Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

When I hear this vision of people standing before the throne, great throngs of every tribe and race and people and nation standing before God with gratitude and love, I immediately think of the lines I see all across the country of people standing to vote. I don't think about everyone dying and going to the right place when they die, I think about everyone living here and now and participating in the changing of this world here and now with joy and hope in their hearts. My joy is in recognizing how much the people around me love our world and want it to be better.

Yes, we may be very set in our different views, even to the point of not being able to hear the words of others. But might we not refuse to allow our minds to shut down our hearts? Might we refuse to allow our minds to shut down our hearts? Might, in our hearts, we find a truer understanding of the other? Might you see the fully human, deeply fallible condition of us all and embrace that as our common ground? Our space where we can love God and let God be God. Our space where we can love our neighbor as ourselves.

Imagine God coming into this world in the flesh to teach, to heal, to remind us of God's power and grace. And in the middle of trying to work with us to help us see this world as a place worth loving and caring for, working for healing, recovering, in the middle of that work, two people walk up to him and go "Yeah, but are you a Republican or a Democrat? Which side are you on?" Seems a little petty in that case, doesn't it?

But what I want us to remember is that when it comes to racial justice healing and reconciliation, like all real justice and all real healing and reconciliation, when it comes to this, God is doing the work anyway. The question is not, "Will God destroy racism and make things right?" That's not the question. The question is. "Will we join with God in that work?" That's the actual question. When it comes to the work of love and healing in the world, when it comes to reconciliation, the question for the Christian, the question for the Church is not, "Is God even here doing it?" Our question is, "Can we recognize the powerful presence of God?" And "Will we roll up our sleeves and join in the work?"

"...it turns them violent and their violence is turned towards God. But that violence comes from that sense that God is getting in the way of their lives. That belonged to them, on their terms and in their ways. Their insistence, their radical insistence, that their life belongs only to them and their property belongs only to them and the world belongs just to them and will be made in their image turns them so violent and makes them so blind that when Jesus himself shows up, when the son of God, and in the parable the son of the vineyard owner, shows up they kill him. We don't even recognize God when God is in our midst because we're too busy protecting ourselves and our things and our identities and our sense of the way things are supposed to be."

"In our humanity sometimes we stubbornly resist before we go forward. At other times we fail to follow through. It's our human inclination at times to hold to the status quo, protect our turf. It's our human condition to not always get things right. So, how do we, in our lives, understand and experience authority, earthly authority, and God's authority? How do we understand and discern what's in play? How do we recognize the way of righteousness? And walk that way?"

"I don't know what the outcome of our work will be. In terms of, will I produce the right amount of justice, freedom, and peace? Will I personally participate in the work enough that I've earned my status as Christian, as Beloved? But the gospel today tells me to get rid of that fear. To drop my judgment. To cease from trying to figure out who deserves what. And simply to roll up my sleeves while I have my breath in my lungs and do the work God has given me to do. Trusting that in that work I will be participating with you, participating with God in the work that needs to be done in this world. The work of love and healing, of freedom and peace, of justice and reconciliation. This is the work that God gives us to do and this is the work we participate with God in."

"...we have very few chances in this life to help fellow sojourners experience heaven and offering forgiveness is one of the most direct ways to bring God to others. We forgive because we have been forgiven. Mercy flows from God to help us heal a broken world. Reconciliation, possible, even after many years of estrangement and kindness is amplified when humility and generosity of spirit direct and rule our hearts."

"The Christian life is a shared life. The Christian life is summed up in Paul's words today, love one another. This is the fulfilling of the commandment. When I first was freed by those words I thought, "That's it? That's all it will take? Fantastic! I'm in." I had no idea what I was getting myself into." To make love for one another the fulfilling of our commandments from God is to give ourselves work for a lifetime.

"We are so very human. We can do our part as we are able, but we can't do more than that. Ultimately it is in God's hands, but we are called to do what we are able to do. Just as Peter will show us again and again, there are moments of overwhelming joy and moments of deep despair as we live our lives and as we seek to follow Jesus. It is our human condition. Our worlds change sometimes very suddenly. We continue to need to learn and grow. And despite all of the unpredictable and very predictable concerns in our larger world we know the Holy Spirit is with us we continue to seek to walk in Christ's love. We love and are loved every step of the way."