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Sermon on July 4, 2010 – The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Every Sunday in the year has a name on the church calendar. Today, for instance, is the sixth Sunday after Pentecost. Also, the scripture readings for each Sunday are based on a three year lectionary called years A, B, and C. The cycle keeps repeating itself. Right now we are in year C. So the scripture lessons for today are Year C – the sixth Sunday after Pentecost.

Today is also Independence Day. Every few years the fourth of July falls on a Sunday. Some of you may remember that the Bicentennial- July 4,1976 – fell on a Sunday.

I was looking at today’s lessons and wondering if there is any connection between them and Independence Day, and I think that I may have found one.

The Old Testament lesson today (II Kings 5:1-14) tells of the curing of Naaman. Naaman was the commander of the army of Aram. This was the country we know today as Syria. He was probably the second most powerful man in his nation after the king. He certainly was a man who was used to getting his own way, and he was used to people doing him honor. He also had leprosy, and no amount of power could rid him of this disease.

Naaman’ wife was served by a girl who had been kidnapped from Israel and who knew of the prophet Elisha. She said to Naaman’s wife, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of leprosy.”

Naaman’ wife told her husband what the girl said, and Naaman told the king of Aram. The king said that he would send Naaman to the king of Israel with a letter that said the following: “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” The king of Israel naturally thought that the king of Aram was trying to start a war with him. Since curing leprosy was considered impossible, when the king of Israel failed, the king of Aram would have an excuse to begin a battle. The prophet Elisha heard about this and told the king of Israel to send Naaman to him. Elisha told the king of Israel that Naaman would learn that there was a real prophet in Israel.

Naaman came to Elisha’s home but Elisha would not come out. He merely sent a message to Naaman that he should wash in the Jordan River seven times and his leprosy would be gone. Naaman was furious. He was not used to being treated this way. He told his servants that he expected the prophet to come out and perform some magic chants over him. Besides, the rivers back home were just as good as the Jordan.

Naaman’s servants finally said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to was, ‘Wash and be clean’?” In other words, the command to Naaman was very simple to understand. It was not at all difficult to comprehend. Naaman followed the instructions and he was cleansed.

Now to the fourth of July. What makes a nation a great nation in the eyes of God? I believe that a nation becomes a great nation in the eyes of God if it tries to follow the admonition in the Bible that is extremely easy to comprehend. It is as easy to comprehend as it was for Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan River.

This is the admonition written thousands of years ago by the prophet Micah. Micah said, “He (meaning God) has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

Now granted, it is hard to put these principles into practice. Yet to comprehend these principles is not difficult. To have them constantly before us, as Americans, is not difficult. To understand them is as easy as Naaman washing in the river.

The greatest strength of a nation does not come from military might, as necessary as that may be. Nor does it come from economic strength. It comes from its understanding and commitment from this one verse from the prophet Micah. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

I would like to end by saying a prayer from the prayer book for our country.

Let us pray: Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on June 27, 2010- The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Let me ask you a question. When you are crossed by someone or if someone hurts you, what do you do? How do you react?

Well in the Gospel for today (Luke 9:5-62) we see two different reactions from people. In this passage, Jesus and his disciples are traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem where Jesus will be crucified and resurrected.

In Jesus’ day, Israel was divided into three main geographical areas. In the north was Galilee that was home to Jesus and most of his disciples. In the middle was Samaria where the Samaritans lived. The Jews and the Samaritans did not like each other. In fact one can say that they hated each other. In the south was Judea where Jerusalem, the capital of the country, was.

The quickest and the most direct way to go from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem in the south was to go directly through Samaria. This evidently was what Jesus and his disciples were doing. Some Samaritans, however, did not want these Jews to go through their village. When James and John, who were brothers, heard this they said to Jesus, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” These guys meant business. Jesus rebuked them. His choice was not vengeance but forgiveness.

When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and Peter began to swing a sword, Jesus said, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at one send me more than twelve legions of angels?” A legion in the Roman army had 6,000 me. 48,000 angels would have been quite a display of force. Rather Jesus did not use force against his enemies, but rather he showed forgiveness. From the cross he prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

I love to read history, and one of the most important people in recent history was Josef Stalin. He was the absolute ruler of Russia during World War II, and he killed more people than Hitler.

Stain was the master of revenge against anyone who opposed him. He said that the greatest pleasure in life was to plan the destruction of your enemy and then take years to bring the plan to fruition. Then at the right moment you stuck in the knife, destroyed your enemy, and then got a good night’s sleep.

Now I have to admit there is more of Stalin in me than I would like to admit. When people hurt me, I sometimes fantasize how I can pay them back. How about you? Be honest. This is something between you and God. No one has to openly admit anything.

Yet we also have to ask ourselves if revenge is really what we want. Revenge may seem like fun, but it is a spiritual dead end. Let us return to Stalin again. Near the end of his life, Stalin said, “I trust no one, not even myself.” Here was a man who had absolute power over millions of people, but he was a prisoner of his own hatred and paranoia.

How then do we turn from a spirit of revenge to the spirit of Jesus who forgave from the cross. I believe that it is by a life in the church. It is by saying the prayers of the church. It is by partaking the sacraments of the church. It is by studying the scriptures of the church.

The choice is yours and mine. We can be like James and John in today’s Gospel and Stalin. That way leads to spiritual death. Or we can imitate our Lord in showing forgiveness. That way leads to spiritual life. Let us choose life.

I would like to conclude by saying the prayer from the prayer book for our enemies.

Let us pray: O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on June 20, 2010 – The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

In the Gospel for today (Luke 8:26-39) Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee to a land inhabited by Gentiles. These people were not Jews. I have a feeling that Jesus just wanted to get away for a while. When he comes ashore, he is met by a man who is filled with evil spirits. When Jesus commands the evil spirits to leave the man, the spirits beg Jesus that they be allowed to enter a herd of pigs. Jesus gives them leave and the pigs rush off a cliff and drown in the sea. (Jews would think it only proper that evil spirits should enter pigs since a pig is an unclean animal to a Jew.) The men tending the pigs rushed into town to tell people what had happened. When the townspeople came to Jesus they found the demoniac completely sane. They were afraid and begged Jesus to leave. As he did, the cured man wished to go with Jesus, but Jesus told him, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”

Evil is real in this world. There may not be little devils with pitchforks inside of us, but there evil forces loose in the world. One has only to look at the Holocaust of the 1940s or Cambodia in the 1970s or Rwanda in the1990s or the murders and terrorism today.

Yet the forces of evil can rob us of the joys of living and separate us from God. We may not shriek at people the way the demoniac did in today’s Gospel, but we can be a captive of sin and evil the way he was.

People are addicted to alcoholism, smoking, drugs, over eating, or gambling. Also, we have personal habits such as insecurity, or jealousy, or compulsions. I wrestle with fear of dead lines. I get all worked up about not getting things done on time.

One mistake that we can make about our inner problems is to project them onto some or some thing else the way the evil spirits went in to the pigs in today’s Gospel. We have a tendency to do this all the time. It is not our fault if anything goes wrong. The blame falls somewhere else.

When Lenin launched the Bolshevik revolution, he said that the Czar and the capitalists were to blame for all the world’s troubles. When Hitler rose to power, he told the German people that all their problems were caused by the Jews. In the 1960s, there were many in our society who said the establishment (whatever that meant) was the root of all evil.

I think that if we wish to deal with those forces that rob us of a full life and separate us from God, we have to do two things. First, we have to look deep within ourselves to discover what there is that makes us who we are. Sometimes one needs the help of a therapist. There is no shame in that.

Second, if we are Christians, we turn to Jesus for help in prayer. Jesus will help us as he did the demoniac.

Yet the question is do we really want Jesus’ help? The townspeople wanted Jesus to leave their neighborhood. Do you really want Jesus in your life?

Finally, Jesus commissioned the healed man. “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” Jesus also commissions us. We are meant to tell others about Jesus.

Now Episcopalians are very uncomfortable asking a person if he or she has made a decision for Christ, or approaching someone and saying, “Let me tell you about Jesus.” Yet there is something that we can do which is inviting someone to church.

The church growth people have done studies and by far the most effective way for a church to grow is by members inviting friends and family members to church. It is much more effective than any type of publicity. So please keep that in mind if the opportunity presents itself. Invite someone to church.

Let us pray: O God, help us we pray to examine our lives closely so that we may seek your help to deal with any problems that rob us of the joys of living and separate us from you. Let us not project the faults of ourselves on to someone else, but help us to realize that our faults need your help. And also in response to your Son’s call to be his apostles, let us be encouraged to invite others into your fellowship which is the church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon of June 13, 2010 – The Third Sunday after Pentecost

What a contrast when we compare the woman in the Old Testament lesson for today (I Kings 21:1-21a) and the unnamed woman in today’s Gospel (Luke 7:36-8:3).

The woman who plays a major role in the Old Testament lesson is Jezebel. She was Queen Jezebel and she was Queen of Israel. She was married to King Ahab.

Jezebel was not a Jew. She came from Phoenicia which was where modern day Lebanon is today. Like many royal marriages in history, the marriage of Ahab and Jezebel was to cement a political alliance between Israel and Phoenicia.

In Phoenicia there was no higher authority than the king and queen. When they made a ruling, there was no higher authority that anyone could appeal to.

King Ahab was an Israelite. For the Israelites the highest authority was not the crown but God. Even the King was subject to God’s laws.

Now in the Old Testament lesson today, we hear how King Ahab desired to obtain a vineyard next to his palace. It was owned by a man named Naboth. Ahab approached Naboth and offered to exchange a better vineyard for Naboth’s or to give him money. Naboth refused because he said that this vineyard had been in his family for generations.

The Bible says that Ahab went to his home and sulked. According to the laws of God, the King could not just take away a man’s property without his consent. Jezebel, however, could not understand Ahab’s concern. In her culture, the King could do whatever he wanted. She said to him, “Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

Jezebel then wrote a letter to the officials of the city and commanded them to hire two men who would swear that Naboth had cursed God and the king which they did. Under Israelite law, it was a capital offense to curse God and the king. Once Naboth was falsely accused, he was executed. Since Naboth was dead, Ahab had the opportunity to seize Naboth’s vineyard which he promptly did. He was confronted by the prophet Elijah who condemned both Ahab and Jezebel for what they did.

In this story, Queen Jezebel thought of herself far too highly. She placed herself above the laws of God. She exalted herself far too much.

Contrast Jezebel with the unnamed woman in today’s Gospel. Jesus had been invited for dinner in the home of a man named Simon. A woman who was probably a prostitute sneaked into the house and began to wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. She considered herself as the lowest of the low. Society was only too happy to reinforce this woman’s belief about herself and treat her like scum. The reason that this woman was so devoted to Jesus was probably because that she had heard Jesus teach her that God loved her and she was worthy of God’s love.

Now if we are honest with ourselves, we know that we are like Jezebel more often than we like to admit. We may never murder anyone like she did, but there are times when we hurt others and think of ourselves more highly than we should. We know there are times when we look down on others. We think of ourselves too highly.

Yet there also times when we feel like the unnamed woman in today’s Gospel. How often have you felt guilty about something that you have done? How often have you wished you could just turn the clock back thirty seconds so that you could undo what you have done? I know that this has been true of me.

The truth is that we are all somewhere in between Jezebel and the Gospel woman. We are a combination of good and bad. We have the potential for great good and shameful behavior.

It is important to see the truth about ourselves. Hopefully in our prayer life we strive to become better people, but before one can improve, one has to see oneself as one truly is.

Let us pray: O God, whose Son said that the truth would set us free – help us to see the truth about ourselves – that we are neither as good or as bad as we sometimes think we are – so that we may seek your help to become the sons and daughters that you wish us to be through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon June 6, 2010 – The Second Sunday after Pentecost

Since the first Sunday in Advent, back in November, I have been preaching a sermon series on the Nicene Creed. Well, today is my last sermon in this series.

This morning I would like to focus on the very last word in the Nicene Creed which is “Amen.”

“Amen” means “May it be so.” When we say this word in church, we are saying that we consent to what we have just said or prayed. When we say “Amen” at the end of the Nicene Creed, we are saying that we are agreeing that all we have said in the creed is to be true.

As I conclude this sermon series on the Nicene Creed, I would just like to make three observations.

The first comes from the second lesson for today which is from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. In this lesson, Saint Paul writes, “For I want you to know brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin.” (NRSV, Galatians 1:11) Likewise, as Christians, we do not believe that the Nicene Creed is of human origin.

It is true that it was people who wrote the words on parchment. Originally it was written in Greek, and then it has been translated into countless languages. Yet it’s inspiration was not from people. As the Christian Church wrestled with the problems that it faced, it was the Holy Spirit that guided Christians in their church councils, and in their individual writings to produce the Nicene Creed that we recite today. The Nicene Creed really is a gift from God to us.

Secondly, there is something that many of us do today that reminds us of what the Nicene Creed should mean to us.

Most of us spend a lot of time looking at our computers. Most computers have a screen with a whole bunch of icons. You click on one of the icons when you want to explore or deal with something. In a sense you begin to explore something when you click on an icon.

In the same way, the sentences and even the phrases of the Nicene Creed are icons into truths about the Divine. They are not just words that we recite each Sunday. They are doorways into what God has revealed about God. They open up to us whole new vistas into the Kingdom of Heaven. This is also true of the stories from the Bible.

Finally, when we say “Amen” at the end of the Nicene Creed, we are not just agreeing with the words. The word “creed” comes from the Latin word “credo.” It means that what we say with our lips is what we believe in our hearts. We are stating to each other that these truths about God are incredibly important to us. When we say “Amen” at the end of the Nicene Creed, we are saying that these truths about God are from God, and that we believe in our hearts that they are truths that lead us to God.

Well, I hope that you have enjoyed hearing this sermon series on the Nicene Creed as much as I have enjoyed preaching it.

Sermon on May 30, 2010 – Trinity Sunday

Today in the church calendar is Trinity Sunday. This is the day that we celebrate God as the Holy Trinity. We celebrate God as Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In the Nicene Creed, there is no explicit mention of the Holy Trinity. The creed, however, is divided into three sections. The first has to do with God the Creator or God the Father. The second describes Jesus or God the Son. The third is about the Holy Spirit.

We have to remember that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is a very, very, very rough blue print of the nature of God. It is the best that our finite minds can comprehend.

There is a story told about the famous Christian thinker, Saint Augustine. The story is that he was walking along the beach struggling with how God could be one and three at the same time. As he walked, he saw a small boy with a bottle at the ocean. He asked the boy, “What are you trying to do with the bottle?” The boy answered, “I am trying to fit the ocean into the bottle.” Saint Augustine exclaimed, “What is the matter with you? You cannot fit the ocean into a bottle.” The boy (who was really an angel) replied, “Then how can you with your finite mind understand the Holy Trinity?”

I recall that as a young boy, I had a puzzle of the states of the United States with each state a wooden block. Now did each block represent all there was to know about that particular state? Of course, that is not the case.

Each state had a multitude of cities, roads, topographies, not to mention the hundreds of thousands or millions of people that lived in that state. Each one of those individuals had a life story that could be very complex. What about all the thoughts that existed in each person?

