Father Snort

Brad Sullivan

Proper 21, Year C

September 25, 2016

Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX

1 Timothy 6:6-19

Luke 16:19-31

Put Your Trust In God, and Rely Not On Your Stuff.

Have you ever noticed that in some organizations, the folks who have a lot of money are the ones who it seems really matter in that organization, and everybody else isn’t as important. If we look at elections, most of us only get one tiny vote, whereas people or businesses with lots of money get their vote as well as enormous amounts of influence over the candidates and over policy. Money gets people what they want in this world. Influence, power, prestige, security, lots of really nice things.

Wealth is also often seen as an indicator of success and even moral elevation. Those with money worked hard to earn it. They did well. Those without money didn’t work as hard, didn’t earn as much. They aren’t as good people as the ones with lots of money.

Most people don’t really think this way, of course, and yet we hear statements that point to such ideas that equate having a lot of money with success, working hard, and good moral fiber. In reality, success often comes without monetary reward; hard work pays well and also doesn’t pay well, depending on what the work is; and good moral fiber is just as likely or unlikely among the rich as it is among the poor.

In short, while our society values wealth quite a lot, God doesn’t care one whit about it, except in one way. God expects those with wealth to share generously with those who are poor. As Jesus said, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.” (Luke 12:48)

That is basically what Jesus had been saying in our readings for the last several weeks, and the Pharisees just weren’t buying it. They mocked Jesus’ teaching about money, possessions and the requirement to care for the poor. “You cannot serve God and money,” Jesus said. Jesus even likened loved of money to idolatry. The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, mocked Jesus’ teachings. So, we heard today Jesus’ continued polemic against the Pharisees and against the idolatry of loving money.

Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus to show exactly what was wrong with the love of money. He gave an extreme example to make his point. Rich man was so rich that he had a huge feast every day, the kind of feast you’d have for special occasions, state dinners, that sort of thing. He ate like that all the time. The poor man, Lazarus, on the other hand was so bad off that he couldn’t even prevent dogs from licking his sores.

Jesus was teaching against lovers of money who don’t obey torah’s commands to give help to the poor, and we see God’s desire for those with money to help those without money in the judgment the two men receive. Rich man is in torment, not for being rich, but for not helping the poor man, Lazarus. Lazarus, on the other hand, is cared for by God in the bosom of Abraham, gathered to his people, loved, and made whole.

Contra those who feel that the poor aren’t worthy of help or that if they were better people and tried harder, they wouldn’t be poor. Jesus taught, “You are commanded to help those in need.” The poor matter greatly to Jesus, just as the rich matter to him.

God’s desire for us is not that we would all be poor or all be rich, nor even that we would all be middle income. God’s desire for us is that we would care for each other as much as he cares for us.

The rich aren’t bad, and the poor aren’t good. Both rich and poor matter to God. At the same time, the rich are commanded by God to share out of their abundance with those who are in need. Paul wrote in his letter to Timothy:

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. (1Timothy 6:17-19)

In other words put your trust in God, share with others, and rely not on your stuff. That’s pretty much what I’ve been preaching for the last three weeks, mainly because that’s pretty much what Jesus has been saying in our Gospel readings for the last three weeks. Put your trust in God, share with others, and rely not on your stuff.

That sounds good as short quips go. I can see those words on a poster with Mother Teresa giving soup to an orphan, or those words on a bumper sticker. Folks would say, “Yeah, that’s right trust in the Lord, thank you Jesus.”

The challenge would then be, what in the world people who are inspired by those words would do to live them out. Quips and posters are great as capitalism goes, but the Gospel of Jesus is a way, not a slogan, and Jesus’ way is meant to be lived day in and day out.

How do I put my trust in God and not in my stuff, and how do I know when I’m putting my trust too much in my stuff and not enough in God? How much do I share, and how much do I keep? We tend to like to quantify things, and wonder, “how much is enough?” There’s no number I can give. We could say 10%. Give away 10% of what you have each year, 10% of your income, and also give up some of your possessions to help those without. That’s a good biblical number.

Without quantifying it, though, think of it like this. Give as much as you need to maintain your humanity. People who don’t care about the plight of the poor or people who care and do nothing lose their humanity. Look at the rich man in Jesus’ story.

Even when he was dead and tormented in flames, he was still depending on his status, still thinking he was more important than Lazarus because he had been rich. He wanted to command Lazarus to do his bidding. This man had lost so much of his humanity, that he didn’t even see Lazarus as a human; rather as a thing to do his bidding. Notice that in losing his humanity, the rich man had also lost his name. He was just “rich man.” The poor man, Lazarus, had a name. Lazarus was a human being. Rich Man, who loved money more than people, had lost his name; he had lost his humanity. He’d traded his identity for “Rich Man.”

As the story was told, he wasn’t unaware of Lazarus’ plight. He even knew Lazarus’ name. He simply didn’t care about helping Lazarus. Rich Man was feasting every day, meaning he was having a full banquet-like meal every day. He knew there was this broken down, likely crippled man named Lazarus who was starving near his home, and he did nothing but keep eating. He did not obey the command of the Law of Moses to help this poor man, Lazarus. He therefore lost his humanity, lost his identity, and lost his connection with God and others.

So what do we give, how much, and how often to avoid losing our humanity? Well, rather than an amount and a self-serving goal to avoid punishment, we’re called as disciples of Jesus to let the same mind be in us that was in him. I don’t think Jesus was worried about his reward or punishment. Jesus loved God and people, and then he lived naturally out of that love. We’re called to share Jesus’ love of God and people and to live our lives out of that love. We’re called not to value wealth, but to see it as useful for serving one another in God’s Kingdom. We’re called to share in the Jesus movement. We’re called to share out of whatever abundance we have out of love, not fear. We’re called live out our common humanity to its fullest. We’re called to follow Jesus in his way and to put our trust not in wealth, but to put our trust in Jesus, in his way, his truth, his life, and his grace. Amen.

Brad Sullivan

Proper 20, Year C

September 18, 2016

Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX

Luke 16:1-13

Scorsese Is Directing? I’m Ok With That. Jesus? Not So Much.

At first glance, in our Gospel story today, it seems as though Jesus is telling us we should be dishonest, and we’re pretty much confused through his entire parable. By the end, the wraps things up pretty clearly, saying, “You cannot serve God and wealth.” Ok, we pretty much get that. We may not like it, but, we get it.

In the middle, though, the master of the house praises a dishonest manager for being dishonest? Does that make any sense to us? I think it really kinda does.

Years ago, I saw a reality show called, “Big brother.” It was the typical thing, a last man standing contest where people voted each other off the show, and they all lived in a house together. They formed alliances and tried being friends and living together, and they really wanted to be friends with each other, until the times came when they ultimately all had to stab each other in the back so they could win. All except this one guy, the guy who won. He never actually tried to be anyone’s friend. He’d agree to an alliance and then he’d break it. He’d manipulate people and act like their friend and then vote them off the show. There was no one whom he hadn’t made angry during the show. When it finally came down to two people, there was the guy who won, and this other young woman, who had been pretty nice throughout the show. They were making their pleas to everyone who’d been kicked off, saying basically, “Vote for me to win.”

The young woman, who lost, was apologetic that the others had been kicked off and said she really did like them…she was so nice. The guy who won? He said that the whole time, his objective was to win, so of course he lied, manipulated, and made and broken alliances. Everyone else there was a danger to him, and he wanted to win, not make friends with people he’d never see again. They all realized he was the only one who was truly honest with them throughout the entire process. He was shrewd in his dealings with them, and they all voted for him to win.

The master in the story that Jesus told kinda felt like the audience and the other members of that show. “You’ve actually done kinda well here,” he’d say to his manager. “You’ve swindled me a bit, but you actually managed something, and quite well. You’re actually pretty good at this if there’s a gun to your head. I just might keep you on.”

We totally get rooting for this guy in the show who was shrewd in his dealings, and we totally get rooting for the dishonest manager being shrewd in his dealings. If his life were a movie with the right script and a good director, we’d all be rooting for the dishonest manager by the end of the movie.

We’re somehow just not so comfortable hearing Jesus tell the story. Scorsese writing and directing the movie, “OK.” Jesus writing and directing it, “Ahh, I feel weird.”

