Okay, yes I WAS scared to death and almost in tears getting on that plane this morning, but here I am in Washington DC at my friend Rebecca's lovely brownstone, in an attic bedroom with a friendly tabby named Gabriel - Julian, you have competition for my heart!
The flight gave me an opportunity for evangelism. When people chatted about their destinations and I mentioned the conference, heads nodded and a few said, "Wow!" Comments like "If they (the government) can bail out the banks, auto companies, what about helping people feed their kids, pay the rent?" went around.
It's a larger than life issue and the answers won't come easy, but that's why we're meeting - to find scripture-based answers to the problem.
I'm still on California time, though it's 11:49 p.m. here, and that would be way past my bed time. But I can't sleep for the excitement of being in Washington DC for the first time - I saw the Capitol lit up as we drove into the city and I got chills. If anything good can come out of Washington DC it will be people getting together and working for a solution that will benefit everyone. Isn't that a great way of living out the Gospel?
Back to the flight - I sat by a window - the best way to get over fear is to confront it - and stared down at the landscape when it wasn't covered by clouds and fog. It was one incredible way to admire God's creation. I can't tell you how excited I was to see the great Mississippi River snaking through states. The man sitting next to me teased and said I needed to get out more often. That's as may be, but it really showed me what a small place I take up in Creation, and even though I am not as grand as a mighty river, or as majestic as the mountains and canyons I saw from the plane, I have a place and I have work to do. We all do.
Go in peace,
Ellen+
24 April, 2009
Ending Poverty - One Step at a Time
In three hours I'll be leaving Oakland Airport for Washington, DC. I haven't flown in 18 years and I've never been a fan of the mode of transportation, but I felt this conference, The Mobilization to End Poverty, was important enough to suck up the fear and loathing and just go - just go and join my diocesan colleagues and sisters, Shari, Linda and Salying, and thousands of other people of like mind to get together and figure out how we can end this epidemic of poverty in this, the most wealthy nation, and throughout the world. Day One is Sunday evening. Before the conference, I'll sightseeing and serving at St. Paul's Rock Creek - including a visit to their historic cemetery - on Sunday morning.
So pray with and for me on this trip, and when I get back, we can work together to turn things around. We already said, "Yes we can," now we have to show that words have action behind them.
Go in peace, dear ones!
Ellen+
So pray with and for me on this trip, and when I get back, we can work together to turn things around. We already said, "Yes we can," now we have to show that words have action behind them.
Go in peace, dear ones!
Ellen+
19 April, 2009
Believe!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
If you responded with the words, "The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!" I bet you wouldn’t have said that if you didn’t believe. Brothers and sisters, you do believe Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, right?
Okay, so where do we go from here?
A week has passed, but the excitement, the joy remains. You want to flip that page in the Gospel of John and find out what those other signs were that Jesus did. You want the story to continue, and it does, in the Book of Acts, the epistles and in the lives of everyone who has heard the Good News and proclaimed it. The greatest story ever told has an epilogue, and we are it.
How is this possible, when you and I weren’t there when the stone was rolled back and Jesus walked out of the tomb?
It’s possible because Jesus said so.
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Certainly good news for us, a slap on the wrist, perhaps for Thomas.
Thomas is one of those less-than-perfect disciples that one can find kinship with, for how many can truly say they’ve never questioned anything we’ve been told or seen, especially when the hour and the day are dark and feel without promise?
Those moments come, and then God puts into play or reveals something that turns one from being faithless to faithful, like the Resurrection. It happened to a group of scared, determined and faithful followers who kept the momentum going, from that morning to this.
I don’t buy into the dictum that you’ve got to see it, to believe it. We can't see the air, but it is all around us. We see its action - in the movement of Creation when the wind blows, we feel it on our skin. It is there.
God is there. God came to us in the form and blessing of Jesus. So many prophets came before Jesus claiming to be the Christ, the redeemer and savior. They slipped away into obscurity, some suffered ignominious deaths. What made Jesus so different?
He was who he said he was. He did what he said he was going to do. The resurrection of Christ gave new life to the followers of the Jesus movement. What was promised by Jesus in his teaching, was and is being lived out. The apostles, the first followers of Jesus, proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom - what Jesus promised in his teachings and ministry was made true. The followers of Jesus live out the new commandment - that followers love one another as Jesus loved them, and in attending to the needs of one another, what Jesus commanded was made tangible and real.