When we talk about the Holy Trinity, it is as if we are dealing with the colored blocks of my childhood puzzle. God is so much more complex than any human can comprehend. In a previous sermon, I mentioned Psalm 139. In that psalm are the words: How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them – they are more than the sand. (NRSV, Psalm 139:17-18a) Maybe one of the joys of heaven will be discovering more and more about the true nature of God.

That being said, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity does tell us something about the nature of God that God has revealed to us. The source of our revelation about God is the Bible.

I am going to read to you some quotes from Jesus that describe truths that we believe as Christians about God.

Jesus said: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. (NRSV, Mark 12:29) This means that there is one God.

At the Last Supper Jesus said: Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. (NRSV, John 17:1a-2) This means that God is both the Father and the Son.

Jesus also said: Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. (NRSV, Mark 3:29) This means that God is also the Holy Spirit.

Finally, Jesus said: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (NRSV, Matthew 28:19) This means that the three persons of God are one God.

What these quotes from Scripture tell us is about God the Holy Trinity. Also, the Christian faith believes that not only are there three persons in God, but that love exists between these three persons.

Also, what this day, Trinity Sunday, teaches us is more than the belief that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It teaches us that God is not satisfied with the love that exists between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God the Holy Trinity wants to include us – each of us – in that love relationship. The belief about the Holy Trinity is not just about God. It is about you and me. It is about you and me being invited into a loving relationship with the very persons of God.

How are you going to respond to this invitation?

Let us pray: O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. Glory, thanks and praise be to the Father, holy and eternal, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Glory, thanks, and praise be to the holy and eternal Son, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Glory, thanks, and praise be to the holy and eternal Spirit, the Renewer, Sanctifier, and Comforter of our souls. Glory, thanks, and praise be to the blessed and undivided Trinity, one God for evermore. All your works praise you O God; and your saints shall bless you. Glory and majesty, thanksgiving and praise be to you – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – world without end. Amen.

Sermon on May 23, 2010 – Pentecost

When we recite the Nicene Creed, we say “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified.”

Today in the church calendar is Pentecost. It is the day that the church celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church. The color for today is red because red is the color of fire, and someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit is someone who is on fire for God.

In the first lesson for today from The Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-21), we heard about how Jews had assembled in Jerusalem to observe a holiday. It was a holiday to celebrate the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.

The followers of Jesus were assembled in a room. It may have been the same room where Jesus had had the Last Supper. Suddenly the room was filled with wind, and the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit. They immediately went out and began to preach about Jesus. Saint Peter preached the first Christian sermon.

The Bible says that the Apostles began to speak in the languages of the people that had gathered in Jerusalem. Various theories have arisen as to what this was all about.

One theory is that a few languages were all that were needed to communicate with everyone. Maybe Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek were languages where all the people there would have understood at least one. The Apostles knew these languages, and they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to preach these languages. Some spoke Aramaic. Some spoke Hebrew. Some spoke Greek.

Another theory is that it truly was a miracle. The Apostles were able to speak in languages that they did not know; or they spoke in a language that they did know, but the listeners heard the message in a language that they could comprehend.

Whatever happened on that first Pentecost in Jerusalem so long ago was the beginning of the activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian Church. Yet it would be a mistake to think that it was the beginning of the work of the Holy Spirit.

In the Nicene Creed we say that the Holy Spirit is the giver of life. That means that all of creation, including all of us, were created by God the Creator through the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is active in the lives of people in ways in which they may be unaware. Whenever true love, forgiveness, and mercy are shown by one person to another, even if these people are not Christians, the Holy Spirit is at work.

When Saint Paul was preaching to the people of Athens, Greece, he referred to a Greek poet who had written that God created all things. That Greek poet was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Wherever people have discovered true insights into the nature of God, it is the work of the Holy Spirit.

I have already preached during Lent how the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets. That is to say that the Holy Spirit was active in the lives of the people of the Old Testament so that they had been prepared for the coming of Jesus. It was the Holy Spirit that had caused the Jews to look at the world around them, and believe that God would some day send a person to set the world right. They called this person the Messiah or God’s Anointed One. Since Jesus and his followers were all Jews, they clearly saw Jesus as the Messiah that they were waiting and praying for.

As the Christian Church progressed from its infancy to becoming a world- wide religion, the Holy Spirit guided it. The Holy Spirit did not prevent sin from entering the church, but the Holy Spirit has prevented sin from overwhelming the church.

I read in a theology book that the Holy Spirit is active in the church in four different ways. The first way, according to the author, is in the mutual love between Christians. Whenever Christians pray and work together to spread the Gospel or to help the living conditions of people anywhere, there is the work of the Holy Spirit. This includes when Christians work across denominational lines.

The second way that the Holy Spirit is at work in the church is in the faith of its members. Throughout the centuries, countless Christians have held to their faith in the face of horrible threats and torture. This is still true in many places in the world. They could only have done this, and still are able to do this, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

A third way that the Holy Spirit was at work in the church was in the decision of the church councils such as the Council of Nicea that created the Nicene Creed. When one studies all the ideas about God that Christians have created, it is nothing short of incredible that a series of church councils were able to resolve debates that were threatening to tear the church apart. Only the Holy Spirit could have done this.

The fourth way that the author of this theology book writes that the Holy Spirit is active in the church is in the grace given to individual members. This is chiefly done through the sacraments of the church. For instance in the Holy Eucharist, the priest says over the bread and wine, “This is my body…This is my blood.” The priest, however, has no power in himself or herself to change anything. It is the Holy Spirit that changes the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

In addition to the four ways that this theology book says that the Holy Spirit is active in the church, I would like to add one more. This is the Holy Spirit is working through Christians to try to put the pieces of the Christian Church back together.

At the Last Supper, Jesus prayed that his church would be one. It is not. We know that. The Christians who have been engaged, and who are now engaged in what is called the ecumenical movement would never have had or have now perseverance if they had not received strength from the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is active in the world, in the church, and in your life and mine. Do you understand that? Do you try to become a channel of the Holy Spirit’s love to those you meet? These questions I also have to ask myself.

Let us pray: O God, who alone is light, send forth now, we beseech you, the Spirit of light and understanding in the knowledge of your truth, that we may receive into our minds those blessed things which you have made known to us by Jesus Christ our Lord; that we, hearing your word with reverence and obedience, may bring forth to your praise the fruits of a holy, godly, and loving life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

May 16, 2010

We are now observing what is called Ascensiontide in the Church year. It is the time that we celebrate that our Lord ascended into heaven after his resurrection from the dead. The sentence in the Nicene Creed that refers to this is, “he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.”

Psalm 97 which is the psalm appointed for the Sunday for Ascension Day is a psalm that glorifies God as King. God is the King of the Universe. He is King forever.

Do you remember two years ago when we were in the midst of a presidential campaign year that culminated with Barrack Obama being elected. At the beginning of 2008, it was not at all clear who our next President would be. Millions of dollars were spent and countless hours of energy expended before we knew who the winner was. Then when all the dust had settled, we had picked a President who will only be in office for four years, or maybe eight. In contrast God is King forever.

     Furthermore, the President of the United States governs one country on a small planet in a solar system which is a microorganism in one of a million galaxies in the universe. God governs it all.

   The power of God is beyond our comprehension. The mind of God is beyond our knowing. Another psalm besides Psalm 97, Psalm 139, summarizes this truth well. “How deep I find your thoughts O God!” How great is the sum of them. If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; to count them all, my life would need to be like yours.”

Yet this God is tremendous power is also a God of incredible love. Faced with sinful humanity, this God decided not to abandon us, but rather God decided to inaugurate a long process that would result in winning us back from the clutches of sin.

Part of that process was God being a human being and that human being we call the Son of God. At this time of the church year, we celebrate that after Jesus was raised from the dead, he was exalted into the highest heaven. As Jesus said to his disciples, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.”(Matthew 28:18) You do not get any higher than that.

There is another passage from the Bible which conveys the exaltation of Jesus very dramatically. It comes from the prophet Daniel.   “As I watched, thrones were set in place, and an Ancient One took his throne, his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and flowed out from his presence. A thousand thousands served him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. I watched then because of the noise of the arrogant words that the horn was speaking. And as I watched, the beast was put to death, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.”                                       (NRSV, Daniel 7: 9-14)

  So when we recite the Nicene Creed and say, “he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father”, we are saying that Jesus is King and that God is in control. Evil is strong but ultimately God is in control. How much comfort does that give to you?

Let us pray: Almighty God, who at this time did raise to your right hand your holy son, Jesus Christ our Savior, and has surrounded him with everlasting glory; we worship and adore you in the fellowship of your redeemed, and ascribe to you and to the Lamb blessing and honor, glory and power, forever and ever. Amen.

Sermon on May 9, 2010 – The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Today I would like to conclude exploring the sentence in the Nicene Creed that says, “We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” by asking this question. What do we mean when we say that the church is apostolic?

I think that we can begin by looking at a movie that was on television years ago. Actually it was a television series entitled Roots. It was based on a book by Alex Haley. Some of you may remember seeing it. It was about an American man whose ancestor had been captured from Africa and sold as a slave in America. This man was anxious to explore his family history, and he traveled to West Africa to see if he could find his ancestor’s story. He was trying to discover his roots.

The series ends with the man seated with natives of the village where his ancestor supposedly came from. They are listening to the village historian reciting the history of the tribe. It is an oral tradition where the historian recites in detail the history of the tribe leaving no detail unmentioned.

At one point, the American searching for information about his ancestor asks a village official about the historian. “Can he speed it (meaning the history) up?” The official shakes his head and answers, “No. He has to recite the whole story.”

Then, much to the delight of the searching American, the historian mentions the name of the man’s ancestor. He says that this man went to get material to make a drum and he never returned to the village. The American had discovered his roots.

The American in this TV drama was interested in the stories of his ancestors. They had been real people with real stories. Their lives were not figments of someone’s imagination. They were real characters in history.

When we say that the church is apostolic, we are referring to the Apostles of Jesus. We have to remember that these people were Jews so that they looked at God through a Jewish lens. To the Jews, God was active in their history. They saw the miracles of the Old Testament, such as the escape of the Hebrew slaves at the Red Sea, as events that really happened. Pious Jews would make sure that they told their ancestors’ stories to their children.

What the Apostles did was to continue that Jewish tradition of telling a story about God, and how God intervened in history to save God’s people. They told their world the story of Jesus of Nazareth, and all that that meant.

One of the most interesting stories that we have concerning an Apostle’s sermon is the one recorded in The Acts of the Apostles where Saint Paul is speaking to a group of people in Athens in Greece. Listen to the text. Paul says

“

Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands ,as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are his offspring.” Sine we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (NRSV, Acts 17:22b-31)

As we can see, Paul is very philosophical at first. He tells his listeners that there is one God who cannot be portrayed by any statue. Then he focuses on history and says that God has appointed a specific man to judge the world, and we know that to be true because God raised this man from the dead.

In other words, Paul was not content to preach about general truths about God. He insisted that true religion was rooted in an historical event. On one specific spring morning, in one specific cemetery outside the walls of one specific city, namely Jerusalem, God raised one specific man from the dead with great ramifications for all of us. It was a real event. It actually happened. If you had been there, you would have felt a slight earthquake, seen a rock roll away from the entrance to a tomb, and seen a flesh and blood human, not a ghost, walk out.

Paul was taking a chance in his sermon to the Athenians by saying that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead was a real event. Some of the Athenians who heard him ridiculed him and walked away. Two thousand years later, people still scoff at the idea of Christ’s resurrection. Yet the miracle of the resurrection was central to the Apostles’ teaching.

In the first lesson for today from The Acts of the Apostles (Acts, 16:9-15) Paul has a vision of a Macedonian pleading with him. The man said, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (NRSV, Acts 16:9) Macedonia is the area north of Greece. Paul probably dreamed this as he slept.

Paul heeded the dream and went. When he reached Macedonia, what did he do? He began to tell the Macedonians the story of Jesus.

When we say that the church is apostolic, we mean that the church continues to tell the story about Jesus Christ. The church proclaims that he was a real person who lived at a particular time and place in history. He taught the people who heard his voice. He was crucified to atone for the sins of humanity at a particular point in history.

An Anglican monk named Gregory Dix wrote the following about Jesus’ crucifixion in history. “Christianity is the revelation of Divine Truth from beyond all history and all time, but it is so only because it is the only fully historical religion. It is the only religion which actually depend entirely upon history. It is faith in the Incarnate God, it is Divine redemption given from within history, not by the promulgation of doctrines (even true doctrines) but by the wrenching of one Man’s flesh and the spilling of His blood upon one particular square yard of ground, outside one particular city gate during three particular unrepeatable hours, which could have been measured on a clock. You cannot (and you never could) enter into the truth of Christianity apart from its history.” (Jew And Greek by Gregory Dix, p.5)

Then about forty hours after his death, Jesus rose from the dead and this opened God’s kingdom for us in some mysterious way that we will never fully comprehend in this life.

This was the Apostles’ story, and this is still the church’s story. So when we say that the church is apostolic, this is what we mean.

Yet there is another way that we as Episcopalians believe that the church is apostolic. It is a belief that is held by Anglicans, which we are, and Roman Catholics and the Orthodox. It is very important to us that our Bishops have been consecrated by Bishops before them in a continuous line going back to the Apostles and thus to Jesus himself. This is called “historic Apostolic succession” and a person cannot become a Bishop until he or she has been consecrated in this way.

For instance, next Sunday our new Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, will be visiting us at All Saints’ Church. He was elected to be the Bishop at Diocesan Convention last October 24^th. He did not become a Bishop, however, until he was consecrated twenty-five weeks later on April 17, 2010 by Bishops in Apostolic succession.

It is also important in the Episcopal Church that all Priests and Deacons are ordained by a Bishop in historic Apostolic succession.

Well I have talked about how the church is apostolic. The church is apostolic because it continues the teaching of the Apostles. For us as Episcopalians, it is also apostolic because our Bishops have been consecrated by Bishops in a historical line going back to the Apostles and Jesus.

Is this important to you? Is it important to you that the Christian faith is so rooted in history?

Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift: Send down upon our Bishops, and other clergy, and upon the congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and, that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honor of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sermon on May 2, 2010 – The Fifth Sunday of Easter

When we describe the church in the Nicene Creed, one of the truths that we say about the church is that it is catholic.

The word “catholic” is probably the least understood religious word that is regularly used by Americans. 99.9% of Americans use the word “catholic” to describe Roman Catholics. Yet “catholic” does not mean Roman Catholic. It means “universal.”

When we say in the Nicene Creed that we believe in the Catholic Church, we are saying that the Christian Church is for everyone.

Our first lesson for today is from The Acts of the Apostles. As the lesson opens, Peter has already baptized a group of Gentiles into the church. Peter’s fellow Jewish- Christians criticize him for admitting Gentiles into Christ’s fellowship. Peter responds by telling of his version where God commanded him to go preach to these Gentiles. When Peter did, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as the Holy Spirit had fallen on the apostles at Pentecost. Peter believed that he had no choice but to baptize these people.

We have to remember that in Peter’s day, the Jews did not like the Gentiles. In fact one can say that they hated them. There were three episodes in the Jews’ history that molded this hatred.