Here’s the thing. The context is that Jesus was being shrewd in eating with sinners and tax collectors. He didn’t threaten them, and he didn’t shun them, and he didn’t assume they didn’t have enough money to be worth his time. He ate with them and loved them into repentance.

Also, it started with genuine love. They weren’t his projects; they were people whom he loved.

The manager in the story Jesus told didn’t care one whit about the people, and yet he still figured out how to do well by them and create some decent community of the Kingdom of God. He’d be relying on their generosity just as they were grateful for his. It was quid pro quo, to be sure, but he was going to be getting to know the people in any case. Kingdom of God kind of living was going to happen. Out of purely selfish desires, he got some kingdom living done. The people of this age, Jesus said, are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

For the children of light, those disciples of Jesus who believe in his Kingdom way and the light that he is, if only they were as shrewd to care for those around them, Jesus was saying.

Remember, this is a polemic against the Pharisees and the Scribes who didn’t like that Jesus ate with sinners. “There is grace,” the Pharisees and the Scribes would say, “but only if you follow the religious rules and clean up your act before approaching God, and pay for the temple.” Jesus said, “There is grace. Here, have some. Have forgiveness, have dignity, have humanity and love. Now let’s work on repentance so you can then also share grace, forgiveness, dignity, humanity, and love with others who need it.”

Jesus gave away grace rather than charge for it. Jesus forgave sins when they hadn’t been paid for yet. Jesus broke the rules of grace, at least the rules which the scribes and the Pharisees thought grace should have. The Pharisees seemed to love their religion, the symbols and rituals of their religion. They honored those symbols and rituals because those symbols and rituals were instruments of grace. Unfortunately, they turned the symbols and rituals into idols by honoring the symbols and rituals rather than honoring God, God’s Kingdom, and God’s grace, which is what those symbols and rituals were meant to help them live out.

The dishonest manager broke the rules of money in order to bring about the best possible outcome for the most people. In the same way, Jesus broke his religion’s rules of God’s grace in order to bring about the most good and the most grace for the most people so that they could live out God’s kingdom.

“You cannot serve God and money,” Jesus said. You cannot serve God and your rules about grace. You cannot serve God and hold onto grace as if it is your personal possession to give out to those whom you deem worthy. Life in the Jesus movement gives grace extravagantly.

Life in the Jesus movement also gives money and possessions extravagantly. Jesus was also talking about money. He was talking about how people lived their lives and how they used what they had.

The rules of our possessions says, “keep them, they are yours.” The rules of our money say, “You earned it, it’s yours.” Quid Pro Quo. This for that. Give only for what you are going to get in return. Also, be afraid about tomorrow. Save up and store up as much as you can, because tomorrow you just might be relying on your possessions to live.

Jesus’ kingdom breaks the rules of money and the rules of possessions. The rules of money in Jesus’ kingdom say, “it’s not yours, it’s God’s. Use it for the benefit of others, for the benefit of God’s kingdom. Use it for the benefit of those who are in need, not those whom you deem worthy.” The rules of possessions in Jesus’ kingdom say, “Do not rely on your wealth and possessions to take care of you during hard times. Rely on the people whom you have cared for and loved during their hard times to care for and love you during your hard times.

Business leaders and politicians get quid pro quo. I’ll do you a favor, you do me a favor. The children of this age are shrewd in their dealings with each other. Would that the children of light were just as shrewd, caring for and relying on one another so that when the tables are reversed, people will be able to depend on the kindness of people to whom kindness has been shown. Security found in people using their stuff for others, rather than security found in stuff while ignoring others.

Give of your money and possessions extravagantly. Give grace extravagantly. As Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said, “That is life in the Jesus movement.”

A way of love that seeks the good and the well-being of the other before the self’s own unenlightened interest. A way of love that is not self-centered, but other-directed. A way of love grounded in compassion and goodness and justice and forgiveness. It is that way of love that is the way of Jesus. And that way of love that can set us all free.

Someone once said, “When you look at Jesus, you see one who is loving, one who is liberating, and one who is life-giving.” And that is what the way of Jesus is about. And that is the Movement of Jesus. A community of people committed to living the way of Jesus, loving, liberating, and life-giving, and committed to going into the world to help this world become one that is loving, liberating, and life-giving.

Break the rules and be dishonest in how you give so that you can bring about the most grace, and the most well-being for the most people. Rather than be protectors of God’s grace, hoarders of God’s possessions, like the Pharisees and the Scribes, we are the people of Jesus who extravagantly give God’s grace and share our possessions with those who are in need both. Amen.

Brad Sullivan

Proper 19, Year C

September 11, 2016

Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX

Luke 15:1-10

Bullying, Terrorism, & 9/11:

The Way of Self-Righteousness Is the Way of Death

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and people saw life and truth in him, and people flocked to him, following him and following in his way. Jesus’ way of life was a way of love, and forgiveness, and reconciliation, a way in which he did not shun or exclude those who were considered to be sinners. Rather, he welcomed them and ate dinner with them, and this did not sit well with the religious leaders of the time, the Pharisees and the Scribes. They complained about Jesus, “He eats with sinners!” They complained about Jesus, safe in their own self-righteousness, keeping the sinners at a distance, keeping them shunned, keeping them away, so that the Pharisees and the Scribes could be righteous in their own eyes.

The way of Jesus is life.

The way of self-righteousness is the way of death.

We suffered horrific example of the way of self righteousness 15 years ago today on September 11, 2001. Men who wanted all non-Muslims to be killed, ended over 3000 lives on that day. They wanted not only all non-Muslims killed, they wanted all people who didn’t practice their particular brand of Islam killed. Their way was the way of self-righteousness, believing themselves to be righteous in God’s eyes and believing all others to be unrighteous and therefore deserving of being shunned, excluded, and even killed. We saw in them that the way of self righteousness is the way of death.

In contrast to that, I got to spend the weekend on a youth retreat at Camp Allen called Happening. It has been a wonderful weekend with youth and adults from around the diocese renewing their faith and commitment to Jesus and to following in his way.

At the same time, I heard stories of youth being bullied, youth who had been excluded by other Christians for not being “Christian” enough or for not being the right type of Christian. I heard stories from an adult who works with youth in crisis, and she told about youth who had been bullied, some because they are gay. They were usually bullied by other Christians who told them they couldn’t be friends with them anymore because they were gay, and so they were bulled and excluded, some even bullied and excluded to the point of suicide.

Those who did the bullying were following the path of self-righteousness, the path of death, and those who did the bullying were terrorists every bit as much as those on 9/11. They used words as their weapons rather than planes, but self-righteousness and contempt for those whom they saw as unrighteous was still what drove them. They killed every bit as surely as the terrorists did, they just used their victims’ own hands to do so.

The way of self-righteousness is the way of death.

We also have to realize that I’m talking about youth, teenagers and some pre-teenagers who were trying to do the right thing. Some were just being mean, but many were trying to follow Jesus. They were bullying and excluding to try to push the other into repentance, to try to push them to be righteous, but that was not the way of Jesus. Jesus didn’t bully and exclude. He welcomed sinners and ate with them.

The only people Jesus seemed not to love being around were the self-righteous: those who would bully and exclude, and if you go far enough down that path, even kill the unrighteous. While the terrorist and the bully, some were even well meaning, trying to do the right thing, the way of self-righteousness is the way of death.

It is deadly and sinful, and if we’re honest, the way of self-righteousness is also a part of all of us. There are times when I’ve felt pretty self-righteous and had to be called down. I assume there have been times when all of us have felt fairly self-righteous. Self-righteousness is a sin which we all share every now and then. So it’s fortunate that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them.

As we look at those and think about those whom I heard about this weekend who did the bullying, I need to remember to look at them through the eyes of compassion, not the self-righteous eyes of judgment. Judging their acts as harmful. Judging them as sinners whom Jesus would welcome and eat with, because that is the way of Jesus, the way of life. The way of love. The way of reconciliation, forgiveness, and redemption. Even those who have bullied others to the point of death, even those who commit atrocities and acts of terrorism because of their self-righteousness: when they realize they have been following not the way of life but the way of death, they turn from that way, and they find Jesus welcoming them, inviting them to share a meal with him, because the way of Jesus is the way of life. Amen.