The apostles became the leaders of the movement and strived to live as they were taught, showing that “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a great family of different people, living together, loving one another and all living in equality.” What Jesus demonstrated in his ministry was kept alive by the faith, belief and right action of the Apostles.
And this is where we come in.
We are now the disciples, called to keep the Good News in play, to keep the Word in our hearts and minds, and to keep it alive. How you and I do this depends on the gifts God has given each one of us, and how the Spirit moves within us.
I’m pretty certain we’re always looking for new ways to proclaim the Gospel - some have been quite successful haven’t they? And some, abysmal failures. What keeps us going is belief. If Jesus can die for our sins, we can return the favor by keeping at it, trying harder. I believe he is with us every step of the way - sometimes we have to open our hearts and minds a bit wider to see him, get past our own wounds so that we can see his. No, we haven’t seen the five wounds of Christ except in artwork and in scripture, but we know they are real. I believe that every time we say ‘peace be with you,’ Christ says it to us.
It’s time for us to write the next chapter of the greatest story ever told. I intend to put my mark on the page this week when I begin my sabbatical and travel to Washington for the interfaith conference hosted by Sojourners - the Mobilization to End Poverty. I’ll gather with three of my diocesan colleagues in ministry and others of like mind to find ways of ending the epidemic of poverty in America. When I return from Washington, I’ll spend some time with the information and tools I receive so that when I return from my sabbatical in September, I can offer new resources and ways that my congregation lives out the new commandment and follows Christ’s dictum that when we feed and clothe and attend to the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, we do the same for Him.
What will you write on the page?
14 March, 2009
The Stuff of Life
What will it profit us to gain the whole world and forfeit our lives? What can we give in return for life? These are questions appropriate for this contemplative and penitential season of Lent, but truly, questions important to consider every single day of the year.
In speaking to his disciples, Jesus warns against putting earthly concerns and goods over the promise of eternal life. To these followers of Jesus, earthly concerns and goods meant home and family, financial security, perhaps standing in the community, and a peaceful life. And to us, his message is no different, even with the passage of a millennium. The everyday concerns have changed, but the goals we put before us are pretty much the same.
Might the ‘whole world’ be the ‘stuff’ in our lives? We all have it. Sometimes, it replaces or masks what’s important or crucial, or we’ve bought in to the idea that it’s what we need to be successful or happy because for so many generations the “American Dream” was to be acquisitive, have the best and the biggest and in all four different colors; sometimes, we let it get out of control.
When it gets out of control, the downward spiral begins, doesn’t it? And what better time than this to rid ourselves of that which we do not need, whether it be material, physical goods, or clutter in the mind and soul. It’s time given over to reflection and prayer, when we decide, with Christ’s help, what is truly important in our lives. Once we take that first, very painful step, the rest falls into place. Get rid of the clutter in life and you just may have a sense of order and enough room for prayer and a life that can be enriched by a deeper commitment and relationship with God and one another. And who knows? Perhaps you will discover all that all the stuff, that clutter, is a barrier. It’s a wall built up to hide behind, to keep us from being what God through Christ has called us to be.
We know that being Christian isn’t always warm and cuddly. Jesus tells us exactly what he expects of us. He says that if anyone wants to follow him, they will have to expect hardship, difficult choices, and, in the disciples’ time, perhaps death. To be a disciple is to act and live selflessly, to be willing to give up as well as give. Jesus calls us to an abundant life through love and belief, not of an abundance of earthly goods that pile up and clutter, get in the way of action that proclaims the Gospel.
What can we give in return for life? Our hearts, our minds, ourselves, freely - as freely and unconditionally as we are loved by God. Give them over into the loving care of Christ Jesus. But first, we need to get rid of the clutter so that we are receptive to the Word. Then we will be ready to shoulder the cross, and go and undertake work that make our community and world a better place that models the Kingdom of Heaven and not shame us before Jesus; work that shows that we are not ashamed of him.
I’ll leave it to you to discern what it is that Christ calls you to do. I dare you to look about and see, really see, what part of the ‘whole world’ is cluttering up your life.
I can guarantee it isn’t Jesus.