The first event was in the sixth century B. C. when the great Babylonian Empire to the east of Israel conquered the Jews and deported them to Babylon. They and their descendants lived in Babylon (in modern day Iraq) for seventy years before they were allowed to return to their homeland.

If one wants to understand the hatred that the Jews felt for the Babylonians, who were Gentiles because they were not Jews, one has only to read part of Psalm 137. O daughter of Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock! (NRSV, Psalm 137:8-9)

Furthermore, when the Jews did return to their homeland, they believed that the reason that God had punished their ancestors with the Babylonian exile was because they had copied the practices of the Gentiles who surrounded them. They had not stayed true to the Law of Moses. Those who returned from Babylon vowed that they would not associate with Gentiles.

The second event that caused Jews to hate Gentiles occurred less than two hundred years before Jesus. Alexander the Great with his powerful army stormed out of Greece, and conquered the land- mass of Asia that included the Jewish homeland. After Alexander died, his empire was divided among his generals who became kings of their various kingdoms.

One of the kings who ruled Judah believed that Greek culture was superior to all others, and he ruled that all his subjects must adopt Greek religion. He tried to abolish Judaism as a religion. The Jews resisted and they fought the Greeks ferociously until they drove the Greeks from their country. This is what the Jews celebrate every December with Hanukah. The warfare against the Greeks reinforced the Jews’ hatred of Gentiles.

Finally, the third event that cemented this hatred was when the Roman Empire conquered Judah. The Jews hated the Romans. In order for us to appreciate this, imagine if the Soviet Union had conquered the United States. We would hate the Russians.

We know, of course, at the time of Jesus, the Jews were subject to Rome. Jesus himself was crucified upon the order of the Roman governor.

Now when the Christian Church began, all the first Christians were Jews. These people were just as prone to prejudice as we are. They had grown up with nothing but antipathy and suspicion of Gentiles. They did not want them to be part of their fellowship of faith.

God, however, had other ideas. First Peter had a vision of all kinds of animals that were not kosher. They were animals that a Jew was not permitted to eat. A voice said to him, “Get up Peter; kill and eat.” Peter replied, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” God replied, “What God has made unclean, you must not call profane.” (NRSV, Acts 10:13-15) This exchange happened three times.

I once heard a priest lecture on this passage. He said that when God told Peter to eat what was unclean for a Jew, Peter told God, “I can’t. It’s against my religion.” God replied what God had made clean, Peter must not call unclean.

Within days of this vision, Peter again directed by God, found himself with other Jewish-Christians in the home of a Roman soldier named Cornelius. As Peter was telling Cornelius and other Gentiles who were with him about Jesus, the Gentiles were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in ecstatic utterance.

Peter then said to the Jewish Christians, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (NRSV, Acts 10:47) These Gentiles became baptized Christians. Peter and his companions were then the Gentiles’ guests for several days. At that time, Jews and Gentiles did not socialize together. It simply was not done.

That is where the first lesson for today begins. It says that when Peter returned to Jerusalem, his fellow Jewish-Christians criticized him. “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” (NRSV, Acts 11:3)Peter defended his actions.

The question of Gentiles becoming Christians was far from settled. More and more Gentiles were hearing about Jesus, and they wanted to join the church. What they would not do was circumcise their baby boys or keep the Jewish dietary laws.

Some Jewish-Christians insisted that if Gentiles wanted to become Christians that was fine but they had to become Jews first. They had to accept circumcision and keep the Jewish dietary laws. Other Jewish-Christians such as Saint Peter and Saint Paul said “no.” Gentiles could be baptized as Christians without becoming Jews first.

The first church council ever held took place in Jerusalem around 50 A.D. to settle this question. Peter and Paul’s position won. Gentiles could become Christians without becoming Jews first. This was the beginning of the catholic or universal church. If the other position had won, Christianity would never have become a world- wide religion. It would have remained a sect within Judaism.

Let us take a journey in time from the early church in Jerusalem to our church today. The admission of Gentiles into the church does not mean that Christians are free of prejudice toward those who are not considered up to standards.

I would like to relate to you a story that I believe I have told from this pulpit before, but some of you have not heard it. I knew a Methodist pastor who knew the pastor who tried an experiment with his parishioners one Sunday morning. He dressed like a bum and sat at the church’s main door. He slouched over so that no one could see his face. People came to church but no one would speak to him or invite him to come to church. The hour came for the service to begin and people were asking, “Where is the minister?” Finally, as people sat in church, the minister walked to the front of the church dressed as a bum and reprimanded everyone for their lack of hospitality. He remained at that church for only a short time after that, but he did make a point.

Since Christians are sinners, we love to play the game of the ins and the outs. We love to think that somehow we are among the special people. When we say, however, that we believe in the Catholic Church, we are saying that we believe that all people are equal in the eyes of God. Jesus died on the cross for everyone. All are equally welcomed in the church.

A question that we always have to ask ourselves here at All Saints’ Church is whether we welcome all visitors who worship here. Actually, I believe that we do a better job at this than many Episcopal churches, but we always have to keep this question before us. When you see a new person in church, do you think to yourself, “I need to welcome him or her here.”

When a priest is installed as a new Rector in a parish, a warden presents the new Rector with keys and says, “Receive these keys, and let the doors of this place be open to all people.” (The Book Of Common Prayer, p. 562) The warden does not say, “Receive these keys, and let the doors of this place be open to the right people.” Rather the warden says, “Receive these keys, and let the doors of this place be open to all people.”

That is what the Catholic Church is all about. May it ever be so.

Let us pray: Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen.

Sermon on April 25, 2010 – Fourth Sunday of Easter

This morning I would like to continue exploring the statement in the Nicene Creed that reads, “We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” I would ask the question, what do we mean when we say that the church is holy.

Maybe we should begin by saying what this does not mean. It does not mean that the Christian Church is made up of sinless, perfect people. We know that that is not true. One has only to look at the history of the church to know that. One has only to look at the squabbles in a parish to know that. Finally, one has only to look in the mirror to know that.

Yet even though we are sinners, that does not mean hat we are not holy. We are holy because we believe that God says that we are holy.

God created all of us. You may have been born because of the union of your father and mother, but without God you would not be here. The psalms in the Bible testify to God’s love for us. Psalm 8 reads, what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. (NRSV, Psalms 8:4-5)

Perhaps the most poignant passage in the Psalter comes from Psalm 139. For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame as not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. (NRSV, Psalms 139: 13-16) Any person that God thus guided must be holy.

Furthermore, as Christians we believe that we have been baptized into a fellowship called the Body of Christ that Jesus Christ truly loves and to whom he ministers. In the Gospel for today (John 10:22-30), Jesus tells his fellow Jews that he knows who are his and that he ministers to them.

There is a passage from The Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians which reads as follows From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: every thing old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (NRSV, II Corinthians 5:16-17)

Saint Paul is saying that we were created by God to become something wonderful. We were created by God to become nothing less than gods and goddesses with a little g as opposed to God who is God with a capital G.

The well- known Christian writer, C.S. Lewis, once preached a sermon in Oxford University in England in 1941 entitled, “The Weight of Glory.” In this sermon, Lewis says that human beings are destined by God for one of two destinations. Either we are going to become the people that God created us to be to shine with heavenly glory, or we will be separated from God and become ugly and loathsome.

I would like to quote from Lewis’ sermon because he states this truth far more eloquently than I ever could. He says, It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are n ordinary people. You never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals with whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.

The church is holy because holy people are in it. We are sinners, yet we are also holy.

Also, the church is holy because the Holy Spirit dwells in the church. The church is a divine institution founded by Jesus himself, and as such, it will exist forever. As Jesus said, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it (the church).” (NRSV, Matthew 16:18b)

All human institutions will some day come to an end. The Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the world, but someday it will end. So will the Republican Party. As Lewis says in his sermon, all nations and civilizations will come to an end. The Christian Church, however, will never end. We are part of it in this life, and we will be part of it in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So when we say in the Nicene Creed that we believe that the church is holy, we are saying that you and I have been granted an overwhelming privilege. We have been granted the honor, through the mercy and love of God, to be invited to be part of a divine fellowship bound for glory.

I would ask you to ask yourself the question, “What does this really mean to me?

Let us pray: To you, O God the Father, and to you, O Christ, O King exalted, we offer up our due praise and unfeigned thanks, for you have sent down and dispersed abroad your Holy Spirit to restore and renew the spirit of people through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on April 18, 2010 – The Third Sunday of Easter

As I said last Sunday, I would like to explore today and for the next three Sundays what we mean when we say in the Nicene Creed that, “We believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.”

Today we should look at what we mean when we say that the church is one. This is the only part of the Nicene Creed that is only partly true.

It is true that the church is one in that it has one head who is Jesus Christ.

The most divisive issue in the history of the Christian faith is the issue of authority. If you study the history of the divisions that have occurred in the church, they almost always have to do with authority. Who is in charge? Who makes the decisions?

The Roman Catholic Church says that the head of the church is the Bishop of Rome or the Pope. Episcopalians say that the head of the world wide Anglican Communion is the Archbishop of Canterbury although he does not have anywhere near the authority that the Pope has. Episcopalians in the United States also have the Presiding Bishop, and Episcopalians in Connecticut have a Diocesan Bishop. In addition, Episcopal parishes have Rectors and Vestries. Other denominations have other people in positions of authority.

Where all Christians can agree, however, is that whatever visible head or heads there are in the church, there is only one invisible head who is Jesus. Earthly leaders come and go. I remember one Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut who was clearly the head of the Episcopal Church in this state. Every adult Connecticut Episcopalian, clergy or lay, knew who he was. Even many children knew who he was. He has not been Bishop for almost half a century, and today few Episcopalians remember him at all.

Jesus, however, remains head of the Christian Church forever. When it comes to ultimate authority, the church is one because it has one transcendent, heavenly ruler.

The church is also one because all Christians have basic beliefs as Christians that is stated in the Nicene Creed. When I finish this sermon, we will say the Nicene Creed together. We will say it in English. All around the globe today and on every Sunday, Christians say the Nicene Creed in English and in countless other languages.

When you consider how varied the human race is, and how many different cultures there are in the world, it is truly amazing that so many people can agree on certain fundamental religious truths. The Nicene Creed is a statement of faith that all Christians on earth agree with. Obviously, when you look at other issues in the church, there will be many places where Christians do disagree and disagree strongly. Yet Christians agree that the Nicene Creed states the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

Yet another way where the church is one is that ultimately we will be all part of one fellowship in heaven. The second lesson for today is from The Revelation to Saint John (Revelation 5:11-14). In this lesson, Saint John has a vision of thousands upon thousands of people around God’s heavenly throne. They are joined by angels, and other members of God’s heavenly court, who joyfully sing the Lord’s praises. Here denominations do not exist. Everyone is part of one fellowship.

Now I said before that the statement in the Nicene Creed that the church is one is the only statement in the creed that is only partially true. This is because the Christian Church today is certainly not a united body in this world. We are very divided. All you have to do is to walk down the main street of most American cities and you will see different churches, and sometimes they are physically very close to each other. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Orthodox, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists do not worship together except on special occasions.

This is certainly not the way that Jesus wants it to be. At his last supper with his disciples, Jesus prayed that his church would be one. Yet sin among his followers has broken his church into pieces.

Actually if you examine the history of the Christian church, you will find that there has been conflict in the church from the beginning. Sometimes Christians in conflict have managed to stay within one church, and sometimes they have not.

Time does not permit us to go into a lengthy history of how the divisions that we have in the church came to be. Suffice it to say that he divisions are there as we know so well.

There is a movement among Christians to put the pieces back together again. It is known as the ecumenical movement, and there are many Christians who are praying, and working for the unity of the church. The word “ecumenical” come from the Greek meaning the whole inhabited world and the idea is that Christians from all over the world are part of one church.

Working for the unity of the church is not for the impatient. It is easy to be discouraged because the progress is so slow. What keeps those Christians who are working for the unity of Christ’s church going is the knowledge that Jesus wants his church to be one.

What about you? Does it make any difference in your life that Jesus Christ is the head of the church? Does it make any difference to you that Christians throughout the world believe the same basic beliefs? Does it make any difference to you that ultimately we will all be part of one body in heaven? Do you really want the church to be one?

Let us pray for the unity of the church.

Let us pray:

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on April 11, 2010 – The Second Sunday of Easter

As I continue my series of sermons on the Nicene Creed, I would like to focus our attention today on one sentence in the creed. This sentence reads, “We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” Actually for today and the next four Sundays, I would like to explore what this statement means to us. The church is so much a part of our Christian faith that we should spend some time considering what we mean when we say that the church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

This morning, however, I would like to talk about something else about the church. That is the church is supposed to be joyful because of what it believes and proclaims.

That joy is expressed in the psalm for today that is psalm 118. Actually we recited only part of psalm 118, but one understands the mood of the psalm by the part we said.

One of the most famous people in Christian Church history was Martin Luther. He was the man that many believe began the Protestant Reformation. This psalm, psalm 118, was evidently Luther’s favorite psalm. He was quoted as saying, “This is my psalm which I love; for truly it has deserved well of me many a time, and has delivered me from many a sore affliction when neither the emperor, nor kings, nor wise men, nor the cunning, nor the saints were able or willing to help me.”

Scholars believe that Psalm 118 was a song of praise sung by the Israelite community. It was possibly sung by the community after a military victory. Part of the psalm is in the singular, and part is in the plural, and some scholars believe the singular person may be the king who is reciting for himself on behalf of the nation.

In the psalm are the words, “We bless you from the house of the Lord.” The idea expressed in these words is that we are a worshipping community in God’s house, and we are a joyful worshipping community in God’s house.

That is what the Christian Church is supposed to be. It is supposed to be a joyful, worshipping community in God’s house.

Remember, we are a people who have been invited to two banquets. The first banquet is really not one meal. It is a whole series of meals. We call it the Holy Eucharist, and we celebrate it each Sunday. The word “Eucharist” comes from the Greek word for thanksgiving. Some times this service is called the Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper.

We have a stained glass window in church showing a chalice, a wafer, stalks of grain, and grapes. These are symbols of the Holy Eucharist.

It is obvious from the New Testament that this service was instituted by Jesus himself when he ate his last meal on the night that he was arrested. It was continued by Jesus’ followers.

Originally the service was a full meal with the sharing of the bread and wine in the meal. What was happening, however, was the social aspect of the meal was swallowing up the religious aspect.

What the church did was to separate the sacred part of the service from the social. The sacred part became a series of hymns, prayers, a sermon, and the sharing of the bread and wine in memory of Jesus. This was followed by a meal called an agape that is Greek for a love feast. The agape for us is the coffee hour and church meals.

The Holy Eucharist is the central act of Christian worship for Episcopalians, and for most of the world’s Christians. It is not the central act of worship for all Christians, but certainly for the majority.

I would like to read to you from a book entitled The Shape Of The Liturgy by Gregory Dix. Dix was an Anglican monk and a world renowned scholar. His description of the Holy Eucharist is unmatched by anything else I have ever read. Dix wrote:

At the heart of (Christian worship) is the eucharstic action, a thing of an absolute simplicity – the taking, blessing, breaking and giving of bread and the taking, blessing and giving of a cup of wine and water, as these were first done with their new meaning by a young Jew before and after supper with His friends on the night before He died. Soon it was simplified still further, by leaving out the supper and combining the double grouping before and after it into a single rite. So the …Shape of the Liturgy was found by the end of the first century. He had told His friends to do this henceforward with the new meaning “for the (remembrance)” of Him, and they have done it always since.