Brad Sullivan

Proper 18, Year C

September 4, 2016

Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX

Philemon 1-21

Luke 14:25-33

Let Go of Everything We’re Afraid to Lose

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, are two of the most polarizing figures in American politics right now, understatement of the year. They’re probably two of the most polarizing people in recent memory. Folks are even stopping being friends with other people (at least on Facebook) because of whom they support. There’s nothing new about people not being overly comfortable talking about politics, but not even being able to say who you support for fear of total ridicule and scorn seems kinda new to me. Whether it is because of who our candidates are or a sign of the times, these two political candidates have ended up being extremely divisive and polarizing figures.

Now, it would be an overstatement to say that if you support one of the candidates, you have to hate members of your family who support the other one…an overstatement for most people. Some probably feel that way, but my point is, that’s what Jesus said about himself. You cannot be my disciple unless you hate members of your family. I don’t know that he meant that once you decide to be his disciple, you have to start hating people. I think it was more that once you become his disciple, your family might hate or reject you, and you’ve got to be willing to accept that, or on the other hand, if your family isn’t living as his disciple, you still need to, even if that causes friction. In short, Jesus was a polarizing figure far beyond Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

If we are to take Jesus seriously today, we find that is still just as polarizing. Not because he said outlandish, hurtful things, not because he was untrustworthy. Jesus was and is polarizing because he spoke hard truths; looked deeply into the heart of things; and lived an intentional, well thought out, and loving life. Jesus lived a life in which he loved people more than things, in a world in which many people value their things at the expense of treating other people well. Anyone who does not give up their possessions cannot be my disciple, Jesus said.

That’s not exactly incendiary rhetoric, unless you valued your money, your excess money, more than you valued people in need. His teachings were incendiary if you let your love of your religion trump love of God and people. His teachings were incendiary if you noticed the flaws and misdeeds of others while ignoring your own.

Jesus was pretty darn uncompromising in his general stance that we don’t get to do what we want to do when what we want is going to hurt someone else.

“You want a divorce, Pharisee? Sorry, dude, but that would leave your wife destitute. Yeah, I get that her pot roast is usually dry and that she isn’t as hot as your remember from 15 years ago. You need to grow up and honor the marriage vows you made.”

Folks didn’t like hearing that.

“Yes, vineyard owner, I get that not everyone worked the same amount today, but they still need enough to live on. Pay them all a full day’s wage, even those who only worked for a few hours.”

Folks didn’t like hearing that.

“Very impressive and expensive stuff you’ve got here. You’ve got way more than you need, though. You know, there’s a lot of people in this town who don’t have enough. You could sell some of your possessions and ensure that some folks in your city have a roof over their heads or the tools they need to start earning a living at a trade. You want to keep all your stuff instead? Then you really can’t be my disciple.”

Folks didn’t like hearing that.

“But I don’t want to forgive these people,” some would say. “They really hurt me.” “Well then,” Jesus said, “you can’t be my disciple.,”

Folks didn’t like hearing that.

Imagine what parents might have said to their children who had begun following Jesus. “If you start forgiving people like that, son, folks are going to walk all over you your whole life. You need to man up, be strong, and stop being such a pansy.” Another father might have said, “Don’t even think about giving away your possessions. I worked hard for this family, and now you want to just give away your stuff? That’s a betrayal of all my years of work. I didn’t work for some strangers I don’t even know. I worked for you, so don’t you dare destroy that with this crazy Jesus.”

Or another, “Well, if that’s how you want to run your business, like a charity, good luck, but your workers are going to walk all over you. Pay ‘em a full day’s wage for a few hours work. You’ll be sunk and then you can work for me. Moron.”

Folks either really loved what Jesus taught, or they really, really hated what Jesus taught. There wasn’t a whole lot of in between. So, Jesus told folks that they needed to consider the cost of being his disciple before deciding to follow him. “Your family and friends may turn away from you. You’ll need to give up a lot of what you have so that we can live this life together and so that those who don’t have enough will have enough. There will be burdens, hard to bear, and you’ll need to take those too.

As sales pitches go, that’s a little unorthodox, and yet for many people, it worked. Folks saw in Jesus something greater than their stuff. Folks saw in Jesus something greater than their pride. Folks saw in Jesus something worth the cost that he warmed them they would pay.

Yeah, Lord, our stuff is pretty cool, but I do think I like people better. I get that some will see forgiveness as weakness, but I see it as the strength of letting go of my hurt and offering grace. I get that in an economy of exchange, people should get nothing more than they worked for, but I like the economy of your kingdom better, where we choose to be generous so that those who can’t work enough still have enough to live on.

While some were scandalized by those teachings, others saw something beautiful in his teachings. Even more, people saw in Jesus forgiveness and grace, love and kindness, and a way of life that didn’t care about self righteousness but cared about righteousness for the sake of others. In Jesus, people seek to be righteous not so that they will be good enough for God. In Jesus, God makes us good enough through his grace, through his forgiveness and love. In Jesus then, people seek to be righteous for the sake of others. I will do right so that I don’t harm others, so that I do good for others.

That also was scandalous to many. “This Jesus is claiming God’s grace and forgiveness, but only the priests can declare God’s forgiveness as the people offer sacrifices to God,” said the religious leaders. Jesus spoke for God because Jesus was God. Jesus declared God’s forgiveness not because some religious task had been completed, but because he could see in people’s hearts regret for what they had done and a desire for a new start, a chance to lead a new life, and so Jesus granted people that new life, granting them God’s forgiveness and grace and freeing them from the bonds of fear and shame that had kept them dwelling in their tortured past.

Jesus offered people a new life of freedom and grace. Jesus declared as beautiful those whom society had cast aside. Jesus even said to invite such people into your homes. Have dinner with the poor, the outcast. Get to know as brother, sister, friend, those whom society would write off. Then you might actually have a reason to give up your possessions to share with those who are now your brothers, sisters, and friends.

Folks don’t want to sell their possessions and give away their money away simply entrusting someone else to spend it. Folks often don’t trust that some other person is going to spend their money better than they would. Sharing with the outcast of society who have now become our brothers, sisters, and friends, however, now that’s a different story. That’s the church truly living as the church. That’s following what Jesus taught. That’s a new life, freed from love of possessions, freed from fear and pride. The life of Jesus’ disciples is a life of freedom and grace.

What if things go wrong as we start to share? What if we end up feeling duped or used? What if our new brother, sister, or friend ends up betraying us in some way? Well, then it’s time for forgiveness and grace. Even as we may or may not say, “no more,” to that person we still show that person love, forgiveness, and grace, perhaps even a second chance when they’ve shown true repentance and regret.

Following Jesus isn’t playing it safe. We’re going to be used, mistreated, ridiculed, sometimes even by members of our own family. Jesus said we would. Jesus said we would be bearing a cross, an implement of torture and death, not playing it safe. Playing it safe means putting our trust in our stuff, even trusting in people and our religion as possessions, things to keep us safe. Following Jesus, choosing not to play it safe, we need to let go of everything we’re afraid to lose. Then we can put our trust in him, in his grace and love, in his mercy and forgiveness. Following Jesus, then, we receive a new life, a life no longer bound by fear and shame. Following Jesus, we receive a new life of freedom and grace. Amen.

Brad Sullivan

Proper 17, Year C

August 28, 2016

Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX

Luke 14:1, 7-14

It’s Dinner, Not a Marriage Proposal

At the very heart of the Gospel, we have God loving humans as his beloved children. With all of the beauty and grace with which we were made, with our remarkable capacity for love and empathy, with our creativity and astonishing drive to invent, to imagine, to overcome obstacles, and with our courage to band together in the face of hardships, God loves us, and his love for us is at the very heart of the Gospel.

God loves us for who we are, and with the list of human attributes I just gave, we can see why. We are creative, loving, generous. We band together to support each other. We weep when others weep; we rejoice when others rejoice.