In speaking to his disciples, Jesus warns against putting earthly concerns and goods over the promise of eternal life. To these followers of Jesus, earthly concerns and goods meant home and family, financial security, perhaps standing in the community, and a peaceful life. And to us, his message is no different, even with the passage of a millennium. The everyday concerns have changed, but the goals we put before us are pretty much the same.
Might the ‘whole world’ be the ‘stuff’ in our lives? We all have it. Sometimes, it replaces or masks what’s important or crucial, or we’ve bought in to the idea that it’s what we need to be successful or happy because for so many generations the “American Dream” was to be acquisitive, have the best and the biggest and in all four different colors; sometimes, we let it get out of control.
When it gets out of control, the downward spiral begins, doesn’t it? And what better time than this to rid ourselves of that which we do not need, whether it be material, physical goods, or clutter in the mind and soul. It’s time given over to reflection and prayer, when we decide, with Christ’s help, what is truly important in our lives. Once we take that first, very painful step, the rest falls into place. Get rid of the clutter in life and you just may have a sense of order and enough room for prayer and a life that can be enriched by a deeper commitment and relationship with God and one another. And who knows? Perhaps you will discover all that all the stuff, that clutter, is a barrier. It’s a wall built up to hide behind, to keep us from being what God through Christ has called us to be.
We know that being Christian isn’t always warm and cuddly. Jesus tells us exactly what he expects of us. He says that if anyone wants to follow him, they will have to expect hardship, difficult choices, and, in the disciples’ time, perhaps death. To be a disciple is to act and live selflessly, to be willing to give up as well as give. Jesus calls us to an abundant life through love and belief, not of an abundance of earthly goods that pile up and clutter, get in the way of action that proclaims the Gospel.
What can we give in return for life? Our hearts, our minds, ourselves, freely - as freely and unconditionally as we are loved by God. Give them over into the loving care of Christ Jesus. But first, we need to get rid of the clutter so that we are receptive to the Word. Then we will be ready to shoulder the cross, and go and undertake work that make our community and world a better place that models the Kingdom of Heaven and not shame us before Jesus; work that shows that we are not ashamed of him.
I’ll leave it to you to discern what it is that Christ calls you to do. I dare you to look about and see, really see, what part of the ‘whole world’ is cluttering up your life.
I can guarantee it isn’t Jesus.
01 October, 2008
The Call to the Vineyard, Bucking Authority
Did you catch the themes of last Sunday's lessons? When the Gospel was proclaimed, did they click? Authority and belief jump right out at you, but I would like to save authority for another time and focus on belief, as belief is why we’re all here today, isn’t it? Still, that question of authority tempts because I believe we all buck it at one time or another, or wish we had more of it . . . just look what happened to the priests and elders when they approached Jesus about it.
I would have loved to be a butterfly on the walls of the Temple that day. It must have been a bit too much to swallow for these people in authority. In their structured, neat, and privileged world, one doesn’t buck the system, so they have questions for him, and they have a right to ask as those who uphold tradition and the law – but in this instance, the chief priests and elders aren’t really interested in a theological debate; they want Jesus to say that it’s God who gives him such power so they can bring him up on charges of blasphemy.
Jesus enters the Temple in Jerusalem and creates quite a scene. He disrupts the local economy by knocking over the money changers’ tables and driving out the merchants and their livestock. He heals people and children squeal and shout his praises and clamor at him.
“By what authority are you doing these things,” they ask; “and who gave you this authority?”
Jesus in true rabbinic tradition responds to their query with a question.
“Did the baptism of John come from heaven or was it of human origin?”
Looks like the ball rolled into the priests and elders’ court and they’ve got a problem. If they say John’s authority to baptize came from heaven, they’re at odds with Rome, with whom they cooperate, and if they say human, the crowds following Jesus and present during this exchange would probably riot, for John was revered as a prophet. So they take the middle ground, the safest route, and admit that they don’t know. They’re in a can’t-win situation. Jesus has the last word, of course, and ends this line of questioning by saying he’s not going to divulge the source of his authority. Then he pushes them a bit further, continues, telling a parable of two sons.
“What do you think?” Jesus asks. A man asks two sons to work in his vineyard. The first son says, no, but changes his mind and goes out to work. The second son says, yes, and doesn’t bother following through.
