St. Paul's Westfield

No doubt there were people in the crowd that day who had decided that Jesus was the real thing. They'd heard his words, they'd seen his miracles, and they had decided ‘yes, he is the One; we must follow him.’ Their decision did not follow days of prayerful thought; they hadn't carefully considered all the pluses and minuses, all the pros and cons of following Christ. They heard, they saw, and they got it. Let's go. And to them, Jesus speaks words – not of congratulations, but of warning. Before you make a promise count the cost. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver.

Aren’t you tired of the transactional life? Are you fed up with issuing invitations with the hope that you will give something in return? The opposite of the transactional life is the life of grace – the life of following Christ, the kind that forces us to give and give with no expectations because we just have to,

Love was more important to Jesus than being doctrinally pure. Human beings are more important than religious correctness. So, if you have ever been denied the ministry of the Christian church because you have broken religious rules, then know this – Jesus welcomes you and lavishes his grace on you. If you have been refused the sacraments because you are divorced, Jesus welcomes you. If you have been denied the sacraments because you have not been confirmed by a proper bishop, Jesus welcomes you. If you have been told that you can’t join a congregation, or serve in a leadership role, or be ordained, or minister the grace of God in some way because of who you are, then Jesus welcomes you.

Don’t resent the training, and don’t despise fourth place. Accept your weakness, embrace the darkness, celebrate the suck. Look to the Hebrew heroes and notice not just their faith but also their failings. Notice how those moral breakdowns and character meltdowns did not exclude them from God’s grace and did not evict them from the Hall of Faith. They are seated in the crowd – part of the cloud of heavenly witnesses. Those stands are full of sinners, but their sins were not as powerful as God’s grace.

This wallet will pass away. It will be consumed by mold, and its contents by moths. It is earthly treasure and contains earthly treasure. But we will invest in our spiritual wallets, won’t we? You can’t see it, but it holds a full and beautiful record of who you really are. Your acts of love, kindness and service will last for all time. When I compare my two wallets, I confess that the earthly one weighs more. It is stuffed to capacity. My spiritual wallet has a lot of room in it. Jesus says it is when we sell our possessions and give to the poor that we fill our spiritual wallet. In other words, acts of kindness, works of service, gifts of love. That multitude of little gestures and simple words that demonstrate the love of God to those who need it. “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near, and no moth destroys.”

The first casualty of suffering is perspective. When we are in the crushing pain of here and now it is desperately hard to leave the dance, climb to the balcony, and survey the world from the perspective of the reign of God and the Lordship of Christ. We live with disorientation, instability, bewildering change. Confusion and decay are all around us and within us. But we have died with Christ and have been raised with him to the balcony. Seated with him, we receive a new vision of hope and serenity.

If you are looking for a foolproof way to turn your family and friends off God, then let me suggest one way that guarantees success. Be a hypocrite. There is nothing like it, especially if the person you are seeking to drive away is a under the age of thirty.

We are people on a mission. We live with intention. We are not willing merely to drift through life from one meaningless experience to another. No, we are here for a reason. Our lives have purpose. Each morning when we get out of bed, we do so with the clear goal that today we’re going to be better people, today we are going to be more ethical workers, today we will be more loving partners, more loyal friends, more faithful disciples. The Christian life is about focusing on something – and that ‘something’ is the back of Jesus as he strides ahead of us. Oh, and don’t forget where he’s going - a cross; but ultimately to glory.

Disintegration is the flavor of our day; alienation is the curse that defines this moment in human history. Uncle Edward, that old legalist, that guardian of our morality, drives our divisions between gender, race, and economics. But we are free from his guardianship. In Jesus we have grown. Filled with his Spirit we can make mature, holy choices - that build reconciliation and prosper our community.

The Rev. Christopher M. Decatur , Assistant Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Westfield NJ

June 12th, 2022