We are also terribly flawed. We can be mean spirited, cruel. We commit horrible atrocities and acts of violence, hatred, degradation. We fight, argue, see the worst in others, refuse to offer or receive forgiveness, and can be generally, rather grumpy. We do all of these things and more, and still God loves us. While the terrible things we do break God’s heart, and while there is judgment given by God for how we treat each other, God also understands that we only break each other out of our own brokenness. God sees us as lost when we harm each other and believing Jesus’ words on the cross, God forgives us, for we do not know what we are doing.

God loves us not in spite of the bad things we do, but completely irrespective of the bad things we do, and God is constantly teaching us and showing us how not to do such harmful things to each other. Knowing that if we were going to truly be able to love each other as God loves us, we would need to become God, and also knowing that just isn’t possible, God decided to flip that around and become human instead. God joined himself to us so that we might be joined to him, and in that joining together of humanity with God, God has redeemed all of the harmful things we do so that in the resurrection, in the restoration of all creation, all of the harm we do will be seen forever as the good we always intended.

God looks at us and sees the beauty. He sees the bad too, but he has redeemed that. God sees the beauty in us. As holy and exalted as God is, God sees the beauty in us, lowly humans.

I think that is why Jesus instructed the Pharisee, his dinner host, to invite the poor, lame, and blind to his feasts, rather than his friends and those who are well off. Jesus said, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." There’s something more than a quid pro quo going on here. I don’t believe Jesus is instructing people to invite poor and crippled people into their homes so that they’ll receive a nice fat celestial retirement fund in the sky after this life is over. While Jesus definitely taught about reward and punishment for our actions, I don’t believe he was teaching those who were well off how to be even more well off in the next life. “You that are ahead in this world, here’s how to become even more ahead later on.” I don’t think that was his message.

His message was to get us to view each other as God views us. Like the prosperity gospel of today, there were beliefs by some in Jesus’ day that those who were not well off, those whom tragedy had stuck, were afflicted because God was angry at them, didn’t like them, or they weren’t good enough people to have earned God’s favor. Jesus was never much of a fan of the prosperity gospel or any such belief that we have to earn God’s favor or that the lowly are only lowly because God is angry with them.

Jesus hung out with everybody, the poor and the well off. He said to his disciples “Blessed are you who are poor,” Jesus said, “for yours is the kingdom of heaven.” Blessed are you, he said. He was speaking not about the poor, but to the poor. Jesus declared blessed those whom many in society assumed were cursed. Jesus declared as deeply flawed our systems of ascribing blessings and curses. Jesus declared as deeply flawed our systems of ascribing righteousness and sinfulness. Jesus sees our hearts and knows how much we want to be righteous, how much we want to be loved by others and loved by God, and Jesus sees how much we struggle for that. Jesus even sees that we often end up putting others down in order to raise ourselves up.

Jesus’ desire for us is to see ourselves and each other as he sees us. Jesus’ instruction to the Pharisee to invite the poor, lame, and blind into his home is not an instruction to do more righteous, charitable deeds in order to earn a greater salvation. Jesus instruction to the Pharisee to invite the poor, lame, and blind into his home is to let the Pharisee know that he doesn’t have to surround himself with supposedly righteous people in order to be righteous himself or in order to be seen as righteous by others.

Accept that your righteousness comes from God’s love of you. Then invite into your home those whom you assume are unrighteous, and learn to see them as God sees them, as his beloved children. Such an invitation is not an act of charity. Such an invitation is an act of accepting God’s acceptance, of seeing the beauty of people as God sees the beauty of people. Such an invitation is an acceptance of the lowliness, the poverty, disability, and blindness within each of us, and learning to accept God’s love of us not only as we want to be, but also just as we are.

Jesus instruction to the Pharisee was all of this teaching, and it was also an actual instruction actually to invite the poor, lame, and blind into his home. As James tells us, faith without works is dead. A great idea springs up from a teaching of Jesus, but if there is no action to follow it up, the great idea dies on the vine.

Invite the poor, the blind, and the lame into your home. That’s a bit of a challenge, I would think. What do we do, walk around outside for a time, find someone who we assume is homeless or living in poverty and say, “You’re poor, aren’t you? I need to you to come to my home for dinner because Jesus told me to have dinner with a poor person.” I don’t think that’s really going to work. The challenge is to look beyond poverty or disability, to look beyond social status, to see beautiful human beings, and invite them to dinner.

Inviting total strangers into our homes for dinner still might be a bridge to far, and possibly weird, so invite folks here. Invite folks to share the meal we share every Sunday. Further, a lot of folks aren’t total strangers, they are folks we know from church or work, or other social circles. Invite them to dinner. Invite not only your good friends, but invite also those whom you don’t know as well. Even that might seem a little scary. What exactly are we committing to here? Well, I remember some advice Dad gave me back when I was starting to date. I was afraid to ask a girl out, partly afraid she’d say “no”, and partly afraid, just wondering what am I getting into, what am I doing? Dad said, “Brad, you’re just asking her to go out with you for an evening, it’s not a marriage proposal. Get to know her more; see if you like being around each other.”

Get to know other people, Jesus was teaching. Get to know different people. That’s what we get to do at our Bible study in the parish hall on Friday mornings during breakfast. All kinds of folks come to eat breakfast here on Friday. Some are well off. Some don’t have much. Some are homeless. Sharing breakfast together, we get to see the beauty of each other as God sees the beauty of us. That’s life in God’s kingdom. That’s life in the Jesus movement. It’s not as though by inviting new and different people into our church and into our homes, people would become our projects. The purpose is not to help or fix anybody, and it’s not a marriage proposal. The purpose of the invitation is to learn to love people more fully, and in so doing, to be able to accept God’s love of us and of others more fully. Following Jesus’ teaching, living out the Jesus movement, we find ourselves changed. We find less fear, more love, greater connection. Living out the Jesus movement, we find that humans are beautiful. Flawed, sure, as well as beautiful and beloved. Amen.

Brad Sullivan

Proper 16, Year C

August 18, 2016

Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Luke 13:10-17

God Interrupts Us With Moments of Grace

Last Sunday, we heard about Jesus saying that he came to bring division, and today, we heard about that division actually happening. Jesus was teaching in a Synagogue, and then he stopped teaching to heal a woman who came to hear him. We’re told she had been stooped over for 18 years, so it was known that this woman was almost crippled, and then with a word and a touch, Jesus turns chiropractor and heals her body so she can stand up straight and walk and move well. We hear the leader of the Synagogue then, basically telling this woman she was wrong for coming to the Synagogue and making sure no one else makes such a mistake. Rather than berate Jesus for healing her, the leader says to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” Hey guys, don’t mess up like she did. Come back on Sunday or Monday if you need to be healed, not Saturday.

It seems awful, horrible of him to say that. Of course she should be able to come to Synagogue, and of course if Jesus is there when she is there, he should be allowed to heal her. He technically “worked” on the sabbath, but so what, it’s the power of God bringing healing to the world. That’s what we think when we hear this story, but what if it were to happen here?

Imagine one of our parishioners reading one of the lessons Sunday morning, and then deciding he is going to heal someone within the parish. He stops reading mid-lesson, and walks out into the congregation. He turns to one of our beloved brothers or sisters who isn’t physically able, who can’t walk well, who is stooped over, and he says to them, “In the name of Jesus, be healed,” and he touches them, and suddenly they have strength in their arms and legs. They can stand up straight and walk and move like they haven’t been able to for 30 years.

What do we do at that point? “Ok, everyone, let’s sit back down for the second lesson.” Nope, that doesn’t quite work. There would be a myriad of reactions from all of us. Some would be praising God. Some would be afraid. Some would be asking to be healed too. Some probably would be wondering, “How much longer is this going to take? Can we get on with communion?” “My favorite hymn was next, come on, let’s sing.”

What does the preacher do at that point? What do I say to follow up that? Are we going to stop having services here on Sunday because folks from all over are going to start coming here for healing? I can see the synagogue leader saying, “Don’t come here for healing on the sabbath.” Can you do that healing thing in the parish hall next time, maybe in between services? Hopefully we’d just allow ourselves to be there in the presence of God made manifest in the healing, but I can see where the leader reacted badly, not quite knowing what in the world to do at that point. I can see where the people would have been divided over their reactions to Jesus, some praising God, some afraid, some wanting to follow him, some wishing he’d not interrupt their comfortable service of teaching and worship ever again.