So which of these sons, Jesus asks, did his father’s bidding?
The priests and elders reveal their hypocrisy by saying it’s the first son. In so few words, they admit John’s authority came from God, for the first son can be compared to the tax collectors and prostitutes, the outcasts of a first century society that took honor and shame very seriously. They represented a less than holy way of life, but eventually they responded to and accepted John’s message to repent. These so-called sinners will be welcomed in the Kingdom of Heaven because they responded in belief to the messengers sent by God. On the other hand, the priests and elders were like the second son -- people who profess to be righteous, but rejected John and all that he taught, even after they witnessed changed lives they still refused to believe; they continued with business as usual, saying “yes” to God, but never following through.
The message we can take from this scripture goes something like this -- what matters most is what we actually do when God calls. Acknowledging what is correct, but not taking action, is a barrier to a true and heartfelt response to God.
It is through God that John and Jesus received their gifts of ministry, their exceptional powers and abilities to completely understand what it was that God required of them and accept what was asked.
All that we do and say in living out the Gospel and proclaiming it are gifts from God. We don’t have the particular gifts given to Jesus, but he gives us something wonderful – salvation and eternal life.
But is it really that simple, to say “Yes!” to whatever God asks and assume that’s good enough for now?
No, not really.
Do you find yourself at times eagerly promising God that you’ll go into the vineyard, and then getting distracted by just one more thing that has to be wrapped up before -- ? I plead guilty on this count, as I’m sure some of you will. Do you find yourself thinking that just because you’re Christian you’ve got it all locked up and you’ve got a reservation for one of the bigger rooms in the house in the Kingdom of Heaven? Again, I’m guilty as charged.
I’m like both of the sons. Are you?
The good news is the Good News. We might rush to give God the right answer and hope that that will suffice for the time being, but Jesus is with us to show us how to love perfectly and act accordingly. We are invited to allow Jesus’ love and guidance, and our action to transform us into what God wants us to be.
Every day is another chance to get it right with God, that when we’re asked to work in the vineyard, we should go and do just that.
Easy enough, right?
Not right.
If we are to do the will of God and give an authentic response, we need to embrace a life that reflects His love and the wonder of all creation.
The tax collectors and prostitutes responded and now it’s our turn.
The news throughout the world hasn’t been comforting or encouraging these past few weeks and now more than ever, we have an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel, using words, as Saint Francis once said, if necessary. If our words are true and bold, and actions follow that improve by one kindness someone’s life, and if our words are not lip service, or something convenient to satisfy the listener, then we honor Christ and model his holy work.
Come with me, friends. There’s work to do in the vineyard.
Are you ready?
I would have loved to be a butterfly on the walls of the Temple that day. It must have been a bit too much to swallow for these people in authority. In their structured, neat, and privileged world, one doesn’t buck the system, so they have questions for him, and they have a right to ask as those who uphold tradition and the law – but in this instance, the chief priests and elders aren’t really interested in a theological debate; they want Jesus to say that it’s God who gives him such power so they can bring him up on charges of blasphemy.
Jesus enters the Temple in Jerusalem and creates quite a scene. He disrupts the local economy by knocking over the money changers’ tables and driving out the merchants and their livestock. He heals people and children squeal and shout his praises and clamor at him.
“By what authority are you doing these things,” they ask; “and who gave you this authority?”
Jesus in true rabbinic tradition responds to their query with a question.
“Did the baptism of John come from heaven or was it of human origin?”
Looks like the ball rolled into the priests and elders’ court and they’ve got a problem. If they say John’s authority to baptize came from heaven, they’re at odds with Rome, with whom they cooperate, and if they say human, the crowds following Jesus and present during this exchange would probably riot, for John was revered as a prophet. So they take the middle ground, the safest route, and admit that they don’t know. They’re in a can’t-win situation. Jesus has the last word, of course, and ends this line of questioning by saying he’s not going to divulge the source of his authority. Then he pushes them a bit further, continues, telling a parable of two sons.
“What do you think?” Jesus asks. A man asks two sons to work in his vineyard. The first son says, no, but changes his mind and goes out to work. The second son says, yes, and doesn’t bother following through.
So which of these sons, Jesus asks, did his father’s bidding?
