Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

Some Pharisees come to test Jesus and they asked, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? And Jesus basically says, sure, it's aloud. But from the very beginning of creation, from the very beginning way back in Genesis, people we're meant we're made to be together. Separating them in any way is going to be a very, very painful experience. And in Jesus' time, it was almost always the most painful for the woman, because the patriarchy made sure that a woman could barely survive without a man to provide for her the basic necessities of life. Now we are in a lot of ways in a very, very different time, but divorce is still a painful experience. And it's usually still the most painful for the most vulnerable one...Jesus is reminding us today that when we separate ourselves from other people, be it through divorce or racism or classism or sexism or any of the other isms: When we separate ourselves from other people for any reason, we are not living the way that God intended for us to live, which is in harmony.

Should we stop people who are outside of our understanding from bringing blessing and love into the world in Jesus' name and Jesus' response is, if you do that, you may as well go to hell. That's what Jesus says. That's what that whole second section of the gospel is about. When we get in the way of other people sharing the blessing, we are bringing hell to earth. When we get in the way of other people making the world more like God would have it because they're doing it in a way we don't understand, we are marring our own body: the body of Christ. We are cutting ourselves up. We are burning and bringing the fire here and we know how to do that, don't we? I know how to do that. I know how to confine my life so that it looks just enough like I want it to so that I can say, it's going okay. I can see love here and I can shut out love when it doesn't look like what I'd like it to, which really just means I can shut love out when it's going to push me and make me uncomfortable and challenge me and make me into something I wasn't expecting. This is exactly what Jesus does in our lives time and time again. Jesus pushes us to recognize God's blessing and power in places and in people we could never have imagined.

" We readily talk about who is the greatest. We want to know them or name them. Our culture is attuned to that, to power and influence, to excelling. There's nothing inherently wrong with wanting to do our best, to encourage others, to excel, to use the gifts that we have. But in Bible study, the conversation immediately hit on the sports world and our longing to name or witness the prowess of the greatest of all our sports stars, the greatest of all time. Be it baseball, football, basketball, gymnastics, swimming, tennis...It's not the awards and the recognition, it's how you

encourage others. It's not about accomplishments, it's about humility and faith

and service to others. No one could be more worthy of the awards and

recognitions and accolades this man received. But for him, it was never ever

about any of that. It was always about service, about lifting up others to help

them create better lives for themselves and for the generations to come."

" When we look at the people around us and we read about how

we're supposed to love everybody. And then we look at the people around us when

we hear Satan say, I mean everybody, but THAT person, we're not going to love

them. Or, I could love them if they would just think like I think. I would love them. I could love everybody if

they just got vaccinated. I could love

everybody if they would just get on board with how I am, to which Jesus himself

says, 'Get behind me Satan.' You are thinking about the world on your terms and

not on God's terms. And this is so important. Not only that Jesus says that you

are thinking about things on worldly terms and not on God's terms, because we

know that we do that. But what Jesus says about it; he calls us Satan, or he

recognizes Satan in our midst, and we got to hear that. We got to hear that we

are capable of being adversaries to God's will, to God's work in the world. We

have to see it, but also, we have to recognize that Jesus is saying, 'get

behind me', not get away from me, not go away forever, or be banished. Jesus

tells his disciple who has gotten out of line and says, do things my way,

Jesus. No, you get behind me, from

behind Jesus, You can follow. "

"Jesus wasn't a rich person who decided to like poor people. He was poor. Jesus was not a person in the middle of society who chose to hang out with the people who are marginalized. Jesus was marginalized. Jesus was not a person in the middle of great privilege and wealth who just decided that it was cool to hang out with people who were on the edges of society. Jesus belonged on the edge of society... Last year we did a book study by Howard Thurman and the book was called Jesus and the Disinherited. It was the second time I'd read the book and apparently the first time I'd read it, I still hadn't figured it out. It took me until the second time and it's in the very first chapter of the book. Howard Thurman says, 'Jesus, isn't hanging out among the disinherited of the world. Jesus is the disinherited of the world.'"

"Amid heartbreak there is light and love and deepest gratitude for the most precious earthly time we have. Whether it's at the time when life is ending. Or at the time life is beginning. Or at that unknown period in between. That gratitude for the life and the love that is at hand. Beauty and Love endure. So yes, there are evil forces in our world and evil thoughts and intentions born of pain, brokenness, separation from God and each other. There are those things that we can find in our own heart. There are those things. But let us bravely discern whenever we suspect evil, whenever we confront evil. Let us bravely encounter it. And especially when it's within us, let us call it out and let it go. Let us pray: Deliver us from evil. And also pray: Deliver the evil from us. Because it is only with God's help that we can find our way."

"We often avoid talking about the armor of God because it sounds just a little too militant. We rarely sing, "Onward Christian Soldiers" or "Stand up, stand up for Jesus" because they arouse this ugly association with a Crusader mentality. We don't talk like that anymore because it forces us to own the horrors done on our behalf, by faithful followers who obliterated our brothers and sisters of Abraham in Medieval Times; who annihilated native peoples in this land in the name of discovery; who enslaved our siblings of color and who denigrate them still. We don't acknowledge the discomfort of the association because we prefer to focus on the nice pretty parts instead. Instead of saying no. Being a Christian soldier is not about destruction. It's about life."

"To eat the flesh and to drink the blood of Jesus is language that helps us to understand our very nourishment. How we feed ourselves in our daily lives is meant to be centered in Jesus, in the God of love. Our very food and drink is love. Any wisdom we can get, it's not by reading something or by going to all the right places. It is about constructing, building lives that are nourished, fed, the bread and wine of true and real unconditional love. How do we build our lives around the love that is unending? How do we make the most of our time? How do we make our life rooted and grounded in the love that creates all things?"

"This reading from First Kings to me is what Eucharist is like. We come and we receive a gift that we need. When we've had enough, when we give up, when we can't do it anymore. All of this. All of this that's going on in the world. We can't do it anymore. And we put out our hands. We receive a gift of grace. We come here to be what we see and to receive who we are. The body of Christ. We gain strength for the journey in a shared meal, in a communion feast."

"The testimony we have before us today and the testimony of our faith is sure and certain and clear and consistent. We hear time and again, as we did today, you will be thrust into places of uncertainty, discomfort, fear, and change. And in all of those places you will find God. You are not alone. We are not alone. We are not left to our own devices right now. In the times of great uncertainty and fear and change God, the God of love, the God of all creation, the God who great gathers all things up into heaven, is with us right now. Sharing life with us. And drawing us into deeper communion and connection with one another."