Was ever another command so obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been done, in every conceivable human circumstance, for every conceivable human need from infancy and before it to extreme old age and after it, from the pinnacles of earthly greatness to the refuge of fugitives in the caves and dens of the earth. Men have found no better thing than this to do for kings at their crowning and for criminals going to the scaffold; for armies in triumph or for a bride and bridegroom in a little country church; for the proclamation of a dogma or for a good crop of wheat; for the wisdom of the Parliament of a mighty nation or a sick old woman afraid to die; for a schoolboy sitting an examination or for Columbus setting out to discover America; for the famine of whole provinces or for the soul of a dead lover; in thankfulness because my father did not die of pneumonia; for a village headman much tempted to return to fetich because the yams had failed; because the Turk was at the gates of Vienna; for the repentance of Margaret; for the settlement of a strike; for a son for a barren woman; for Captain so – wounded and prisoner of war; while the lions roared in the nearby amphitheatre; on the beach at Dunkirk; while the hiss of scythes in the thick June grass came faintly through the windows of the church; tremulously, by an old monk on the fiftieth anniversary of his vows; furtively, by an exiled bishop who had hewn timber all day in a prison camp near Murmansk; gorgeously, for the canonization of S. Joan of Arc – one could fill many pages with the reasons why men have done this, and not tell a hundredth part of them. And best of all, week by week, and month by month, on a hundred thousand successive Sundays, faithfully, unfailingly, across all the parishes of Christendom, the pastors have done just to make…the holy common people of God.

As we come to the communion rail Sunday by Sunday, we come as a joyful people knowing that our salvation has been won for us by Jesus Christ. I said before that we are invited to two banquets. The first is the Holy Eucharist. The second is the invitation to God’s kingdom after we die in this life. This assurance of eternal life should fill us with great joy that none of life’s problems should destroy. Yet too often, Christians are not joyous people. As one person is reported to have said to a group of Christians, “You don’t look very redeemed.” We let the concerns of this world, and the inevitable problems in every parish make us into fearful, and angry people. This is not to say that Christians are always supposed to be giddy with happiness. When you or a loved one is suffering, it is hard to be happy. The joy of the Christian faith is, however, meant to be a deep current of joy in a Christian’s life assuring him or her that God in Jesus is always there.

Again if I may quote from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NRSV, Romans 8:38-39)

Remember, when it comes to the church – Christ’s one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church – Jesus said that the gates of hell shall not triumph over his church. Well, what does it mean to you that the church is supposed to be a source of joy in your life? Is it a source of joy? If so, why? If not, why not? If not, what can we as a parish do about it? Please turn to page 101 of your prayer book. Let us say The General Thanksgiving together.

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

Sermon on April 4, 2010- Easter

Every Sunday as we gather for worship, we say the Nicene Creed. In that creed, are words that are directly related to our festival in church today that, of course, is Easter. The words are contained in two sentences that are separated from each other.

In the first sentence we say, “On the third day, he (meaning Jesus) rose again in accordance with the scriptures.” Then at the end of the Nicene Creed, we say, “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”

Let us look at the first sentence. “On the third day, he rose again in accordance with the scriptures.”

This sentence is saying that the resurrection of Jesus was an actual event in history. It happened. Anyone who had bothered to go to Jesus’ tomb on that first Easter would have found the tomb empty.

Yet the earliest Christians said more than that the tomb was empty. An empty tomb could mean that someone had removed Jesus’ body. The earliest followers of Jesus said that Jesus was alive again, and that certain people of the fellowship had seen Jesus alive. Furthermore, they said that Jesus was not a ghost. He had a body, and some of their fellowship had actually touched that body.

Christianity is the only religion that ties a belief in an after life to an actual historical event. Other religions may teach that there is life after death, but they do not say that this eternal life is linked to something that happened here on earth.

Christians do say that, and they have been saying this for the past two thousand years. Something happened on that spring morning in that Jerusalem cemetery so long ago that has the most profound repercussions for us today. In some supernatural, incredible way, that we will never fully understand in this life, when Jesus rose from his grave, the kingdom of heaven was open to us in a way that was not true before that first Easer.

In the Nicene Creed, we go on to say that, “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” What we are saying, of course, is that death is not the end of the road for us. My guess is that there are a great many people in our society who believe that death really is the end. For them death will be like going to sleep and never waking up.

The Nicene Creed says, “NO” to this idea. The Nicene Creed and the Christian faith say that we will be raised as Jesus was. Furthermore, just as Jesus had a resurrection body, so shall we. We will not be ghosts.

I happen to believe that our pets that have died will also have resurrected bodies. I knew a man who was dying. Before he died, he said that he felt a cat that he had loved and who had died, around his neck. He did not just feel the cat’s presence. He actually felt its fur. He heard it. He smelled it.

The Nicene Creed also mentions “the life of the world to come.” This world that is to come is a never- ending world where we discover more and more about God.

OK so as Christians we say that we believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and that we have been given a promise of eternal life. What does that mean to us on a practical level in this life?

Two days ago. We observed Good Friday, which of course, is a day of sorrow when we remember our Lord’s crucifixion. Today we celebrate Easter, when rejoice in our Lord’s resurrection. The observances, Good Friday and Easter, are right next to each other.

So let me ask you this question. As you live your life, do you believe that you are a Good Friday person or an Easter person? This has nothing to do with whether you are a gregarious extrovert or a serious introvert. This has to do with whether you are basically optimistic or basically pessimistic about life.

It is easy to be a Good Friday person. Goodness knows that there is enough pain and sorrow in the world to overwhelm all of us.

I believe that in order to be an Easter person, it is not enough to believe that you should always put on a happy smile. I believe that in order to be an Easter person, one has to really believe in the Easter event. One has to believe that what the Nicene Creed says is really true. “On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures…We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”

This gives the Christian believer the deep underlying strength to face the pain and sorrow that comes to all of us. To believe in the Easter event is to become an Easter person.

Finally, let me just say that I believe that the only way to sustain one’s Easter faith is to be part of the Easter community which is the Christian Church. If you try to sustain an Easter faith by yourself, in the face of all life’s challenges, you will not succeed. You and I need the support of the love, the sacraments, the prayers, and the faith of other Christians.

I would like to conclude this sermon by quoting from a book. Last Sunday, I mentioned the book (which was made into a movie) entitled The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. This is the first book in a series of books about the adventures of some children in a magical land called Narnia that is ruled by a lion named Aslan. In this passage, which is the end of the last book, Aslan is talking to the children who have died. It is really Lewis’ description of heaven.

Lewis wrote: There was a real railway accident,” said Aslan softly. “Your father and mother and all of you are – as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands – dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

Let us pray: O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

Sermon on March 28, 2010 – Palm Sunday

Every Sunday, when we recite the Nicene Creed, we say, “For our sake he was crucified under Pontus Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.” The “he” of course refers to Jesus. The passion narrative that we just read in parts tells the dramatic story of Jesus’ horrible death by crucifixion as recorded by Saint Luke.

Jesus was crucified under Pontus Pilate. In The Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Pilate literally washes his hands in water and proclaims that he is innocent of Jesus’ blood. Under the laws of the Roman Empire, however, the Roman governor was ultimately responsible for executions. Pilate could wash his hands all day, but that did not release him from the ultimate responsibility for Jesus’ crucifixion.

We heard in the passion story that Jesus died on a cross. All four gospels agree on this. Crucifixion was one of the cruelest forms of execution people have ever invented. I will spare you the details of how it worked. The Romans made sure that crucifixions were public as warnings to all. Break the law and this will happen to you.

We also know that we say that Jesus died to save us from our sins. We say that in church a lot. What do we really mean by that? What did Jesus do for us on the cross?

Last Palm Sunday, I concluded a Lenten series of sermons that I gave on Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. I briefly explained three theories that have come forth through the centuries of what Jesus did on the cross. I would like to repeat them.

The first is called the Ransom Theory. This theory holds that when people sinned they became the property of the Devil. He owned them. God, however, made a deal with the Devil. God would give his son, Jesus, to the Devil if the Devil would renounce his claim on anyone else. The Devil accepted the deal and gave up his claim on everyone except Jesus. When Jesus died, however, the Devil did not have the power to hold him and when Jesus rose from the dead, he was free and so was everyone else. If you have read the book, The Lion the Witch And The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis or seen the movie, the Ransom Theory is used there.

The second theory is called the Substitutionary Theory. This theory holds that God may love people but he has also established a system of justice. When a person sins, an accounting must be rendered. A penalty has to be paid. In the Old Testament, this penalty had to be paid by the shedding of blood. That is why the Jews practiced animal sacrifice.

If you were a Jew and you had committed a sin, you would bring an animal that you owned (probably a sheep or a goat) to the priest. The priest would slit its throat, drain the blood, and then burn the carcass on an altar as a burnt offering to God. These sacrifices, however, could never atone for the sins of all humanity.

According to the Substituionary theory, Jesus paid the penalty on the cross for the sins of all of us. Since he was human, he could be a substitute for other humans. Since he was God, his sacrifice was perfect.

There are some people who are critical of the Substitutionary Theory because it appears that God is blood- thirsty. There is a huge difference, however, between God saying, “You sinned and I demand my blood”, and God saying, “I am sorry but someone has to pay for these sins. Someone has to pay, and since you cannot do it, I will do it myself.”

The third theory might be called the Cosmic Theory. According to this theory, when Jesus suffered on the cross, he was entering most fully into the suffering of humanity. Never again could a person say to God, “You do not know what it is to suffer.”

When Jesus was raised from the dead, it was as if the new life of God had been injected into the cosmos. Once the Resurrection happened, the Holy Spirit began transforming humanity and all of creation in a new marvelous way.

These theories may seem very academic to us, but we must remember that behind all the theories is the love of Jesus for us.

This is not a love that does not notice our sis. Jesus know our sins very well

In the passion narrative today, Saint Luke tells us that at the Last Supper, Jesus told Peter that he would fall away and deny Jesus. Peter denies this but Jesus said it would be so. Listen to what the Bible says. (Jesus said) “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow three times that you know me.” (NRSV, Luke 22:31-34)

Well Jesus was right. Again, listen to what the Bible says after Peter denied Jesus for the third time. Then about an hour later still another kept insisting, “Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!” At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (NRSV, Luke 22:59-62)

Jesus knew full well of Peter’s denial, and yet we know that he forgave Peter. He even forgave those who had nailed him to the cross. Saint Luke is the Gospel writer who records that Jesus said on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (NRSV, Luke 23:34a)

The love and forgiveness of Jesus even extended to one who made a last minute confession. Listen to what the Bible says one more time. One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (NRSV, Luke 23:39-43)

Some might say that this was not fair. Why should a person who led a life of crime get to heaven because of a last minute confession? Yet if Jesus decided to forgive that criminal, which one of us is going to tell him that he could not do this? I certainly am not. Thank goodness that the scales of God’s justice are weighed on the side of mercy.

So when we say in the Nicene Creed, “For our sake he was crucified under Pontus Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.”, we are saying that we believe in two facts. The first is that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was an historical fact. It happened on a spring day outside the walls of Jerusalem about two thousand years ago.

The second fact is that something happened then that would change our whole relationship with God. We cannot be sure exactly how it happened, but the crucifixion of Jesus is linked some how to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and it is definitely linked to God’s love for us in Jesus, and our own resurrection from death.

I would like to conclude this sermon with a story that you may have heard. A priest was telling a group of people about three men who were walking by a church. One of them said to the others, “Jesus Christ died for me and I don’t give a damn.” One of the other men said to him, “I dare you to go into the church and say that to the priest.”

The man took up the dare. He walked into the church and said to the priest, “Father, Jesus Christ died for me and I don’t give a damn.” The priest pointed to the crucifix over the altar and answered the man, “All right you told me, but you need to tell him.”

The man did that. He walked up to the crucifix and said, “Jesus Christ died for me and I don’t give a damn.” Then he returned to the priest who said, “You should tell him a second time.”

So for a second time he walked to the crucifix and repeated, “Jesus Christ died for me and I don’t give a damn.” Only this time he said it more slowly.

When he returned to the priest, the priest said, “Go tell him just one more time what you said.” The third time when the man faced the crucifix he had a very difficult time getting his words out. “Jesus Christ – died for me – and – I – don’t give a damn.” Then he returned to the priest and said, “Father, I am ready to make my confession.”

The priest who was telling this story to the group said, “I know that this story is true because I was that man.”

Let us pray: Almighty God, we bow down before thee, acknowledging our unworthiness and our sin. Thou didst send thy Son to show us the way of life, yet we have erred from it continually. Thou hast manifested his kingly right, and we have seen his glory; yet, while offering him the homage of our lips, we have not given him the loyalty of our lives. We have followed our own pleasures; we have sought our own ends; we have lived in selfishness; we have refused the way of the cross. Have mercy upon us; rebuke our waywardness and folly, and grant us true repentance, that our sins may be forgiven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on March 21, 2010 – The Fifth Sunday in Lent

In my sermon series on the Nicene Creed, this is my last sermon on the Old Testament. I have given a number of sermons in Lent about the Old Testament based on the sentence in the Nicene Creed that reads, “He has spoken through the prophets.” The “He” refers to the Holy Spirit and the “prophets” refers to all of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament lesson for today (Isaiah 43:16-21) comes to us from the prophet Isaiah. It actually was written by an unknown author known to us as Second Isaiah. In order to understand what this passage really means, we have to delve back into Israel’s history.

There is so much to say about the history of ancient Israel that it could comprise a sermon series for a whole year. I have only time to cover the highlights.

In my last sermon, I talked about King David. David had several sons who fought and maneuvered to become king after their father died. Solomon, who was David’s son by Bathsheba, finally won out after some grisly executions to become the new king.

The author of The First Book of Kings in the Old Testament praises Solomon for his rule where Solomon became enormously wealthy and built a splendid temple for the worship of God in Jerusalem. Yet Solomon’s glory was bought at a high price. Solomon greatly over taxed his subjects to the point where they were ready to revolt.

The flashpoint came when Solomon died and his son, a man named Rehoboam, was to be crowned king. The people came before him and demanded that he promise them that he would lower their taxes. Rehoboam told the people to give him three days to consider this.

In the three days Rehoboam had to consider an answer, he conferred with two groups. The first were the elderly officials of his father. They were experienced enough to know that the people had a valid point. They advised the new king to reduce the taxes and they said that if he did, he would rule a contented group of subjects.

Rehoboam also consulted younger men who were his peers. They told him that this was a test of strength. They said that Rehoboam had to show everyone that he was the boss. They said that Rehoboam should say that if you thought my father was hard on you, you aint seen anything yet. I will be twice as mean as he was.

Rehoboam agreed with his peers and this was a huge mistake. Of the twelve tribes that made up the kingdom of Israel, ten broke away in anger over Rehoboam’s answer to form a new nation. Only the two tribes of Judah and Simeon remained loyal to Rehoboam. What had been one nation of Israel were now the northern kingdom called Israel, and the southern nation called Judah.