The priests and elders reveal their hypocrisy by saying it’s the first son. In so few words, they admit John’s authority came from God, for the first son can be compared to the tax collectors and prostitutes, the outcasts of a first century society that took honor and shame very seriously. They represented a less than holy way of life, but eventually they responded to and accepted John’s message to repent. These so-called sinners will be welcomed in the Kingdom of Heaven because they responded in belief to the messengers sent by God. On the other hand, the priests and elders were like the second son -- people who profess to be righteous, but rejected John and all that he taught, even after they witnessed changed lives they still refused to believe; they continued with business as usual, saying “yes” to God, but never following through.
The message we can take from this scripture goes something like this -- what matters most is what we actually do when God calls. Acknowledging what is correct, but not taking action, is a barrier to a true and heartfelt response to God.
It is through God that John and Jesus received their gifts of ministry, their exceptional powers and abilities to completely understand what it was that God required of them and accept what was asked.
All that we do and say in living out the Gospel and proclaiming it are gifts from God. We don’t have the particular gifts given to Jesus, but he gives us something wonderful – salvation and eternal life.
But is it really that simple, to say “Yes!” to whatever God asks and assume that’s good enough for now?
No, not really.
Do you find yourself at times eagerly promising God that you’ll go into the vineyard, and then getting distracted by just one more thing that has to be wrapped up before -- ? I plead guilty on this count, as I’m sure some of you will. Do you find yourself thinking that just because you’re Christian you’ve got it all locked up and you’ve got a reservation for one of the bigger rooms in the house in the Kingdom of Heaven? Again, I’m guilty as charged.
I’m like both of the sons. Are you?
The good news is the Good News. We might rush to give God the right answer and hope that that will suffice for the time being, but Jesus is with us to show us how to love perfectly and act accordingly. We are invited to allow Jesus’ love and guidance, and our action to transform us into what God wants us to be.
Every day is another chance to get it right with God, that when we’re asked to work in the vineyard, we should go and do just that.
Easy enough, right?
Not right.
If we are to do the will of God and give an authentic response, we need to embrace a life that reflects His love and the wonder of all creation.
The tax collectors and prostitutes responded and now it’s our turn.
The news throughout the world hasn’t been comforting or encouraging these past few weeks and now more than ever, we have an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel, using words, as Saint Francis once said, if necessary. If our words are true and bold, and actions follow that improve by one kindness someone’s life, and if our words are not lip service, or something convenient to satisfy the listener, then we honor Christ and model his holy work.
Come with me, friends. There’s work to do in the vineyard.
Are you ready?
26 August, 2008
Like a Rock
The Kingdom of Heaven is like the foundation of a great building – there are many stones, side by side, that hold it all together, and the building, in spite of many assaults, many earthquakes, many storms, remains standing because of the foundation. A foundation built on faith.
The first of those stones was Jesus and the next was Peter.
Of all the disciples, Peter is, perhaps the one that each of us can find something in which to identify. He’s less than perfect, he struggles to understand Jesus, has great ‘aha!’ moments where he finally gets it; he has moments of weakness and stupidity, he’s not afraid to speak up – remember when he sniped at Jesus, “Look, we’ve given up everything to follow you!” - and yet, when the final accounting is made, he is strong and sure, his love is evident. He’s a corner stone.
As Christians, we can add ourselves to this foundation – and why not? Don’t we possess similar qualities and strengths, weaknesses, as Peter? Who among us, if Jesus showed up at six o’clock some Tuesday night and asked, ‘But who do you say I am?’ would not echo Peter’s response, his confession of faith?
What makes us Christians? Our belief that Jesus is the Messiah. Our faith.
This morning’s Gospel is called “Peter’s Confession of Faith,” and it follows the miracles of the loaves and fishes, and Jesus’ walk on the Sea of Galilee. The author of Matthew tells us that after the walk, the disciples worshipped Jesus and proclaimed him Son of God. Simon Peter takes it up a notch. He says that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. This is the first time that a disciple has used this title. This confession leads to a blessing, a charge, and a new identity.
It begins when Peter becomes the first person to make what the first Christian Confession of Faith. Something new is happening, something new is being built—a foundation of love that will become the body of Christ, the church, by the will of God, and by the power of God, led first by Christ, and then his apostles, and now us.