God interrupts us. People interrupt us. How do we respond when we are interrupted from our comfortable worship and walk with God? I’m trying to pray here, how dare you interrupt me with you problems. We’re trying to pray here, how dare you let your children make noise. I love worship the way I like it; how dare you change something?

My first Sunday here, we had a pretty big interruption as Will Scott, and I think he passed out, I don’t exactly remember what happened at this point, but there was some commotion back there. So I went back to see what was happening, and he was lying down, I think one of our nurses was back there with him, and someone had called for an ambulance, so I prayed over Will and then went back up and we continued on with the service. The paramedics arrived and we continued on, and then before they took him to the hospital, we stopped the service again and had a group prayer for Will. Then we continued on with the service again. He ended up just fine after that.

We got to take this interruption and see it for what it was, a moment of grace. Those with the ability got to care for Will, the rest of us got to pray for Will, and continued to get to worship and share communion. The interruptions didn’t mess up the service. They made it more beautiful.

In other times and ways in which our prayers and our worship gets interrupted, maybe the interrupters really are just being jerks, or maybe the interruptions are moments of the presence of God breaking through so that we can be taken out of our comfort and routine and brought into the grace of God.

Perhaps the loud and busy child is a moment of grace, a chance for another adult to join with the parents to offer some loving support and attention to the child. The person offering support would be brought out of their usual worship and brought into the grace of communion with a young family, showing them that they and their children and beloved and belong.

Perhaps the myriad distractions and interruptions we face each day are likewise moments of grace, opportunities for us to let some harrowed person know that they are worthwhile, that they are worth our time and attention. That may seem a small thing, but being worthy of someone’s time and attention is at the core of what it is to be human.

God told Jeremiah, “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” We apply that verse to all people, saying that before all of us were formed in the womb, God knew us. We are all worthy of God’s notice, of God’s time and attention. We were not made to be alone. We were not made to be discarded. We were made to be connected to each other. We were made to be worthy of each others’ notice, to be worthy of each others’ time and attention.

The discarded woman in our Gospel story today was worthy of Jesus’ notice, worthy of his time and attention. People in our pews who are by themselves, who are struggling with kids are worthy of our loving and caring notice, worthy of our loving and caring time and attention. People whom we don’t like that much, or know but don’t see all that often are worthy of our notice, worthy of our time and attention. People at the bottom of our society, those often discarded, are worthy of our notice, worthy of our time and attention.

The world was interrupted by one such person couple of weeks ago with the photograph of a young Syrian boy. He had survived the bombing of a building and he sat in shock in an ambulance, blank-faced, covered in dust and blood. The world began taking notice again of the innocents of Syria, remembering that these people are worthy of notice, worthy of time and attention. I don’t know that a whole lot is going to actually change, as those in control of the situation in Syria (Russia, ISIS, the Syrian government) simply don’t care enough (or at all) about the least among them, the weak and the discarded. They care about their struggles for power, not about the discarded people living and dying beneath the weight of their power.

When we are annoyed by people when they interrupt us, when we disregard the least among us, when we don’t acknowledge or notice the worth of people, when we don’t give time and attention to those worthy of our time and attention, we’re not exactly bombing them and leaving them in shock, covered in dust, rubble, and blood. At the same time, like Russia, ISIS, and the Syrian government, we are still disregarding people who are worthy of our notice, worthy of our time and attention. When we’re annoyed by people when they interrupt us and don’t acknowledge their worth, we’re like the leader of the synagogue who said, “Don’t be healed today, come back tomorrow.”

I don’t say this to make us feel badly about ourselves, but rather to keep us from noticing the specks in other peoples’ eyes while ignoring the logs in our own. I also bring this up because we all want to feel worthy of notice, worthy of time and attention, love and belonging. The more we give that notice, that worth to others, the more we will believe in our own worth, the more we will believe that we are worthy of notice, that we are worthy of peoples’ time and attention, their love and belonging. That’s life in Jesus’ kingdom. That’s life through the eyes and heart of Jesus. People and the myriad interruptions they bring aren’t times to be lamented. Rather, people and their myriad interruptions are moments of grace where we have the opportunity to affirm in others and in ourselves the great love of God and the great worth which we all share, being worthy of notice, worthy of time and attention, worthy of love and belonging. Amen.

Brad Sullivan

St. Mark’s, Bay City

August 14, 2016 - Proper 15

Luke 12:49-56

All In with the Jesus Movement

Have you ever heard Jesus referred to as the prince of peace? I’m often surprised to find that in the Gospels, Jesus is nowhere called, “Prince of Peace.” We get that term from a passage in Isaiah 9:6 which says, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Passages in both Matthew and Luke allude to this verse from Isaiah, and we believe Jesus was the one referred to in Isaiah 9:6, so we call Jesus the prince of peace. Jesus said, “blessed are the peacemakers.” He told his disciples to have their peace be upon any house in which they stayed. He told people to be at peace with one another, and he constantly told people to go in peace.

Even at his crucifixion, he asked for forgiveness for his killers; if that’s not peace…and yet Jesus said in Luke 12:51, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” This seems rather contradictory to what Jesus lived and taught at other times, but I don’t think it actually was contradictory. Peace is what it seems that Jesus wanted people to have and to live, to be at peace within themselves and with one another. I just don’t think Jesus was naïve enough to think that everyone actually would live in peace.

He had a fire to kindle, a way of believing and living that got in the way of the status quo, that got in the way of peoples’ lives, and anytime you go from preaching to meddling, you’re going to cause or expose division. I don’t know that Jesus wanted division as a goal, but Jesus wasn’t about to stop preaching simply because some or even many weren’t going to like what they heard. He knew that those who believed in what he said would be rejected by those who did not, and he knew his followers would reject practices that ran counter to what he taught. Division was inevitable.

Following Jesus meant being all in, it still does, actually, and being all in means changing the practices and habits of one’s life. Look at addicts in recovery. Being in recovery means being all in, and that usually means changing social circles if those old social circles are full of whatever the addiction is. Being in recovery, what we would call repentance, turning around, means changing daily habits, lots of self examination, and having a mentor, someone to give guidance and support. Being in recovery is practicing a new way of life every day. Those changes can cause division.

Like being in recovery, being a part of the Jesus movement means being all in. It means repentance of ways of life which cause harm. Being part of the Jesus movement may mean changing social circles, or it may mean giving up some of the behaviors a person used to have, things that are harmful. Being all in means practicing the new way of life in Jesus, keeping the fire burning. Being all in means following in Jesus with one’s whole heart, repenting authentically and completely, even realizing that we’re going to fall short. Such all in following of Jesus is going to cause some division. The Jesus movement doesn’t have time or room for halfhearted love or entitled repentance, thinking that because I believe in Jesus I don’t have to take his teachings and way of life all that seriously. The Jesus movement requires total commitment. Even knowing that we’re not going to get it right all the time, fully expecting that we will continue to need to repent, the Jesus movement means being all in, not halfhearted.

I generally don’t use sports analogies to talk about the Gospel, I think mainly because I’m not a particularly athletic person, but we’re talking about practicing new ways of life. Sports kinda works, plus it’s the Olympics, and I think it’s just about required that we do some olympic-y themed sermon. So, for me, not an Olympian, playing various sports as a kid, I would go to a weekly practice, play whatever game it was in the yard maybe once a week for about 10 minutes, and then go to the game and hope or even think that I might do ok, or at least better than last time. I didn’t really like practicing so oddly enough I didn’t really improve much at any of the sports I played.

In stark contrast to that, I was blown away by seeing Katie Ledecky swim the 800M freestyle a couple of days ago. Before the race even started, I was blown away that they were swimming fast for over 8 minutes straight, around a half a mile. On some level, I knew that people did this and are able to do this, heck we’ve got an Ironman swimmer, biker, and runner here in the congregation, but still somehow I just didn’t get that you could swim for 8 minutes like they do in the Olympics. So, they did, and Katie not only broke her own world record, she finished 11 seconds faster than the silver medalists. She was halfway across the pool on her last lap before anyone else had made the turn.