Both kingdoms existed for several hundred years, and both committed two grievous sins against God. In fact, God raised up spokesmen called prophets who were unpopular with their contemporaries for rebuking them over both sins.

Many people think that prophets predict the future, but in the Bible, prophets are spokesmen for God.

One of the sins that the prophets rebuked was idolatry. As I mentioned last Sunday, the worship of nature, which the Canaanites (the people that the Israelites had conquered) practiced, involved sacred prostitution. The Israelites had tried to combine worship of the Lord with nature worship with its idols. The prophets said that this was impossible. The Lord was a jealous God who demanded total devotion.

We should realize, however, that the difference between the Canaanite nature religion and the worship of the Lord was not like the difference between the Episcopal Church and the Methodist Church. Part of the Canaanite worship involved child sacrifice. Infants were slaughtered, and their bodies burned on altars before statutes of idols. God’s prophets told the Israelites that God hated this.

The other sin of the Israelites was social injustice. The rich were oppressing the poor. Those who had power were trampling upon the weak. Again, the prophets told he people that God hated this. The prophets reminded their fellow Israelites that their ancestors had been slaves in Egypt, and God had rescued them. God was always on the side of the down trodden.

Yet the people would not listen and God’s judgment came. In the eighth century before Christ, the Assyrian empire, that was the super power of the day, fell upon the northern kingdom of Israel, and deported its people to foreign land. They disappeared into history, and are called the ten lost tribes of Israel. One theory is that the modern day Armenians are their descendants.

The little country of Judah continued for another century and a half until the Babylonian empire (the new super power) conquered it and deported most of the population to Babylon in modern day Iraq.

Unlike the people of Israel, however, the people of Judah did not disappear into history. Now known as the Jews, they managed to maintain their identity in Babylon.

There are many things that we could talk about as we examine the life of the Jews in exile. They and their children and grandchildren lived in Babylon for seventy years until the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians, and the Persian king, a man named Cyrus, decreed that the Jews could return to their homeland and rebuild it. Many of the Jews accepted Cyrus’ offer. This is what Second Isaiah is referring to in our Old Testament lesson today.

As I said, there so many lessons to be learned from the Jewish exile, but I will just mention a few. One is that throughout the whole of the Old Testament, God created, and is faithful to God’s covenant with God’s people. There were so many times when God could have fairly abandoned the covenant altogether. When the Hebrews in the desert worshipped the golden calf was one. Other times were later after the people settled in the land of Israel and worshipped idols, burned their children in the fire in sacrifice to these idols, and practiced social injustice. God was furious with their sins. God did punish the people for their sins, but God never stopped loving them.

Then when God put the Jews in Babylon, God still had plans for them. He used a prophet named Ezekiel to tell the Jews that God was with them.

In Babylon, God taught the Jews certain truths. One was that God could be worshipped anywhere. The Jews has associated the worship of God with their temple in Jerusalem that King Solomon had built, for so long, that when they were separated from the temple, they thought that their worship was over. In Babylon, the Jews realized that this was not true. God was with them in Babylon, and God could be worshipped anywhere.

In Babylon, the Jews also realized that they had to rely on God alone. There was no more Jewish government. There was no more Jewish king. There was no more Jewish army. God and each other were all that they had.

Finally, in Babylon an idea began to germinate that would have a great consequence for us as Christians. This was the thought that some point in the future, God would send to the Jews another King David. David was always remembered as the Jews’ greatest ruler even with his faults. So a people who were weak and prisoners in a foreign land, and who realized that God was their only hope, looked to this same God to change their fortunes by some future Jewish king that God would send to them. Since a man became a king by being anointed with holy oil by a priest, this future king sent by God was called “the anointed one.” In Hebrew this is translated as “Messiah.” In Greek, the word is “Christ.”

In our Old Testament lesson today, our author writes, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (NRSV, Isaiah 43:19a) The coming of the Messiah will be a new thing that will remake creation.

Now we live in a far different world than the ancient Jews of Babylon. We are not exiles in a foreign land. Yet in your life, do you ever feel weak and vulnerable as those Babylonian Jews did? D you believe that your ultimate hope is in God alone? Do you believe that God is working his purpose out in your life in the same way that God was working it out in the lives of the people of the Old Testament?

Let us pray: O God, we pray that you will give to us an appreciation of that part of our Bible that we call the Old Testament. Help us to realize that without the Old Testament, the New Testament would never have happened. All this we ask through our Messiah, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on March 14, 2010 – The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Once again I remind you of the line in the Nicene Creed that the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets. The prophets represent all of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament lesson today is a very short passage from The Book of Joshua. It tells how the Hebrews had finished their journey in the Sinai desert and crossed the Jordan River. In this lesson they are camped on the edge of the Jordan River in the land of Canaan. We know it today as Israel.

Moses has died. The leadership of the Hebrews has passed to Moses’ lieutenant, a man named Joshua. The people Joshua was leading were not the former slaves that Moses had led out of Egypt. They were these former slaves’ children and grandchildren, and they were tough desert warriors. Under Joshua, the Hebrews systematically conquered one Canaanite tribe after another.

Yet even though the Hebrews may have conquered the Canaanites, the religion of the Canaanites often conquered the Hebrews. The religion of the Canaanites was a worship of sex.

The way that it worked was that the Canaanites lived in an agricultural community. It was vitally important that there be rain. The Canaanites believed that when it rained it was the sky god, Baal, having sexual intercourse with the mother earth that was a goddess named Astarte.

The Canaanites believed in what is called sympathetic magic. That means that people on earth engage in practices that remind the divinities of what they are supposed to do. So there women who were sacred prostitutes. Men would worship by having sex with them. This was supposed to remind the sky god that he was supposed to have sex with the mother earth and it would rain.

This nature worship was a constant snare to the Hebrews, and turned their hearts from the worship of the true God. Those devoted to the Lord condemned it not because they thought that sex was bad, but because they believed that the Lord controls the rain as God controls all of nature. One can pray to the Lord, but one cannot manipulate the Lord.

On the political front, what emerged from the conquest of Joshua was a confederation of twelve tribes. Each tribe was a descendant from the twelve sons of Jacob or Israel who had been Abraham’s grandson. The tribes would sometimes join together to fight an enemy, and sometimes they would not.

The situation changed when the Hebrews, now known as the Israelites, faced a much more determined enemy. These were the Philistines who had settled along the Mediterranean Sea. Historians believe that the Philistines had migrated from the island of Crete.

In the face of a determined enemy, the Israelites believed that their loose confederation of tribes would no longer work. They wished to be a united country under a king. The situation was somewhat similar to our own history when, after the American Revolution, the citizens of the thirteen independent states believed that the Articles of Confederation were not working, and they became part of a more united nation under the constitution.

The Israelites approached the judge and priest of the time (about 1,000 B.C.) who was named Samuel, and demanded that they have a king. Samuel prayed to God who told Samuel to give the people a king. A man named Saul from the tribe of Benjamin was chosen.

The story of King Saul is a tragic one. We do not have time this morning to go into all the details, but he was slain in battle fighting the Philistines. He was succeeded as king by a man named David form the tribe of Judah.

Again, we do not have time this morning to go into all the details of David’s life. Yet I would like to mention some events because they had an impact on the world, our culture, and even our individual lives.

David decided to conquer the city of Jerusalem and make it the capital of his united kingdom. Jerusalem had been occupied by a tribe called the Jebusites. It was not part of any one of the twelve Israelite tribes. By taking it by force from the Jebusites, and making it his capital, no Israelite tribe would be jealous of any other.

Ever since David made Jerusalem his capital, this city has been the most sacred spot in the world to the Jews. All one has to do is to follow the news to know how important the question of Jerusalem’s ownership has become in international politics.

Once David was in Jerusalem, an event happened that would have reaching implications for his reign.

David’s army was off fighting an enemy, but David had stayed behind. He was on the roof of his palace when he noticed a beautiful woman bathing. He inquired about her and discovered that she was married, and named Bathsheba. The fact that she was married did not deter David from summoning her to his bedroom where he seduced her. Later she sent the king word that she was pregnant, and that he was the father.

Now Davis was desperate to cover up the affair. He summoned Bathsheba’s husband, a man named Uriah who was fighting in David’s army, home from the battle with the excuse that he wished to receive a first hand report on how the battle was going.

While he was in Jerusalem, Uriah refused to go to his house because his fellow soldiers were in the field. David sent him back to the army’s general with sealed instructions. The instructions told the general to put Uriah in the fiercest part of the fighting so that he would be killed which he was. Thus Uriah returned to the army carrying his own death sentence.

When David learned that Uriah was dead, which made Bathsheeba a widow, he took her as his wife. Thus King David committed the double sins of adultery and murder.

I would like to read to you a passage from the Bible because it powerfully states what happened next.

But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD, and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who had done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites… David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan said to David, “Now the LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die.” Then Nathan went to his house. (NRSV 11:27b-12:1-9,13-15a)

There are two important points to be gained from this story. The first is that Israelites believed that no one is above God’s laws. This included the king. The Israelites were unique among the ancient peoples in this regard. In every other civilization, the kings and queens were the law, and there was no higher authority. Nathan the prophet, however, came before the king, and said to David that you are subject to God’s laws, and you have broken them, and God is angry.

We subscribe to the ancient Israelites’ belief. Our public officials are subject to the law. Even if one greatly admires the President, no one thinks that he is God.

The other point in the David and Bathsheba story is David’s repentance. David immediately admitted his guilt. He knew that there was no use in trying to hide what he had done from God. Not only did he admit his guilt, but he was truly repentant.

Traditionally Psalm 51 has been attributed to David as he confessed his sins. When one reads this psalm, one is hearing the anguished cry of a repentant soul.

How about you? When you sin, do you feel truly repentant? I know how easy it is to justify a sin because I have done it. Do you justify sins or acknowledge them to God, to other, and to yourself?

I would like to end this sermon by saying Psalm 51. It is an appropriate psalm to say in Lent. Please turn in your prayer book to page 266. Let us read the psalm responsively by verse.

Psalm 51:1-18: (1) Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses. (2) Wash me through and through from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin. (3) For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. (4) Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. (5) And so you are justified when you speak and upright in your judgment. (6) Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, a sinner from my mother’s womb. (7) For behold, you look for truth deep within me, and will make me understand wisdom secretly. (8) Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; wash me, and I shall be clean indeed. (9) Make me hear of joy and gladness, that the body you have broken may rejoice. (10) Hide you face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. (11) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (12) Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy Spirit from me. (13) Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit. (14) I shall teach your ways to the wicked, and sinners shall return to you. (15) Deliver me from death, O God, and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness, O God of my salvation. (16) Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. (17) Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice; but you take no delight in burnt-offerings. (18) The sacrifice of God is a troubles spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Sermon on March 7, 2010 – The Third Sunday in Lent

When we say in the Nicene Creed that the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets, we are saying that the Holy Spirit spoke through the inspired people of the Old Testament. Our Old Testament lesson for today (Exodus 3:1-15) is about one of the giants of the Old Testament who was Moses.

Moses was born after the time that the descendants of Abraham had settled in Egypt. We cannot be sure of the time frame, but some scholars place Moses about 1200 B.C. The descendants of Abraham were called the Hebrews that meant “dusty ones.” It was a reference to the fact that these people were nomads. Also they were known as the Israelites since they were descended from Israel who had been Abraham’s grandson.

Moses almost did not make it past infancy. The Pharaoh or king of Egypt had decided that the Hebrews were a threat to his country if they ever decided to join Egypt’s enemies in a war. He decided on a two- prong approach to his problem.

First, he enslaved the Hebrews. The Bible says that the Egyptians forced the Hebrews to work on large building projects. Some people suppose that the Hebrew slaves built the pyramids, but the Bible does not say that.

Also, the Pharaoh, as a brutal population control measure, ordered all Hebrew boys to be killed at birth. Moses was born to Hebrew parents, and in a desperate move Moses’ mother put him in a basket, and set the basket loose in the Nile River. The basket was discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter who had pity on the baby, and brought him up in her household. She named him Moses that was an Egyptian name meaning one drawn out of the river. Moses, therefore, grew up as an Egyptian prince.

We know from the Bible that Moses had a fierce temper. When he was older, he was so enraged at an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew slave that he killed the Egyptian and he hid his body. The next day, when he tried to settle a dispute between two Hebrews, one said to Moses, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” (Exodus 2:14) Moses realized that it was only a matter of time before his murder of the Egyptian taskmaster was discovered, and his life would be in jeopardy. He fled into the Sinai desert, and got a job as a sheepherder.

Then comes the Old Testament lesson for today. Moses is on a mountain called Mount Sinai when he encounters a bush that is burning but is not consumed. God speaks to him out of the bush and commands Moses to return to Egypt, to confront Pharaoh, to demand that Pharaoh release the Hebrew slaves, and then to lead the Hebrews from slavery to freedom. Moses is to lead the people to this mountain, Mount Sinai.

Moses then asks God a most logical question. When I come to the Hebrews and tell them that God wishes to free them, they will ask, “What god is this? What is his name?” The ancient peoples believed in a multitude of divinities. Moses would have to be specific.

As we heard in the lesson, God answers that his name is, “I am who I am.” In Hebrew it is pronounced Yahweh. Yet Yahweh is really not a name. It describes that God exists. God really does not give his name.

This had a very practical effect on ancient people. It was commonly assumed in many religions that if you knew the name of a god or goddess, and also knew the right incantation, you could make the divinity do your will. The god or goddess became your divine servant. When God told Moses that no one really knows God’s name, God was saying to not even think for a moment that one can control God.

Moses did not really want to return to Egypt, but God knocked down every objection, and Moses went.

When he finally confronted Pharaoh, Pharaoh utterly rejected Moses’ demand. He had no respect for Moses’ God. Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.” (Exodus 5:2)

Then God sent plagues upon Egypt. The author of The Book of Exodus wanted the reader to understand that the God of the Hebrews was much more powerful than the gods of Egypt. If the Egyptian gods had been more powerful they could have prevented the Hebrews’ God’s plagues from happening, but they were not.

Finally, Pharaoh had had enough. He let the slaves go, but then he changed his mind, and commanded his army to bring them back. At the Red Sea or maybe the Sea of Reeds that is a smaller body of water, something happened. The Egyptian army drowned, and the Hebrews escaped. We cannot be sure what exactly happened, but the Jews have always seen the event at this body of water as a miracle of God that caused their ancestors to be free.

Then followed the travel in the Sinai desert. It is a very desolate place, but God led them to Mount Sinai where Moses had met God at the burning bush.

God called Moses to come up to the top of the mountain while the people camped at the bottom. There God gave him the Ten Commandments. As I mentioned in a sermon a few months ago, we have a stained glass window showing theTen Commandments.

A man named Thomas Cahill who wrote a book entitled, The Gifts Of The Jews believes that the original Ten Commandments were like bullet points. They were something like “no kill”, “no steal”, “no lie.”

The commandment about keeping the Sabbath holy is a very interesting one. There is no other ancient civilization that seemed to have a day of rest as part of its culture.