Jesus gives Peter something more than new responsibility. A new name. To give a name is to bestow an identity. A name tells people who and what you are, your ancestry. To change a person’s name, as God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and Jacob’s name to Israel, and now Simon Peter, was to alter that person’s identity, relationships, and mission.
Simon bar Jonah becomes Cephas, or Petros – the rock. Upon this rock Jesus gives responsibility and mission – to lead the disciples after his death and resurrection. He has a new purpose, a new identity.
Scripture refers to God as a rock (Genesis 49:24; Deuteronomy 32; 1 Samuel 2:2; 22; Psalm 18, 28, 31, 42, 62, 71, 78, 89, 92, etc.) Isaiah also refers to Abraham and Sarah as a rock: "Look to the Rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you" (Isaiah 51:1-2). Given these associations, Jesus does great honor to Peter when he calls him the rock. I’ll throw this into the mix to get you thinking: is the “rock” actually the faith that Peter exhibits when he makes this confession, or Peter? Or both?
We become stones in the foundation all in time and it comes when we are baptized, and when we pronounce the Creed. If you look at the Baptismal Covenant on pages 304 and 305 of the Prayer Book, you will see that the charges made to those being baptized are exhortations to obey, serve and lead in Christ’s name and with God’s help. Similar, perhaps, to the charges Jesus gave Peter. When we answer, “I will” to the questions presented to us, and act upon them, building blocks are added to that set down by Jesus, Peter, the apostles, of all the faithful, and it makes the church stronger. As Paul states in his letter to the Romans, each of us has a gift that differs according to the grace bestowed on us – ministry, teaching, giving, loving, to name a few – and they are the stones, too, that build the body of Christ.
Like Peter, we are rock solid, and there are times when we are stumbling blocks; but the building remains intact. With the strength of our faith, our love of God in Christ, the walls are solid, stable; the church still stands and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
Go in peace and keep building the church,
Ellen+
The first of those stones was Jesus and the next was Peter.
Of all the disciples, Peter is, perhaps the one that each of us can find something in which to identify. He’s less than perfect, he struggles to understand Jesus, has great ‘aha!’ moments where he finally gets it; he has moments of weakness and stupidity, he’s not afraid to speak up – remember when he sniped at Jesus, “Look, we’ve given up everything to follow you!” - and yet, when the final accounting is made, he is strong and sure, his love is evident. He’s a corner stone.
As Christians, we can add ourselves to this foundation – and why not? Don’t we possess similar qualities and strengths, weaknesses, as Peter? Who among us, if Jesus showed up at six o’clock some Tuesday night and asked, ‘But who do you say I am?’ would not echo Peter’s response, his confession of faith?
What makes us Christians? Our belief that Jesus is the Messiah. Our faith.
This morning’s Gospel is called “Peter’s Confession of Faith,” and it follows the miracles of the loaves and fishes, and Jesus’ walk on the Sea of Galilee. The author of Matthew tells us that after the walk, the disciples worshipped Jesus and proclaimed him Son of God. Simon Peter takes it up a notch. He says that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. This is the first time that a disciple has used this title. This confession leads to a blessing, a charge, and a new identity.
It begins when Peter becomes the first person to make what the first Christian Confession of Faith. Something new is happening, something new is being built—a foundation of love that will become the body of Christ, the church, by the will of God, and by the power of God, led first by Christ, and then his apostles, and now us.
Jesus gives Peter something more than new responsibility. A new name. To give a name is to bestow an identity. A name tells people who and what you are, your ancestry. To change a person’s name, as God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and Jacob’s name to Israel, and now Simon Peter, was to alter that person’s identity, relationships, and mission.
Simon bar Jonah becomes Cephas, or Petros – the rock. Upon this rock Jesus gives responsibility and mission – to lead the disciples after his death and resurrection. He has a new purpose, a new identity.
Scripture refers to God as a rock (Genesis 49:24; Deuteronomy 32; 1 Samuel 2:2; 22; Psalm 18, 28, 31, 42, 62, 71, 78, 89, 92, etc.) Isaiah also refers to Abraham and Sarah as a rock: "Look to the Rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you" (Isaiah 51:1-2). Given these associations, Jesus does great honor to Peter when he calls him the rock. I’ll throw this into the mix to get you thinking: is the “rock” actually the faith that Peter exhibits when he makes this confession, or Peter? Or both?