That, my brothers and sisters, requires commitment. I’m sure she had to repent at some point too, had a Little Debbie snack cake at some point or another, but to swim on her level, she was all in. Practicing on the level of Olympic athletes requires a whole-life commitment, sometimes even moving to another place and living with the other athletes for a while. They aren’t athletes for an hour or two a week, and not for a practice, a tournament, and a few minutes in the yard. It’s a whole lifestyle. It’s being all in.

The Jesus movement requires practice. We can’t approach it like I did as a kid, kick a ball around for a few minutes once a week and think you’ll do well in the game. The fire of the Jesus movement requires Katie Ledecky kind of practice.

A word about that, though. If you’re like me, seeing the Olympics often inspires me to want to get in better shape, to be like the Olympians. Generally I’ll go out and walk the dog a little bit more often, or if I’m feeling particularly adventurous, I may even jog a little bit. My challenge has always been going out and doing too much too fast. I’ll go out and jog a mile having not jogged in months or longer, and as you’d guess, that’s about the last time I’d jog for a while. The fire is quickly burnt out because I threw all of the fuel into the flames right away, rather than slowly building and tending the fire. A short jog every other day, gradually increasing in length and frequency, would be much better.

So too with being all in with Jesus, we generally can’t change everything in our lives all at once and expect anything to stick. The fire will burn out, and we’ll end up tired and disillusioned. The fire of the Jesus movement requires slow and steady practice, continually increasing in duration and frequency, the flames slowly growing and burning brighter as with the Holy Spirit, we continually collect and add fuel to the fire. We aren’t doing this alone, we partner with God every step of the way.

The fire of the Jesus movement requires prayer and self examination. As we go along, we keep making changes to our lives as we continually examine our lives in light of Jesus’ Gospel. We gradually let go of things that keep us from loving and living with our whole hearts. We let go of things that keep our hearts and minds from God and others.

The fire of the Jesus movement requires others with us to serve as guides and mentors and for use to guide and mentor others. We don’t go it alone. Being all in means being all in with others. We have the whole church, and we also have those few people who truly understand us and who help us in our practice of walking and living the Jesus movement. We have those few people whom we can be honest to when we know we need to repent, those few people who will hold us accountable for our actions, who can admit with us that we’ve done wrong without judging us as being bad. These are our coaches, our friends, those who help us tend and grow the flames.

Being all in with Jesus may even cause division. Some may not like the fact that we love Jesus. Ok. Just make sure it is others who are rejecting you. We may reject practices, but not people. We may choose to live certain ways or not to live in other ways. In the Jesus movement, we choose to live in ways that bring about greater faith, hope, and love, and we reject in our own lives those things which get in the way of faith, hope, and love. What get’s in the way of faith, hope, and love for each of us, may not get in the way for someone else. The fact that we believe in Jesus doesn’t mean that we require others to believe. We don’t reject those who don’t believe in Jesus. We do accept, however, that we may be rejected because of our beliefs and way of life.

That’s being all in. Believing in Jesus, following in his ways, tending the flames and practicing our faith and way of life, paying and asking for the Holy Spirit to partner with us, and being with others for mutual coaching and support…that is how the fire of Jesus is kindled in us, burns in us, and spreads to others. Even if some reject us, because of our faith, hope, and love in Jesus, we choose to be all in. Amen.

Brad Sullivan

St. Mark’s, Bay City

August 7, 2016 - Proper 14

Luke 12:32-40

The Risky Road of Love

I had a great week as a session director last week at Camp Allen. Having grown up going to summer camp there, it was a joy to be on the other side of things as one of our directors for 8 & 9 year olds. There were fun and games, time spent in prayer, and a program each day talking with the kids about parts of the Gospel. On one of the days, we talked about Resurrection, and we talked not only about resurrection after physical death, but also resurrection of many deaths throughout our lives. One example we discussed was the death of a friendship. The kids totally got that when we talked about kids being mean to each other, and the friendship dies. Then, we talked about kids reconciling, and that being resurrection of the friendship, a new life.

At one point the next day, a couple of boys got in a little scuffle. One of the boys kicked another in the shin, “for no reason”, said the boy who had been kicked. We talked to them separately, and the one who did the kicking said that the other boy had been pushing him down all week, and he was basically so fed up that he snapped. He was obviously very upset, feeling bullied.

We had the two apologize, and later, I then heard the one who had gotten kicked say he hated the other kid. I happened to be right behind him when he said this, so I asked him about it. He first said he hadn’t said it, and then I said, “but I thought I just heard you say you hated [the other boy].” “Maybe,” he said. I chuckled on the inside, and then we sat down and talked for a minute.

I asked why he hated him, and he said the other kid was always getting upset over nothing. They had used to be friends, and now they weren’t anymore, after he’d gotten kicked, he said. I then described that as the death of their friendship, and he agreed. So, I next asked about resurrection of their friendship. I told him that the other kid said that the one I was talking to had been pushing him down all the time. “I never did that,” he said. “I believe you,” I said, “but the other kid thinks you’ve been pushing him down. He’s truly hurt by something you’ve been doing around him. Now it’s time to get curious and ask him about it. Tell him that you’ve not been meaning to push him down or be mean to him. Ask him what you have been doing that’s been hurting him, and see if y’all can work that out. I know you haven’t been trying to hurt him. Make sure he knows that too. Then, perhaps y’all’s friendship can have new life.”

He seemed to get what I was saying and agreed to it. What this took was for the two boys to see things from the other’s perspective. They got to see the world not only through their own eyes, but also through the eyes of Jesus. There was kingdom living and a casting aside of fear in being generous with how we view the other’s motivations and actions. What if I’m wrong? What if he really is a jerk? What if he hurts me again? We cast that aside and trust in God’s kingdom way.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. It is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. God’s kingdom is a gift which we receive.

We don’t take it, we receive it, and Jesus tells us how to receive God’s kingdom: Sell your possessions and give alms. Be generous towards others, and do not be afraid of not having enough. There is a great saying which I’ve heard recently, author unknown, and the saying is, “People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being used.” - author unknown

Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Do not love your things. Love people. Use your things, and greater still, use your things to help you love people.

That is how Jesus tells us to live in his kingdom which sounds a little scary, but basically kinda good. Then Jesus gets to the kinda scary part, right? “Be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” If you knew when the thief was coming, you would not let your house be broken into. Ok, let’s be honest, that’s a little scary, but remember, it’s an analogy. Jesus isn’t coming to steal your stuff. He really doesn’t care at all about your stuff. Jesus is coming, and we have no idea when he’ll show up, so be ready for his coming at all times. Live always ready to receive God’s kingdom by how you chose to live, and remember Jesus started this whole section of teaching with, “Do not be afraid.” I think some fire and brimstone preachers should remember that. Do not be afraid, and remember and strive to live at all times in such a way as to receive God’s kingdom. Live generously and lovingly towards others.

Jesus gives this analogy to create some urgency in us, because he knows we tend to slack off over time. If we knew Jesus was coming in three weeks, we’d clean up our acts pretty quickly and be generous and loving toward each other. His coming creates some urgency in us. I can see at least three reasons for this. Wanting his acceptance, the short timeline, and the joy of his love could all drive the urgency in us to be generous and loving towards others if we knew Jesus was coming in three weeks.

With the first reason, we want Jesus’ acceptance, so we clean up our acts and look our best at his coming. The problem is, that is basically a self-centered reason, and Jesus talked about being generous and loving toward others for their sake, not our own. Also, we don’t need to hustle for God’s acceptance; we have already been given God’s acceptance through Jesus. Now we simply get to love other for their sake, not to try to hustle for God’s acceptance.

The second reason we would find urgency in knowing Jesus was coming in three weeks is that with such a short timeline, we find it easy to do without. We can do without stuff and be generous and loving towards people for three weeks. No big. Of course, Jesus is asking us to be generous and loving all of the time. Act all of the time as though Jesus was coming in three weeks.

Finally, the joy of Jesus’ love is why we could be generous and loving towards others if we knew he was coming in three weeks. That’s why it’s easier to be kind to people around Christmastime. The joy of Jesus’ love is in the air, it’s palpable. We find it somehow easier to receive that joy and love and so we give it out to people all around us.