We make a mistake, however, if we think of the Ten Commandments as merely a set of rules. It is part of a covenant that God wished to have his people. Cahill in his book notes that the rabbis said that in the Sinai desert God was like a suitor wooing a woman. God had a love affair with his people. God was saying to his people, “I will be your God, your only God, and you will be my people.”

Only the people did not always reciprocate. While Moses was on the top of Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments, the people on the bottom believed that God and Moses had deserted them. They made a golden calf that was probably a golden bull to worship and follow back to Egypt to resume their old lives as slaves.

God reacted like a jilted lover. God was furious and threatened to destroy the people. Only Moses’ plea for mercy saved the day and God repented of his plan to destroy the people.

When Moses came down the mountain and saw the golden bull, his volcanic temper erupted. He smashed the stone tablets on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments. He would later go up the mountain for a second set of tablets. He also smashed the golden bull into fragments.

The whole golden bull episode was a mess. God was furious, Moses was furious, and the people were full of shame. Yet the covenant held. God continued to love and lead his people. The Hebrews repented of their sin and continued to worship God.

Now there is so much to talk about concerning Moses, the Hebrews, and the Exodus story, but I will stoop here.

Yet there are some questions that you should ponder as you remember the Moses story. God told Moses when God told Moses God’s name, that God cannot be controlled. Do you realize that when you pray to God that you are asking God , and not controlling God?

The God that Moses dealt with was one of hot emotions. When God was loving, God was really loving. When God was angry at sins, God was really angry at sins. What does it mean to you to deal with such a God?

Let us pray: O God, please help us to remember that every day of our lives, that in a sense we are at Mount Sinai in that we are face to face with you. Help us to remember that you are our God, and not our servant, and that you love us with a burning love like the bush that Moses saw, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on February 28, 2010 – The Second Sunday in Lent

In the Nicene Creed, we say that the Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets. This refers to the Old Testament.

The Old Testament lesson today (Genesis 15:1-12,17-18) is concerned with a man that three world religions look to as a founding figure. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all consider Abraham as a patriarch. The Jews and the Arabs believe that they are physical descendants of Abraham. In our lesson today he is called Abram.

The Bible says that Abram (whose name was probably pronounced Avram) and means “father of the tribe” was a resident of Ur, a city in the Fertile Crescent in modern day Iraq around 1800 B.C. His father, a man named Terah, took his family from Ur to Haran that was another city in the Fertile Crescent.

After Terah’s death, Abram was the head of the clan, and the God he had come to worship told him to go west to a land that God would show him.

There is a very important point that we lean about Abram is his journey to a new land and that was his trust in his God.

Abram and his clan were leaving established cities in the Fertile Crescent and heading into the unknown. They were leaving civilization to go into the wilderness. It was somewhat like the people of this country who migrated from the settled areas of the eastern United States toward the Wild West.

Most people of Abram’s day would have said that he was being a fool. Why leave what you know for some unknown destination. Furthermore, he seemed to be doing this at the behest of an invisible God that had ordered Abram to make the trip.

Yet it was not only by traveling into the unknown that Abram trusted in his God, but also he trusted that God would preserve his name.

At the time of Abram, the people of his culture did not have a developed concept of an after life. The way that a person lived on was through the generations that that person was part of.

The lesson today from The Book of Genesis is really all about Abram’s desire for a son. Abram is complaining to God that he does not have a lawful heir to carry forth his name. God says you will. God says to Abram that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the night sky.

We have to remember that the stars of the night sky looked vastly different to a person of those days than to us. With our city lights, we see few stars. To Abram, there would have appeared more stars than he could have possibly counted.

In fact God said that God would make a covenant with Abram. A covenant is a sacred binding agreement. It is much more binding than a business contract. It is like a blood oath and in fact, a covenant in ancient times was sealed in blood. That is why in the today’s lesson, Abram sacrifices animals on an altar. God in turn promises the land of Canaan, now known as Israel, to Abram’s descendants.

Then God sealed the covenant further in blood. God later commanded Abram that all baby boys who were eight days old were to be circumcised. Abram obeyed and this became the rule of his clan.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham that means “the father of many nations.” Then after Abraham had trusted and obeyed his invisible God, God appeared to Abraham.

It happened, according to the Bible, when three men appeared toward Abraham’s tent. Abraham saw them, and hurried to them, and offered to provide them a meal. In the Middle East, one of the worst acts that you can do is to refuse hospitality to a stranger. The three men agreed to stay for dinner.

Some Christians have interpreted the three men as the three persons of the Holy Trinity. Usually, however, it is thought that the three were God and two angels.

As the three men are eating the meal that Abraham and his wife, Sarah, had prepared, the men asked Abraham about Sarah. Sarah was well past the age of child bearing so when Abraham was told that Sarah would give birth to a son, Sarah who was listening from inside the tent, thought that this was hilarious.

Let me read the actual scripture because it is one of the most poignant passages in the Bible. They (the three men) said to him (Abraham), “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old/’ Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.” (Genesis 18:9-15)

Then as the three men prepared to leave Abraham, God debated whether God would tell Abraham what he was prepared to do. He was going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness. God decided that he would confide in this man because God had made a covenant with him.

Abraham felt so close to God that he bartered with him. Abraham was worried about his nephew Lot and his family who were living in Sodom. Abraham asked God if God would really destroy the city if fifty righteous people live there. God agreed to refrain from destroying the city if fifty righteous people were there. Then Abraham began the bartering and it ended with God agreeing to spare destruction if only ten righteous people could be found.

Through this whole episode of God visiting Abraham, and Abraham bartering with God, one has the feeling that these are two friends bound by a sacred covenant.

Yet this friendship did not spare Abraham a fearsome test. Sarah did give birth to a son. He was named Isaac which meant ‘laughter.” What God asked of Abraham was no laughing matter. God commanded Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice to God. He was to kill his son and burn his body on an altar.

Abraham prepared to obey, and it was only at the last second as Abraham’s knife was in the air above Isaac’s throat that an angel called from heaven and told Abraham that this whole ordeal was a test of his faith.

Why would God put Abraham through such a hellish test? People have speculated about this for ages. We cannot be sure. We do know that later God sent his Son to be sacrificed, and this time it was not called off.

What we see in the story of Abraham was a man who came light years away from the religion of his youth. The religion of the Sumerians of the Fertile Crescent was one of placating a multitude of divinities. The religion of Abraham was faith in one God who entered into a sacred covenant with this man. Yet it was a covenant that would demand absolute loyalty.

What about you? Do you look upon God as your friend? Do you trust him as Abraham did? Is God a God for whom you would sacrifice you most cherished possession? God will never ask you to sacrifice your child, but who knows what he might demand? These questions that I ask you, I also have to ask myself.

Let us pray: Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you, and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sermon on February 21, 2010 – The First Sunday in Lent

For the five Sundays in Lent before Palm Sunday, I would like to focus on just one sentence in the Nicene Creed. It reads, “He has spoken through the prophets.” We are now at the beginning of Lent. I have also undertaken the project of preaching a sermon series on the Nicene Creed.

The “He” refers to the Holy Spirit. The prophets refer to the all of the Bible that we call the Old Testament. For these sermons, I am indebted to the book, The Gifts Of The Jews by Thomas Cahill.

The reason that I would like to devote five sermons to this one sentence in the Nicene Creed is that it is important for us as Christians to appreciate what the Old Testament means to us. Unfortunately, Episcopalians do not know much about the Old Testament. Most know some stories such as Noah and the flood or David and Goliath. Do we really know, however, the main lessons of the Old Testament?

We have s stained glass window that has a cross within a Star of David. This symbolizes the fact that Christianity is rooted in Old Testament Judaism. My wife, Linda, was a convert to Christianity from Judaism, as I am. When she died, I had that symbol that is in the stained glass window put on her tombstone.

Very early in the history of the Christian Church, there was a teacher in Rome named Marcion. He taught that there were really two gods. There was an inferior god who was the god of the Old Testament. There was also a superior god who was the god of the New Testament, and it is this god that Christians should worship.

The church leaders quickly condemned what Marcion taught. They said that the God of the Old Testament is the same God as the God of the New Testament. Furthermore, they said that the Old Testament is as much a part of the Bible as the New Testament. On the back of a bishop’s miter are two strips of cloth that hang down. They stand for the Old Testament and the New Testament.

I have a feeling, however, (and I have no way of proving this) that there are many Episcopalians who believe that Marcion was right. They do not believe, as he did, that there are two gods, but they do believe that the Old Testament is inferior to the New Testament.

I submit that that belief arises because many Episcopalians do not understand what the Old Testament is all about, and that it really is the bedrock upon which the New Testament is built.

Let us look at the Old Testament lesson for today. It comes to us from The Book Of Deuteronomy. It is part of a long speech that Moses is telling the people of Israel before they entered that land we call Israel.

Moses, in this passage, is telling the people that when they are settled in their new homeland, they will harvest their crops. A man is to take part of the first gleanings of the crops and take to the priest as an offering to God. When he does this, he is to declare,

Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us…A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with mild and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me. (NRSV, Deuteronomy 26:3b,5b-10a)

Much of what the whole Old Testament is about is contained in this passage. Before we talk about this passage, however, a little historical information is helpful.

One of the oldest civilizations in the world arose five thousand years ago in the area called the Fertile Crescent. It was called Samaria and it had a great influence in the Old Testament. It was in modern day Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. There were a series of city-states and we know a great deal about them because scholars managed to decipher the writing that the people of the city-states used. They wrote on soft pieces of clay that would then harden. It is called cuneiform. The clay tablets that the scholars deciphered show a quite advanced civilization.

One fact that we know about these ancient Sumerians is that they were very religious. They worshipped many gods and goddesses and their temples were imposing and the center of their civic life.

The deities that they worshipped, however, were very fickle. They needed to be worshipped constantly because one never knew when or if or how one might offend a god or goddess and then one could suffer a horrible fate. One could not expect a deity’s love. One could only hope that you did not offend one. Maybe if you were lucky, you might even please a divine being.

What a contrast between that way of thinking and the recitation of the Israelite in the Old Testament lesson for today.

What the Israelite was saying when he brought his offering to God was that he knew his ancestors were slaves in Egypt and that God loved them and freed them. Not only did he free them, but God led them as nomads in the wilderness. He taught them about himself and how he expected them to act toward God and toward each other. Then God settled them in the land that he had chosen for his people.

When one compares the fickleness of the deities of the Sumerians with the purpose and love of the God of Israel it is like comparing night and day.

The gods and goddesses of the city-states of the Fertile Crescent really did not care how people treated each other. They just wanted to be worshipped and even that was no guarantee that one of them might not turn against you.

The God of Israel certainly wanted to be worshipped but this God was not fickle, and this God cared a great deal about how people treated each other.

There is another difference between the ancient Israelites and the other ancient peoples that is reflected in today’s Old Testament lesson.

The other ancient peoples thought of life in terms of a circle. Everything is repeated over and over and over again. The seasons always go forward in the same order. It always goes from spring to summer to fall to winter to spring and so forth. It does not go from spring to summer to fall to winter to spring one year, and then spring to fall to summer to winter the next. People are born and they mature and die, and then new people are born to take their place. Life is an endless circle.

The Israelites were the first to see life in terms of an historical line with God constantly active in that line of history.

In the Old Testament lesson from The Book Of Deuteronomy, the Israelite says that a wandering Aramean was my ancestor. This is a reference to Abraham who was a nomad. I will talk more about Abraham next Sunday.

The Israelite goes on to say that Abraham’s descendants ended up as slaves in Egypt. God freed them and brought them from slavery in Egypt to the promised land of Israel.

This all operated on an historical time line. This same type of thinking would later be adopted by Christians who came to see the Bible as one long historical story from the creation of the universe to the final destination of God in establishing the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, when we recite the Nicene Creed and say that, “He has spoken by the prophets” we mean that the Old Testament is part of our sacred scripture, and as an important part as the New Testament. Do you believe that to be true? If you do not, why not?

Let us pray: O God who revealed yourself in our Old Testament as well as the New, help us to appreciate your plan of salvation which began in the Old Testament, and reached its culmination in the coming of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Sermon on February 14, 2010 – The Last Sunday after Epiphany

In my sermon series on the Nicene Creed, I have focused on my sermons in the Epiphany season on the sentence in the creed, “For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven.” The “he” refers to Jesus. Since this is the last Sunday in the Epiphany season, this is my last sermon on this sentence.

The best way that I can conclude these Epiphany season sermons on the sentence, “For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven” is by saying ,“Thank God that Jesus came to save us because we certainly cannot save ourselves.”

I believe that the Gospel for today contains a story that symbolizes our predicament. Saint Luke records in the Gospel for today (Luke 9:28-43a) that after the miracle of the transfiguration where Jesus is transfigured with a heavenly light in the presence of Moses and Elijah, Jesus comes down from the mountain with Peter, James, and John.

Jesus is then confronted by an anguished father who begs Jesus to heal his son. Saint Matthew and Saint Mark also include this event in their Gospels but Saint Mark’s account is the most dramatic. I would like to read it to you.

As they were coming down the mountain, he (Jesus) ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead…When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. When the whole crown saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out ,but they could not do so.” He answered them, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I put up with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “If you are able! – All things can be done for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it “You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!” After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand. When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “This kind can come out only through prayer.”(NRSV: Mark 9:9,14-29)

     The father in Saint Mark’s account exclaims to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief!” I know that many times in my life, I have felt that way. I believe everything that the Christian faith proclaims, but I know that there is a gap that exists in my life between what I profess and how I think and act.

     What was Jesus’ reaction to the father’s statement? Did he say to him, “I’m sorry but since there is such a gap between what you profess as a Jew, and how you act as a Jew, I cannot help you or your son.” Of course he did not say that. Rather he did what he always did and still does. He saved.

     Jesus knows of the gap that exists in all of our lives between what we profess as Christians, and how we act in the world. He knows about these gaps far better than we do. Yet he still loves us, and he still wishes to save us.     Thank goodness that Jesus wishes to save us because he is the only one who can. Just as Jesus was the only one who could save the boy in the Gospel account, Jesus is the only one who can save us.

     In the fifth century A.D. there was an English monk in the church who was evidently a saintly man. His name was Pelagius and he believed and thus taught that it is possible for a person to become perfect through his or her own efforts. Pelagius taught that Jesus is our great example. If you try hard enough, you too can be perfect like Jesus.

     One of the great scholars of the Christian Church, Saint Augustine, labored mightily to fight this belief. We do not have time to go into great detail into all that Saint Augustine taught, but he insisted that sin is a big part of our lives. He said that it is impossible for us to free ourselves from sin by our own efforts.

     I became a Christian when I was a teenager. I took my new faith very seriously, and I tried my best to become perfect. Of course, the harder I tried the more I failed. I felt myself sinking into despair until I realized that I was missing the whole point of Christianity. The whole point of Christianity is not to proclaim that we are to become perfect, but to say that Jesus came to save us in our sinfulness. That is why he is called the Savior.

     This week we will be entering the season of Lent. One of the best disciplines we can do between now and Easter is to reflect on how much we need Jesus as our Savior.

     Evil is very real in our world. One has only to look at the ovens of Auschwitz, or the killing fields of Cambodia, or the massacre in Darfur, and countless other places to know that to be true. Yet as powerful as evil is, the love and power of Jesus is much stronger.