We become stones in the foundation all in time and it comes when we are baptized, and when we pronounce the Creed. If you look at the Baptismal Covenant on pages 304 and 305 of the Prayer Book, you will see that the charges made to those being baptized are exhortations to obey, serve and lead in Christ’s name and with God’s help. Similar, perhaps, to the charges Jesus gave Peter. When we answer, “I will” to the questions presented to us, and act upon them, building blocks are added to that set down by Jesus, Peter, the apostles, of all the faithful, and it makes the church stronger. As Paul states in his letter to the Romans, each of us has a gift that differs according to the grace bestowed on us – ministry, teaching, giving, loving, to name a few – and they are the stones, too, that build the body of Christ.
Like Peter, we are rock solid, and there are times when we are stumbling blocks; but the building remains intact. With the strength of our faith, our love of God in Christ, the walls are solid, stable; the church still stands and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
Go in peace and keep building the church,
Ellen+
04 August, 2008
So Much More than Loaves and Fishes
Do you remember the folk tale, Stone Soup? A stranger enters a village in the dead of winter with a pot slung over his back; he sets up a fire in the market square and drops a pebble into the pot, adds water, and . . . . nothing! An old woman watches him from her window, as do most of the villagers, I guess, and while he stirs the water, he wishes that he had a turnip to improve the flavor of the broth. The old woman she thinks she has a turnip past its expiration date somewhere in the vegetable bin, and there it is. She tosses it in the pot. He thanks her, adding that the perfect thing to compliment a stone and turnip would be a carrot, a few more vegetables. Miraculously, the old woman just happens to have a soft onion somewhere – the skin needed to be peeled back and the bad parts cut off, but it would do, wouldn’t it? And the carrots – well, her old pony won’t mind giving them up, there’d be more tomorrow. The onion is joined by a bit of meat, a potato, some chicken bones for flavor – the ones you save to make stock with. Neighbors come by when the good smell of broth simmering drifts through the village; they dig around in their kitchens and drop something they just happen to find in a cupboard or in a bag or barrel, until everyone gathers around to enjoy a wonderful, hearty, meal – all from a pebble and some water.
Somewhere in the story, did you hear Jesus whispering, “You give them something to eat?”
I used this folk tale because the characters and the plot reminded me of the Gospel this morning – it’s an example of how God works by faith and action. The Gospel acts out the parables in Chapter 13 – the loaves and fishes are like a mustard seed – a little goes a long way; they’re like leaven hidden in the loaf; the Disciples fail to recognize the food hiding almost secretly in the midst of the crowd.
The stranger gets people to act by invitation and necessity; Jesus acts out of compassion and asks the Disciples to do the same. The crowds need not go away, the Disciples have food; they will give the crowds their supper. When they opened up their lunch boxes and found five loaves of bread and two fish. They’d need more than that to feed over five thousand people. Maybe they scratched their heads and looked at each other – you know, that look when everyone but the person asking the question thinks he or she is right. One can only imagine what Peter was thinking – or saying. But let’s give a back story to this scripture. This event follows the death of John the Baptist at Herod’s birthday feast – a bit different than the feast described here in Chapter 14. Jesus has spent the day preaching – perhaps one of the longest sermons ever offered, and, he’s been healing all those people. When he learns of John the Baptist’s death, he goes off by himself – and the crowds follow; they just won’t go home. Matthew’s text doesn’t state that the crowd was hungry and wanted something to eat, but it does say that the disciples wanted the people to go away and find their supper elsewhere. Here we have one of those moments when being disciples of Christ, of being members of the Body, seems utterly impossible or hopeless, and we look to the pragmatic, the logical, what’s in front of our noses for answers.
So Jesus tells the disciples not only what they do not want to hear, but what they cannot fathom: “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” Rather than argue the point further, the disciples give Jesus the loaves and fishes. Jesus looked to heaven and took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, who in turn gave the bread to the crowds. There was plenty to eat, everyone was fed, and there were leftovers.
