, with more on the way. Communities are developed and concrete floors are placed in houses that previously only had dirt floors. People travel to the Gulf Coast to provide houses to those who are living in shelters. Someone takes the time to call a friend who just experienced a tragedy and offers peace. Acting in faith leads to love of those around us which ultimately provides hope. I tell you today, my friends, that I believe this is what it means to live into the risen life of Christ.