     Jesus can save us and only Jesus can save us. Now I am going to say something which I know will be offensive to members of other religions, but I believe it to be true. Wherever in the world that the power of love and reconciliation triumphs over hatred and evil, it is accomplished by the power of Jesus working through the Holy Spirit.

     A number of years ago, there lived a famous Roman Catholic theologian named Karl Rahner. Rahner wrote that Jesus is active in the lives of people who do not profess the Christian faith. Rahner called them “anonymous Christians.” As I said, this is an unpopular belief among many people, but I believe it to be true.

     Now there is one final thought for us today from today’s Gospel. The first part of the Gospel is the story of the miracle of the Transfiguration. There we heard that Peter, James, and John saw Jesus transfigured before their eyes. He shone with a heavenly splendor.

     This what Jesus wants for us. He came down from heaven to save us, as the Nicene Creed says, for just such a heavenly splendor. He knows of the vast gap between what we profess as Christians and how we are. Yet he is still determined to save us for his kingdom.

     Does this make any difference to you?

Sermon for Sunday February 7, 2010

For the past three Sundays, I have been focusing on one sentence in the Nicene Creed. This is the one that says about Jesus that “For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven.”
On January 17^th, I preached about how Jesus saves us by transforming us.

On January 24^th, I preached on how Jesus saves us by freeing us from bondage to fear.
Last Sunday, January 31^st, I preached on how Jesus saves us even as we reject him. In this sermon, I would like to state that Jesus saves us by calling us to follow and serve him.

The Gospel for today is the dramatic story of Jesus calling Peter to be his disciple as recorded by St. Luke (Luke 5: 1-11).

It would seem that this event took place in the morning. Jesus is on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. This is more commonly known as the Sea of Galilee. This is a large fresh water lake in northern Israel. It evidently provided a fishing livelihood for many people including Peter, who lived in the city of Capernaum.

By this time in his ministry, Jesus evidently had made quite a name for himself. Many people had come to hear him. So many, in fact, that the crowd was pressing him into the water.

Jesus turned to Peter and asked him if he could use his fishing boat as a floating pulpit. Peter agreed and soon, Jesus was in Peter’s boat and preaching to the crowd. When he was finished, Jesus asked Peter to put the boat further on the lake and let down the nets for catching fish. Peter objected, “Master, we have worked all night long but we have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets for catching fish.” Peter must have thought, “I am tired but I guess I will humor the rabbi.”

When the nets came up overflowing with fish, Peter instantly knew that he was in the presence of the holy. This was no ordinary rabbi standing in Peter’s boat.

Peter was so overwhelmed that he dropped to his knees and exclaimed, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Peter knew himself very well. He knew all his faults and he knew the vast gulf that existed between God and himself.

The interesting fact in this story is that Jesus did not disagree with Peter. Jesus did not say, “Oh no Peter, You are quite wrong. There is nothing sinful about you.” Rather Jesus said, “Do not be afraid.”

In effect, Jesus was telling Peter that he knew that Peter was a sinner. Jesus knew Peter’s sins better than Peter did. Furthermore, Jesus was not telling Peter that his sins did not matter or that they were unimportant. Rather, Jesus was telling Peter that his sins were not an obstacle to Jesus being part of Peter’s life. Jesus wanted a relationship with this man, and in fact was determined to have it.

Then after Jesus told Peter, “Do not be afraid,” then came the job. “From now on you will be catching people.” Jesus was telling his sinful fisherman that Jesus needed him for his ministry. Jesus not only wanted Peter for his ministry, Jesus needed Peter for his ministry.

What Jesus told Peter is what his is also telling us. We are sinners. If we examine our lives closely, we know that this is true. Yet Jesus tells us that though our sins are real and harmful, and that we need to deal with them with his help, they cannot be used as an excuse to not try to serve Jesus.

There is a famous statue of Jesus in Der Mosel, Germany. It shows him with no hands. When the sculptor was asked why Jesus had no hands, he replied that “We are Jesus’ hands.”

Last October at a forum, when the candidates for the Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut were asked where they find Jesus today, one of the candidates pointed at various people in the audience and said, “In you, you, you and you. That is where I see Jesus.”

When the Nicene Creed says that Jesus came down from heaven to save us, one of the ways that he saves us is by incorporating us into his ministry. As we try, in our sinfulness, to serve the risen Christ, his loving nature flows into us; and through us into others. We actually become part of that divine plan to bring all creation into harmony with God. Jesus serves us by helping us to help others.

What does this mean to you? How does it make you feel that in spite of your sins, Jesus needs you to help him? How do you respond to the desire of Christ to be part of his plan of salvation?

I would like to conclude by quoting the famous prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi:

Let us pray: Lord make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
                     hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
                     there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
                     there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
                     there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
                     be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is

in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.

Sermon on January 24, 2010 – The Third Sunday after Epiphany

There was excitement in the air. Every Friday night, the Jews of Nazareth had gathered in their synagogue to worship. In one sense this Friday night looked like all the others. A casual visitor might have thought that this was your regular Sabbath worship. To the people of Nazareth, however, the excitement centered on the man seated in the front. He was a man who had grown up in Nazareth. He had worked with his father as a carpenter, and then he left town to be a wandering preacher. He was reported to have performed miracles.

Centuries later, a confession of faith called the Nicene Creed would say about this man, that, “For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven.” That night, however, the Jews of Nazareth were not thinking centuries ahead of their time. They wanted to know what this man was going to do that night.

What he did was read a passage from the prophet Isaiah. He opened the scroll and read these words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim the release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

This was Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth telling people that his mission in life was to free people from their fears and sins. When we recite in the Nicene Creed that Jesus came down from heaven to save us, we are confessing to one another that Jesus was God in human flesh, and that God came to be one of us. He did not come, however, to impress us as to who he was. Jesus came to free us.

One way that Jesus came to free us is to free us from our fears. We all have certain fears in life. Some of us have more than others.

In these hard economic times, many Americans have fear of loosing their jobs, or if they have lost their jobs, they have fears of loosing their savings, or fears for their shelter and food, and how they will provide for their families.

People in churches have fears. Today is our annual meeting. I have a feeling that it is the date of the annual meetings of a great many Episcopal churches in the Diocese of Connecticut. A large number of these churches (like ours) are facing increased financial problems. Where are we going to get the money to pay all our expenses? What is going to happen to our church in the future? The unknown is often very frightening, and before we know it, we are prisoners of our fears.

One of the most famous speeches ever uttered by an American president was the one that Franklin Roosevelt gave when he was first inaugurated president on March 4, 1933. He said, “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.”

Roosevelt was saying that as we face our fears, we as a people can find the strength to defeat the fear.

What the Christian faith says, and what the Nicene Creed says, is that as we face our fears, we have a power that is much deeper and more powerful than the people. That power is the man who stood long ago in that Nazareth synagogue and told his fellow Jews that the prophecy of Isaiah had been fulfilled in him. That power is Jesus who is the one that the Nicene Creed declares is the one who came from heaven to save us.

I think that the way that Jesus frees us from our fears is by what Isaiah says will happen. Isaiah says that the one sent by God will give “recovery of sight to the blind.”

The reason why we are often filled with fear is because we are blind to what God intends for us. We have our plans for our lives, and we know what is best for us. If God is going to help us, we are very appreciative of the help, but of course, God need to follow our lead.

Well, God will not play that game. What God knows is best for us and what we want may not be the same. If we are honest with ourselves, we certainly know that this to be true in our individual lives. I bet that if we took the time to have each of us talk about events in his or her life (provided that we wanted to do that) where God had better plans for us than we could have devised, we would be amazed at the stories that we would hear.

I know that this is true in my life. When I was in Virginia, I was interviewed for the position of Rector of an Episcopal church in Connecticut that was not this one. I was one of the three finalists. I really wanted to be selected and every day I anxiously waited for the mail to come or the phone to ring. Well, finally one day I got the word that I was not Let us pray: O God by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

chosen. I was really disappointed. Yet in retrospect I am so thankful that I was not chosen. I am much happier and fulfilled here at All Saints’ than I would have been there.

What is true of individuals, is also true for churches. We may think that we know what is best for All Saint’s Church, but it is Jesus who knows what is best. It is his church after all. What we need to pray for is the spiritual sight to see what Jesus wants for our church.

Finally, in that synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus quoted Isaiah as saying that the one from God proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor. Jesus was saying that people did not have to wait to have Jesus save them. He was there then to save. He is with us now to save. 2010 is the year of the Lord’s favor. We do not have to wait for some future date or when we die to have Jesus save us. He came down from heaven now to save us as the Nicene Creed says.

So let me ask you the question of what does it mean to you that Jesus came down from heaven to save you? What fears do you have that Jesus can free you from? What spiritual sight do you need to know what God wants you to do?

Sermon on January 17, 2010 – The Second Sunday after Epiphany

In the Nicene Creed, there are the words, “For us and for our salvation, he came down form heaven.” The “he” of course refers to Jesus. These words, if we take them seriously, really will have an impact on our lives.

What do we really mean by “For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven.”

Well in one sense, this can refer to Jesus’ death upon the cross. Christians have always believed that in some mysterious way, Jesus’ death on the cross followed by his resurrection, has altered the whole relation between God and sinful humanity. Various theories have been advanced as to how this was done, but I will not go into these this morning.

Yet there is another way that coming down from heaven saved us., and that is symbolized in the Gospel today from The Gospel according to Saint John.

Saint John record that Jesus and his disciples were invited to a wedding in Cana of Galilee. I guess that they had more guests than the wedding planner had planned for, or the wedding reception ran longer than anticipated, because the wine ran out. Mary, Jesus’ mother, came to Jesus and said, “They have no wine.” Jesus said, “Mother, I am not supposed to do anything miraculous yet.” Mary paid no attention to this and she told the servants, “Do what ever he tells you.” Jesus instructed the servants to fill large jars with water, and then draw out the water which had been transformed into delicious wine.

Well, this miracle of Jesus changing water into wine can be read on two levels. On one level, it can be seen as manifesting the power of Jesus to do miracles. This is how Jesus’ disciples saw it at the time. Saint John writes, “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

Yet the miracle is also symbolic of what Jesus wishes to do with us. Just as Jesus changed the water into wine, Jesus wishes to transform us from being naturally selfish people into the people that God created us to be.

Yet Jesus will do this in different ways with different people. Let me tell you the story of two people.

The first person is a woman named Susan. Susan was born to parents who faithfully attended their local Episcopal church named Saint Luke’s. They made sure that Susan attended Sunday school regularly. Susan really loved Sunday school and church. At a very early age, she had a love of God, and really trusted Jesus to look after her.

This faith sustained her as she faced the inevitable problems of high school. She was admitted to college and while she was there she attended the Episcopal church in the town where the college was located. Every Sunday evening, she went to the church where there was a supper and a discussion group for the Episcopal students on campus.

After college, she returned to her home- town, got a job, and attended the same church where she attended as a child.

One Sunday, the Rector announced that he was starting a new adult group where people could share their faith stories. Susan had never done that before, and she really did not know if she could. She decided to give it a try. That is how she met George.

George had come to Saint Luke’s Church by a totally different route. George’s parents had never gone to church and neither had George.

George was smart and he had always done well in school. He had no religious truths to guide him, but he had managed to stay out of trouble in high school because he conformed to what society expected of him.

His real trouble began when he attended college. Drugs were plentiful and before he knew it George was addicted to several different types. He was failing in his school- work. He was warned to get his act together. There was a drug counseling center on campus, but George never went there. He was finally put on academic probation, and when his grades still did not improve, George was expelled from college.

George managed to get several part time jobs that earned him enough money to pay the rent on a very round down apartment, and buy him some unhealthy, cheap food. He also manage to scrounge some money for drugs. Then one night, everything changed for George. He was not sure why, but he decided to attend a crusade for Christ that several churches in the community organized under an enormous tent. There were several preachers exhorting their hearers to turn their lives over to Christ. Finally there was the altar call. People were urged to come forward and surrender their lives to Jesus. George was inspired to go, and his whole life changed.

Suddenly he felt that an enormous weight was lifted from his shoulders. Jesus became so real to George that he felt that he could touch Jesus’ robe. George knew that Jesus was his Lord and Savior.

The next day, George went to a drug counseling service, and he began to get his life together. He managed to get a really good job, and soon he was off drugs and eating healthy food.

He started to attend Saint Luke’s Church and he heard the same announcement of the Rector that Susan heard about a group being formed where people could share their faith stories. George was eager to attend and tell his story.

The Rector held the first session of the new group on the first Sunday in Lent. Susan managed to relate her story that was really very uneventful. Susan had been a devoted Christian her whole life. She certainly could not remember any one moment when she had made a decision for Jesus. Jesus had always been a part of her life.

As George heard her story, he thought to himself, “This woman’s faith must not be real to her. She has no idea when she became a Christian. If Jesus were real to her, she could tell us when she made a decision for Jesus.”

The next Sunday, George told his story. Susan’s reaction to George was as negative as George’s reaction to Susan. All this talk of a revival crusade, and then turning one’s life over to Christ sounded like the exclamations of a religious nut.

Respectable Episcopalians do not talk like that.

Yet something remarkable began to happen. George and Susan found themselves attracted to each other. They began to date, and eventually they married. As they got to know each other, they realized a very important truth. Jesus had been at work in the lives of both of them, but in very different ways. Jesus had transformed both of them the way he had transformed the water into wine at that wedding in Cana of Galilee so long ago. He had just done it in different ways for different people.

Jesus will transform us if we let him. He works in the lives of all of us in different ways. How does Jesus work in your life? How does Jesus transform you the way that he transformed the water into wine? I think that if you ponder these questions, Jesus will help you find the answers.

Let us pray: O God, as you move in the lives of all of us, may we respect the different ways that you transform each of us into being your true son or daughter; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on January 10, 2010 – The First Sunday after Epiphany

Today in the church calendar is the First Sunday after Epiphany. It is sometimes referred to as the Baptism of Christ because the Gospel for today is concerned with the baptism of Jesus by his cousin, John the Baptist in the Jordan River. This event seems to have been the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. It is also an appropriate Sunday to think about our own baptism In our church, we have a stained glass window that shows a shell with three drops of water. This stands for baptism.

Since I have been talking in my sermon series on the Nicene Creed, today I would like to skip down to the phrase in the Nicene Creed that reads, “We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.”

Baptism was from the beginning of the Christian Church the rite of initiation. In Judaism the rite of initiation for males was circumcision when the boy was eight days old. The Jews practiced baptism for Gentiles or non-Jews who wished to become Jews. A Gentile man would have been circumcised and baptized. A Gentile woman would have been baptized.

John the Baptist gave a new meaning to baptism when he told his fellow Jews to be baptized to symbolize the repentance of sins. As I just mentioned, Jesus used his baptism as a symbol for the beginning of his public ministry.

The Christian Church took the Jewish idea of baptism with water for converts to Judaism and made baptism the rite of initiation for all Christians.

Christians do agree on how much water to use. Some Christians say that the only valid baptism is where a person is fully immersed in water.