So, with Jesus’ teaching to be ready, Jesus is saying to behave every day with the joy and love we experience around Christmastime. Treat every day like Christmas is just around the corner. Treat every day like Jesus is right about to show up. Now, remember that you are already accepted and loved by him, so do not be afraid. Share the joy of that palpable love which he has for you and for all. Be loving and generous towards others because others are so beloved and valued. Give of your things, because in God’s kingdom, we love people, not our things. Other people, then love us, not their things.

I heard a great example of this Kingdom generosity and loving people not things while listening to This American Life on the radio yesterday. This was a story of refugee camps in Greece, and one camp housed Yazidi refugees from Iraq. The Yazidis are a often persecuted people whom America helped when ISIS was trying to annihilate them completely, and now they are largely living in camps fleeing genocide. In the particular camp I heard about yesterday, there is a man who made a shop selling necessities for life, food and other things. He charges very little, making almost no profit, and sometimes, people we come by and simply drop off money without taking anything. That’s because they took what the needed sometime previously. He runs the store on credit, asking people to pay what they can, if they can. At the current rate, he won’t be able to stay in business for more than a year or two longer, but he refuses to charge more or to stop giving to people on credit which they may or may not be able to pay. He said he’d rather go out of business than stop giving credit to people. He’s not running this shop to get rich. He’s doing it for his people. He’s not their leader; he’s just one of his people.

This man is not a Christian, but a darn good example of Jesus’ teaching. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” This man is truly living God’s kingdom in how he treats others…loving people more than things, and truly being not afraid.

Living out God’s kingdom, receiving God’s kingdom requires us to see the world differently than we may otherwise. The refugee with the shop didn’t see people taking his stuff. He saw people in need and he saw his stuff as being able to fill that need. From there, is there anything these people won’t do for this generous man when he is in need? They are choosing not to be afraid and choosing to love people rather than loving stuff.

The boys at Camp Allen initially saw a mean kid who kicked them. Then they began to see through the lens of God’s kingdom, a hurt kid who felt like he was being bullied. From there, they could learn to love each other rather than holding on to hurt. Our hurt, our fear, feelings of being right: those can be things too, things that we hold onto in order to protect ourselves. Those boys at Camp Allen were learning to let go of those things. They are learning not to be afraid of each other, but to treat each other with generosity of spirit, seeking love over fear.

Fear says keep what you have; take care of yourself. Love says, “do not afraid; give generously for the sake of others.” Whether our things are physical things or mental/emotional things that we hold onto for self-protection, Jesus teaches us to receive God’s kingdom by giving up those things and taking the risky road of love instead. Remember, “People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being used.” - author unknown

So, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Receive God’s kingdom and take the risky road of love. Amen.

Brad Sullivan

St. Mark’s, Bay City

July 24, 2016 - Proper 12

Luke 11:1-13

You Can Do Better? No. You Are Enough

“You can do better.” That was on the message we saw as we left the weight room gym of San Marcos Academy, where we stayed for our mission trip last week. The women slept in the guy, and men slept in dorm rooms with beds (thank you, Kathy), and the only place we could get ice for our work days was in the back of the men’s weight room in the gym. We left there each day with buckets of ice reading the same message that guys from the school saw each day as they left the weight room, exhausted from their workout, “you can do better.”

I think the coaches or whoever put that message on the wall, probably intended it to be a motivational saying, but all I could think was that it was about the worst motivational saying I’d ever seen. When you’re completely worn out from lifting weights and your legs are jelly, and even lifting your gym bag takes some effort at this point, and all you hear it, “you can do better (weakling…you’re kinda pathetic).”

Unfortunately, that’s a message that we often hear in our world today. “You can do better.” “You’re not good enough.” Whether it’s magazine covers or TV, people we know, or even people we hear talking, not even talking about us, but just railing against someone else for something they did, and we’re thinking, “I hope they never find out I did something like that too.”

“You can to better” is a constant message we hear, and so it’s little wonder that we often approach God in prayer as though he is a huge Voltar Machine in the sky. The Voltar Machine is from the movie, Big, with Tom Hanks in which a 13 year old boy is tired of being the little guy, weaker and smaller than his friends, tired of constantly thinking, “you could do better if you weren’t so small,” so when he’s at a carnival, he sees the Voltar Machine. It’s a large box like a video game, but isn’t a video game, it’s a glassed in case with head and torso of a guy with a turban, looking like a genie from a lamp, and when you put your quarter in, you make a wish, some lights flash, and a little card comes out saying, “wish granted.”

So, in a desperate attempt to be better, the boy in the movie says to Voltar, “I want to be bigger,” and he wakes up the next day as a grown man, as Tom Hanks. Problem solved. There are a couple little challenges that come along with suddenly being a grown man, but you know, it’s a movie. It all gets worked out in the end.

Sadly, for many of us, we tend to approach God like he’s a huge Voltar machine in the sky, granting our wishes if we ask in just the right way. If only I was good enough. If only I was better. If only I could do better. God help me do better. God help me be better. Help me be more like…whomever.

That’s not the message of prayer that Jesus gives us. Jesus told his disciples to pray a very simple but very deep prayer.

To start off with, “Father, hallowed be your name.” Not, “great Voltar machine in the sky,” but Father...not wish granter. “Father, (one who lives me and will help guide me into all truth, one who sees me as a beloved son or daughter,) hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come. Not I want to be bigger, or I want to be better, or whatever. The implication here is, you are enough, and we’re praying, “your kingdom come.” So this is, one, the end of all time “your kingdom come,” the restoration of all things, but we’re also praying, “your kingdom come” right now. We’re praying that we’ll participate in God’s kingdom. If the kingdom is coming right now, then we have something to do with that. We don’t just pray, “Lord make it happen, and I’m going to be hands off, back here, just watching the show.” No, “your kingdom come,” and I’m asking to be a part of that as your son or daughter, Father.

Then we pray, “Give us each day our daily bread.” This is a prayer of trust, of trust in God and of asking just enough for what I need for today. There is kingdom work to be done today, and so I’m asking God for enough to help in that kingdom work today, not in a few years, not so that once I’m good enough in seventeen and a half years, then I’ll be able to do God’s work for his kingdom. Rather, today, I am enough for God to do God’s work for his kingdom. So please, Lord give me what I need to do the work for your kingdom now.

When we say doing work for God’s kingdom, what are we talking about? Bringing about the kind of world that Jesus preached about in those parables he told. For example, the parable of the workers in the vineyard in which some worked all day, and others only worked for an hour at the end of the day because they couldn’t find any work before then, and they all got paid the same, the daily wage. They got paid their daily bread. They got paid what they needed for that day, not what they needed for an hour’s worth of that day. The lived the whole day. So in God’s kingdom, you get what you need for the full day, even if you didn’t do a full day’s work. It’s not fair. God’s not fair, but that’s the kind of kingdom Jesus tells us to strive for, to bring about, to partner with God in bringing about.

Then we ask God to forgive our sins (which sounds great), as we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us (dang it!). We really are supposed to forgive which means we really are supposed to see others and not say, “You can do better. You messed with me and you can do better.” Instead we are to say, “You messed with me, and I get it. You’re not perfect, neither am I. I forgive you. It’s ok. You are enough, and I forgive you.” If we can’t say that we forgive those indebted to us, then that sign above the door, “You can do better,” really should be our motto because that’s what we’re proclaiming to everyone else. I don’t think any of us want that.

Finally, we pray, do not bring us to the time of trial, this time that we see in scripture where we are brought before God, and the Adversary, the Accuser, is there laying out all of our transgressions before God. We pray, “Please, Lord don’t make me face that, because I know I’m not going to do so well when all of that is laid out.” Do not bring us to the time of trial. What we’re praying is, “Jesus, I believe in you,” because what did Jesus do but say, “I’ve got this covered.” We’re right there at the time of trial; it’s all being laid out, and Jesus says, “No, no, no, this one’s mine.” He says that about all of us. He says that about everyone. “No, this one’s mine. I’ve got their sins covered.” So save us from the time of trial, Jesus. We’re praying, “Jesus, climb up on the cross, and take our sins upon you.” To which Jesus says, “Done.”