This miraculous feeding is repeated in all of the gospels and that very fact is evidence of the importance of this story to the early Christians as it should be to Christians now: it is the foretaste of the Last Supper and gives us elements of the Eucharist in the orderly arrangement of people, the prayer of blessing, the act of breaking bread and the distribution of the bread to all assembled. It is a call to community. The Table has become more than just an outward and visible sign of Christ’s compassion. Fed at this Table, we the faithful work and serve in a world where sharing our resources, our ministries is one way to express our willingness to believe, to take chances against the norm and live and proclaim the Gospel.
What we should note here is not only the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, but the call to action and mission.
Jesus sent The Twelve out with authority to teach, preach, heal, and we see it at work as they distribute the bread and the fish. They are models for us as they follow the instructions Jesus gives – no matter how impossible it may seem. Perhaps the miracle is that when we trust in the love of God through Christ, completely give ourselves over to that love, we can make things that seem impossible very real in our lives and the lives of those we touch.
A stranger comes to town and invites the people to share a soup they make together – from very little comes an abundance of food and love. The disciples’ five loaves and two fish seem to be lacking in quantity, yet over five thousand people had their fill. No one was turned away. There is enough of God’s love to go around.
And now, my friends, come to this table, and you will have something to eat. It is only a little bit of bread and wine, but it is so much more.
Somewhere in the story, did you hear Jesus whispering, “You give them something to eat?”
I used this folk tale because the characters and the plot reminded me of the Gospel this morning – it’s an example of how God works by faith and action. The Gospel acts out the parables in Chapter 13 – the loaves and fishes are like a mustard seed – a little goes a long way; they’re like leaven hidden in the loaf; the Disciples fail to recognize the food hiding almost secretly in the midst of the crowd.
The stranger gets people to act by invitation and necessity; Jesus acts out of compassion and asks the Disciples to do the same. The crowds need not go away, the Disciples have food; they will give the crowds their supper. When they opened up their lunch boxes and found five loaves of bread and two fish. They’d need more than that to feed over five thousand people. Maybe they scratched their heads and looked at each other – you know, that look when everyone but the person asking the question thinks he or she is right. One can only imagine what Peter was thinking – or saying. But let’s give a back story to this scripture. This event follows the death of John the Baptist at Herod’s birthday feast – a bit different than the feast described here in Chapter 14. Jesus has spent the day preaching – perhaps one of the longest sermons ever offered, and, he’s been healing all those people. When he learns of John the Baptist’s death, he goes off by himself – and the crowds follow; they just won’t go home. Matthew’s text doesn’t state that the crowd was hungry and wanted something to eat, but it does say that the disciples wanted the people to go away and find their supper elsewhere. Here we have one of those moments when being disciples of Christ, of being members of the Body, seems utterly impossible or hopeless, and we look to the pragmatic, the logical, what’s in front of our noses for answers.
So Jesus tells the disciples not only what they do not want to hear, but what they cannot fathom: “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” Rather than argue the point further, the disciples give Jesus the loaves and fishes. Jesus looked to heaven and took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, who in turn gave the bread to the crowds. There was plenty to eat, everyone was fed, and there were leftovers.
This miraculous feeding is repeated in all of the gospels and that very fact is evidence of the importance of this story to the early Christians as it should be to Christians now: it is the foretaste of the Last Supper and gives us elements of the Eucharist in the orderly arrangement of people, the prayer of blessing, the act of breaking bread and the distribution of the bread to all assembled. It is a call to community. The Table has become more than just an outward and visible sign of Christ’s compassion. Fed at this Table, we the faithful work and serve in a world where sharing our resources, our ministries is one way to express our willingness to believe, to take chances against the norm and live and proclaim the Gospel.
What we should note here is not only the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, but the call to action and mission.
Jesus sent The Twelve out with authority to teach, preach, heal, and we see it at work as they distribute the bread and the fish. They are models for us as they follow the instructions Jesus gives – no matter how impossible it may seem. Perhaps the miracle is that when we trust in the love of God through Christ, completely give ourselves over to that love, we can make things that seem impossible very real in our lives and the lives of those we touch.
A stranger comes to town and invites the people to share a soup they make together – from very little comes an abundance of food and love. The disciples’ five loaves and two fish seem to be lacking in quantity, yet over five thousand people had their fill. No one was turned away. There is enough of God’s love to go around.
And now, my friends, come to this table, and you will have something to eat. It is only a little bit of bread and wine, but it is so much more.
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