So Jesus gives us this very short, very simple, very deep prayer whereby he calls us beloved, whereby he tells us that we are enough as we are to work for his kingdom, whereby he reminds us to forgive others as he has forgiven us, whereby he reminds us that we are his eternally, and then he goes into this whole thing about how you’re supposed to pray all the time. He gives this analogy of a guy who had a friend with really bad travel plans, who showed up at midnight demanding food. (Wait six hours, dude, you won’t die.) As the story goes, we’re supposed to go berate our neighbors until they finally say, “Fine, here’s some bread; shut up; leave me alone.”

That’s how people do it. I don’t think we’re going to be praying to God until he finally says, “Ok, I hate you, I can’t stand you, but here, take this.” That’s not how God sees us. The idea is that if this person whom you have woken in the middle of night and who can’t stand you will give you what you ask just to shut you up, then how much more will God give us what we need since Jesus has already shown us that God loves us?

Does this mean, then, that God is the big Zoltar machine in the sky, that if we ask enough he’s going to make us bigger or better? No. Jesus tells us what God is going to give us…the Holy Spirit. God is going to give you what you need, and he tells us that what we need is the Holy Spirit. Now, is that because we’re not good enough without the Holy Spirit to do this kingdom work? No. It’s because God trusts us enough to work with us.

Ask for God’s Holy Spirit. Say, “God I don’t want to do this alone.” I guess I could. We say we can’t do anything good alone. Yes we can. We can do plenty of great things alone. It’s just kinda terrible. It’s so much better to do it with others, to partner in this Kingdom work with God, and God says not, “You can do better.” God says, “You are enough as you are, and trust you enough and believe in you enough that I will partner with you and grant you my Holy Spirit to do this Kingdom work together.”

So unlike the sign above the gym (we should have painted over that before we left…that would have been great; it would have been vandalism so I’m glad we didn’t), God does not say, “You can do better.” The sign above our door as we leave out house, as we leave in the morning is, “I am with you, and I am for you, and I will do this Kingdom work with you, because you are enough.” Amen.

Brad Sullivan

St. Mark’s, Bay City

July 17, 2016 - Proper 11

Amos 8:1-12

Luke 10:38-42

Don’t Do Your Chores, Kids

I looked through several children’s Bibles on a hunch over the last week looking for the Martha and Mary story we just heard, and my hunch was confirmed. Not a single one contained this story of Martha doing all the chores, Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet, and Jesus telling Martha that Mary had it right. No parent wants their children to hear this story. “Don’t do your chores kids. Just sit around and listen to Jesus.”

To be fair to both Mary and Martha, both work and rest are required. We gotta get our chores done. We gotta get our work done, and we want to strive for excellence in what we do. Mary is not the patron saint of laziness. She could be called the saint of setting aside all distractions and serenely receiving the Word of God.

Martha, on the other hand, wanted to receive the Word of God. Indeed, she had invited Jesus into her home, but then she was too busy being a host that she couldn’t just be with Jesus. She was like the people described in Amos 8:12, scurrying around searching for the Word of God and not finding it. Martha has become a symbol for our time and our culture, searching frantically for some peace, for some good news, for some way to keep our heads above water. Many of us even invite Jesus in, but we’re so busy and distracted, that we never actually find the peace, good news, and salvation for which we’re so frantically searching. Mary found the Word of God in Jesus and knew her search and scurrying were over. She could rest, and so can we if we will but choose to.

I’m guessing that for many of us, the thought that it’s actually good not to work for a while and just rest at Jesus’ feet is probably kinda nice. That’s not what our economy would probably say, not what businesses might encourage; we may even feel bad about taking that time to rest, shamed by all the frantically searching Marthas, but looking at God’s plan from the beginning, rest and intentional time taking rest is such an integral part of what it is to be human, that it is even part of the image of God in which we were made. God rested on the 7th day, just spent time with creation and with God’s self.

Kristin encouraged me to rest last Monday, not to do a whole lot, just relax, spend time with the kids. “I don’t relax very well,” was my reply, but she persisted. So, I relented and spent time resting and being with the kids. It was a great, grace-filled day. Jesus was there in that time spent with family, in the rest, in the Sabbath.

Looking at our traditional way of resting in the Word of God, we gather in our church for worship and communion for an hour each Sunday. Let’s be honest that for many folks nowadays, coming to a church service isn’t exactly the first and best idea of rest, or something particularly enjoyable. There are hard benches, old music, stories from an ancient book, sit, stand, kneel - that’s one way to experience worship.

Here’s another.

We join in prayers and a way of worship going back over a thousand years…joining with Christians from the earliest days of Christianity. We gather together with a community of faith, and doubt. We sit at the feet of Jesus, who is unseen, yet ever-present. We collect our prayers along with the prayers of others, and we set aside the worries of the day for a short respite; bring those worries here to lay down that heavy burden at the altar and take up the yoke of Jesus, his way and teaching, his life and guidance, and to receive his love.

Taking up Jesus’ yoke and receiving his love means that we have to let our guard down a bit when coming to church. For one thing, we have to see the cross. We have to admit that we don’t have it all together. We have to admit that as good a person as we each are, we’re also not great people, meaning that we all hurt each other. We’re all broken people who break others out of our brokenness. By coming to worship at a church, we have to acknowledge that, and we have to acknowledge our need for God to redeem us with himself.

Then, we also have to accept God’s acceptance of us. God loves and accepts us not because we are good and not in spite of our flaws. God loves and accepts us completely irrespective of our flaws because of how good God is. To accept God’s acceptance of us, we have to let go of our shame which keeps telling us we’re not worthy of God’s love, lay that shame down at the foot of the cross, and accept that we are worthy of God’s love and belonging, simply because God loves us and we belong to him. Period. We don’t earn God’s love and belonging; on the one hand we can’t earn it, and on the other hand, we don’t need to. We belong to God because we are beloved of God, because God chooses to love us no matter what.

Seeing the cross and then accepting God’s acceptance of us is why we come here for worship and communion. These ideas are expanded on more beautifully in John Newton’s book, Falling Into Grace, and I continue to recommend it to you.

With all of the fear and anger and hatred in our world, we need to know that we belong and that we are loved. Spending time, like Mary did, resting in the Word of God tells us that we belong and that we are loved. So, for an hour a week, we get to soak that it. We get to be lazy. We get to sit…and kneel and stand, and not work, so that we can see the cross and accept God’s acceptance of us. Let’s face it, we get to be lazy. In the Episcopal Church, you don’t even have to work that hard at praying. It’s all in written down in the Book of Common Prayer; you’ve got a script.

Now I realize having this worship service is work for some. Our altar guild prepares our space for worship; our ushers greet and guide us; our music leaders help us to pray through music and song; our lectors, acolytes, and Eucharistic Ministers help us to receive the Word of God in scripture and in sacrament, and our vestry members do just about everything on Sunday morning, especially if not primarily make coffee, the eighth sacrament. So there is work involved in Sunday morning, but that work is geared toward our rest. We’re both Martha and Mary.

So with that work and that rest, what about when we mess up? We say the prayers wrong, or sing out of tune, or spill the red wine all over someone’s beautiful white silk dress? As far as I know that last one hasn’t happened, and honestly, I’d just advise against wearing a white silk dress to communion, but if someone messes up…cool. This is a place of prayer and grace, of mercy, forgiveness, and love. What if the kids are too loud or rambunctious? Ok. They’re kids. Jesus said let ‘em come. Out there we’re constantly struggling to keep up our appearances of perfection or of having it all together; it’s exhausting.

In here, when we gather for worship or anytime we gather as a community, we get to be imperfect. We get to acknowledge the fact that we don’t have it all together, that we mess up, that our kids are loud. We get to be our true, authentic, flawed selves, and we get to be loved for being those true, authentic, flawed selves.

That’s what seeing the cross and accepting acceptance is all about. Getting to be our true, authentic, flawed selves, and getting to be loved for being those true, authentic, flawed selves is what sitting at the feet of Jesus allows us to do. Rather than striving for perfection, we can just be. We strive for excellence in our worship and in our preparation of this space, just like we strive for excellence in our lives. Then when we inevitably fall short of that excellence, we can laugh and smile, and give thanks both for the striving and for the falling short. After all, we don’t come here for our excellence. We come here for Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t come here because we are excellent or perfect. Jesus comes here because we are his and we are beloved. Amen.