There is an amusing story about a man who was baptized in a river. The preacher held the man down in the river for ten seconds. When he came up the preacher asked him, “Did you find the Lord?” The man shook his head no so the preacher held him under for twenty seconds. The second time the man came up, the preacher asked him the same question. “Did you find the Lord?” When the man shook his head no a second time, the preacher plunged his head back in the river for a full minute. When the man finally came up gasping for air, he asked the preacher, “Preacher, are you’re sure he’s down there?”

Today, the Baptist, the Orthodox, and some fundamentalist churches practice complete immersion. Most other Christians, including Episcopalians, pour water on the head in the name of the Holy Trinity.

There is also disagreement among Christians about infant baptism. The Baptists and some fundamentalist churches are adamantly opposed to it. Their reasoning is that no one can make a decision for Christ for someone else. Therefore a parent cannot decide for his or her child that the child will follow Jesus. A person makes an adult decision about that and baptism is a sign of that commitment.

Yet the New Testament implies (although it does not explicitly state) that the earliest Christians did practice infant baptism. Whole families converted to Christianity and everyone in the household was baptized.

The Episcopal Church does practice infant baptism, but the Episcopal Church also stresses that baptism needs to be followed by Christian education. When I talk to parents about baptizing their children, I stress that baptism has to be followed by Christian education in the church. You cannot baptize a child, have no Christian education, and expect the child to develop Christian virtues. Hitler was baptized. Historians have found his baptismal record in a church in Austria. Baptism by itself is not magic.

Baptism is only done once in a Christian’s life .I remember when I was serving in Christ Church in Bethlehem, I received a phone call from a man who said that he wanted to be rebaptized. He said that he had been baptized as an infant, but that now the Christian faith really meant something to him, so that he wanted to be baptized again.

I explained to him that baptism is only done once, and it is only done once for a reason. The reason is that in Christian baptism, Jesus is adopting a person into his family that is the church. No one is born a Christian even if his or her parents are Christians. One becomes a Christian through the sacrament of baptism where Jesus adopts one into his family. If one were to be baptized a second time, it would mean that Jesus had expelled one from his family, and that person would have to be readopted. Jesus will never do that. A baptized person might leave the church and want nothing to do with Jesus, but if that person changes his or her mind and returns to the church, Jesus will welcome that person back with open arms. He will say, “You have always been part of my family.” To have baptism done more than once, would lessen God’s love for us.

The caller on the phone understood the logic. The Episcopal Church does have the ceremony of the Reaffirmation of Baptismal Vows that would have been the correct ceremony for this man.

When we were baptized into the Christian Church, we were symbolically linked to Jesus. As he died on Good Friday and rose from the dead on Easter, so we are meant to die to an old life of selfishness and rise to a new life of service to God.

Yet this transformation does not happen overnight. It is usually slow and there are certainly times when a conscientious Christian can be discouraged that he or she is making little progress. Yet as a Christian continues to worship Sunday by Sunday in church and partakes of the sacraments, and prayers, and fellowship of the church, progress is being made. Remember, we may only see or failures, but God always sees the potential of what God created you and me to be.

I remember when I took a course on preaching, the teacher said that when the preacher gets in the pulpit, he or she is standing on two thousand years of tradition of the Christian faith, and a thousand years of Jewish tradition before that, and even a thousand years of tradition of people striving to understand the divine before that. In the same way, when one is baptized, one is entering into a five thousand year tradition of people attempting to find God. In Christian baptism, God is also reaching back to the one baptized and saying to him or her, “I am your God and you are my son or daughter forever.”

Before I conclude, I should try to answer the question that often arises as to what happens to unbaptized people when they die? The answer is that that is best left to God. I personally believe that after this life, one can make a decision for Christ.

On this Sunday we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, and we recite in the Nicene Creed, “We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” Ponder on what your baptism really means to you.

Let us pray: All praise and thanks to you, most merciful Father, for adopting us as your own children, for incorporating us into your holy church, and for making us worthy to share in the inheritance of the saints in light; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sermon on December 27, 2009 – The First Sunday after Christmas

The Gospel for today is the beautiful prologue or beginning of The Gospel according to Saint John. It is really connected to a large part of the Nicene Creed. In fact, the part of the Nicene Creed that today’s Gospel is linked to is the reason why the Nicene Creed came into being in the first place.

In the creed are the words, “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.”

In order for us to appreciate why these words are here, we need to go back in time 1,700 years , and half way around the world to the Roman Empire of the fourth century A.D.

The Roman Empire covered the territories we know as Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, England, the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and North Africa. Roman rule had kept the peace, but now barbarians from Germany were attacking the Empire. Furthermore, there were power struggles going on between Roman generals where each one wanted to become Emperor.

We do not have the time to discuss all the political maneuverings of Roman generals, but an event happened on October 28, 312 that had an enormous impact on the Christian Church. It was a battle at a bridge near Rome. A Roman general named Constantine defeated a rival and became the sole Roman ruler in the western part of the Empire.

By 312, Christianity had become wide spread throughout the Roman world. Persecution against Christians had failed to kill the faith. The Christians had become a major force in the Roman Empire.

The night before the battle at the bridge, Constantine claimed that Jesus had appeared to him in a dream and told Constantine that he should inscribe the sign of the cross on the shields of his shoulders. Constantine did this and he won the battle. He attributed his victory to Christ. Later, Constantine defeated the general who ruled the eastern half of the empire, and thus Constantine became Constantine the Great, the Emperor of the entire Roman Empire.

As soon as Constantine became Emperor, he favored the Christian faith. Jesus was the divine being who had given Constantine the Empire and Constantine was going to return the favor. Other religions were allowed to exist, but Christianity was clearly favored with the Emperor’s money and power. In ten years Christianity had gone from being a persecuted sect to being the favored religion of the Emperor and thus of many other people. Rarely in history has any religion had such a dramatic change in such a short time.

Yet soon after Constantine became the Emperor, a problem emerged. It started out small but it grew quickly.

It began in Alexandria which was the major city of Egypt. A priest there named Arius began to teach that Jesus Christ was a divine being but that he was less divine than God the Father. Arius’ bishop, named Alexander, condemned Arius’ teaching. Bishop Alexander said that Jesus was equal to God the Father, and he ordered Arius to be silent. Arius refused.

We have to realize that while Christians were being persecuted for being Christians, they did not have the time or energy to worry about the relation of Jesus to God. They were concerned about either staying alive or having the courage to face martyrdom.

Once, however, Constantine legalized and favored Christianity, Christians did have the luxury of deciding theological questions such as the relation of God the Father and Jesus.

Anyway, Arius refused to heed his Bishop’s directive, and his teaching that Jesus was subordinate to God quickly spread throughout the eastern part of the empire. Many Christians resisted what Arius taught, and the dispute was threatening to tear the Christian Church apart.

The Emperor was not pleased. Once Constantine came to power, he wished to use the Christian faith to unify the empire. Now this Arian controversy, as it came to be called, was threatening to divide the church and his empire.

Constantine called for a council of all the bishops of Christian churches in the Roman Empire. This was held in the city of Nicea in modern day Turkey in 325 A.D. There were a great many bishops in attendance. Constantine began the proceedings by urging the bishops to write a statement of faith that all Christian could agree upon.

Bishop Alexander of Alexandria was in attendance as was his deacon and chief assistant, a man named Athanasius. He is known in the church as Saint Athanasius. Athanasius, who later became Bishop of Alexandria himself, became the main opponent of Arius’ teaching that Jesus is subordinate to God the Father.

If I went into great detail about how the whole Arian controversy played out, I would be preaching on that one subject for about a year. I really need to summarize what the whole issue was about.

Arius’ teaching that Jesus is subordinate to God the Father appealed to many people then and now because it is so logical. As Christians we believe in only one God, and yet Jesus lived here in this world for thirty-three years. If Jesus is God, who ruled the universe while he walked the earth. It is really easy to believe that there is a God and Jesus who is a little lower than God, and who came to earth to conduct a mission for God.

The problem with making Jesus lower than God, as Athanasius knew, is that only God is perfect. Any being lower than God lacks God’s perfection. Therefore if Jesus were not perfect, then his death on the cross could not be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

Furthermore, if Jesus is not God, then it would mean that God loved the world enough to send the best creature God had to save us, but not enough to come himself. What Arius taught does seem logical, but it also lessons the love that God has for us.

Yet Athanasius also realized that there had to be a distinction between God the Father and Jesus because who did rule the universe while Jesus walked the earth? So how could Jesus be God while there is God the Father? Does that mean that Christians really believe in two Gods? Christians always have believed that there is only one God.

What came out of the Council at Nicea was the beginning of the statement of faith that we call the Nicene Creed that we say every Sunday. What came out of that council eas the beginning of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

The Nicene Creed states that Jesus is God and that God the Son has existed from all time separate from God the Father. Yet they are not two Gods but one God. How this can be is really beyond our human comprehension.

However, what does it mean to you that Jesus is really God? Does it make any difference in your life that God did not send God’s greatest creation to save you but came himself? What does it mean to you that God and no else suffered and died on the cross to atone for your sins?

Since Saint Athanasius was so important in forming the Nicene Creed, I would like to end this sermon by praying the Episcopal Church’s prayer for him.

Let us pray: Uphold your Church, O God of truth, as your servant Athanasius, to maintain and proclaim boldly the catholic faith against all opposition, trusting solely in the grace of your eternal Word, who took upon himself our humanity that we might share his divinity; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Sermon on December 20, 2009 – The Fourth Sunday in Advent

In the Nicene Creed, after we say that, “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,” we say, “of all that is seen and unseen.” In the 1928 Prayer Book, the words are “visible and invisible.” In the Nicene Creed, we are saying that we believe in what we see and also in many entities that we cannot see.

It is important to believe that what is visible is real. If you are driving your car down the road and you see a car approaching you on the other side of the road, it is really critical to your well being to know that that car is real. It is not just a figment of your imagination that you can ignore.

Likewise, the reality of the visible can give us pleasure. When we eat and drink delicious food, we are enjoying the world that we live in. When people fall in love, the look of the other, the touch of the hands, what they do together are very visible and very real and very important.

Yet when we say that we believe in the visible, we are saying that we believe in more than that God created the visible world. We are saying that God can be found in the visible world. The visible signs of God are all around us.

We can see the signs in the wonders of creation. Every day the sun comes up. If it is rainy or overcast we might not see it, but the sun is there. Every year the seasons go in orderly succession. As you walk through the woods in spring when the earth is blooming after winter, or when the leaves are brilliant red, yellow, and orange in the fall, you can see the hand of God.

But it is not only as you look into nature that you see God, but also as you look into others. There is a story that I have told from this pulpit before. A Jewish rabbi asked his students, “How do you know when it is dawn?” One student replied, “When the sky turns from black to gray?” The rabbi shook his head no. Another student asked, “When you can tell a cow from a horse?” The rabbi answered, “No. You know it is dawn when you can look into another’s face and see God.”

The words and the actions of other people are very visible to us. When we see kindness from them, and when we show kindness to others, God is visible to us.

Also, in the Nicene Creed, we claim to believe in what is invisible. Very often God is invisibly working in the world to accomplish God’s purposes.

Let us look at the Gospel for today as recorded by St. Luke. Mary, who will be the mother of Jesus, is visiting her cousin, Elizabeth, who will be the mother of John the Baptist. What the two women know is that in Mary’s womb is the future Messiah. The Savior sent by God to save not just the Jews, but all humanity, is very real but very invisible. With the possible exceptions of their husbands (Joseph and Zechariah), nobody else except those two women, in all the world, knew what was going on. The Jews were expecting the Messiah to appear charging to the rescue on a warhorse. No one was looking for a baby. As this peasant Jewish woman named Mary was traveling to her cousin’s home, she is carrying the invisible Savior.

How many times in your life or the lives of those near to has God worked out God’s purposes that for a long time were invisible to you? I know that it has happened to me

When I was in the eighth grade I had a terrible time getting my homework done. My parents were at their wits’ end. I ended up going to an Episcopal boys’ boarding school. That was the beginning of the process that led me to becoming an Episcopal priest.

Also, of course, when we say in the Nicene Creed that we believe in what is unseen or invisible, we are referring to the whole dimension that we call heaven. I talked about this last Sunday.

Later in the service we will say, “Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels an all the company of heaven.” The angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven are very real though invisible.

There is an amusing story of a boy who was the acolyte at church for an early morning weekday service. There were only himself and the priest present. When he came home and his mother asked him, “How many were at church this morning?” He answered, “Millions.” His mother exclaimed, “Millions!” “Yes,” said the boy. “There were Father and me, and the angels and archangels, and the whole company of heaven.”

Finally, when we discuss what is invisible, I have to mention another place that most people do not wish to thinks about or talk about. This is especially true at this time of year as we approach Christmas, and we like to think about presents and sugar plums. This place is hell.

Last Sunday, I talked about how the Nicene Creed says that God as the maker of heaven and earth. It does not say that God is the maker of hell for God did not create hell, although God allows it to exist.

According to Christian tradition which has references in the Bible, one of the great angels of God rebelled against God. This being has come to be known as Satan which means the “adversary.” Many angels joined in the revolt which resulted in their being thrust from heaven into that place called hell. Hell is that place where beings are in revolt against God. The Bible also says that hell is the destination not only of the angels that revolted against God, but also those humans that care nothing for the ways of God.

Now there are some Christians who object to anyone ending up in hell. They argue that a loving God would never send anyone to hell. Suppose, however, it is not God who sends someone to hell? Suppose people put themselves in hell because that is where they really want to be?

Some would argue that that is ridiculous. Who would want to put himself or herself in hell? There are people, however, who enjoy being selfish. There are even some who enjoy being cruel. Throughout their lives they slowly but surely separate themselves from God until after death, they find that they have put themselves in hell.

Can God reach out these people beyond the grave? Of course God can. The love of God is all powerful and never ending. I am sure that there are many who repent in hell and begin the journey back to God. I suspect, however, (and I have no way of knowing) that there are some who refuse to repent and remain where they are. As I once read, the gates of hell are locked from the inside. Some are in hell because that is where they want to be. As one Christian writer once wrote, there are only two groups of people. One group says to God, “Your will be done.” The second group are those to whom God says, “Your will be done.”

Well then we find that the Nicene Creed claims that as Christians, we believe in the visible and the invisible. Is it meaningful to you to know that what we can observe not only reminds you that God exists, but that you can find God’s presence in creation? Is it a comfort to know that God is often working God’s purposes out in ways that you cannot see? How do you respond to the belief that heaven is real, but so also is hell?

Let us pray: O heavenly Father, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation which includes your invisible heaven, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on December 13, 2009 – The Third Sunday in Advent

The psalm for today was Canticle nine and in it there is a reference to water. The Gospel for today as recorded by St. Luke has John the Baptist refer to fire, wheat, and stones. All these items: water, fire, wheat, and stones are part of God’s material creation.

In the Nicene Creed, after we recite that, “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,” we continue to recite that God is the, “maker of heaven and earth.”

Someone might say that if one believes in God, then it is obvious that God is the maker of heaven and earth. Yet we should realize what the implications for us are when we say that God is the maker of heaven and earth.

First, let us start by looking at God as the maker of earth. There is still a fierce debate in this country about how our public schools teach children about the creation of the universe.

I believe that the majority of Americans do believe in evolution, and they have no problem with their children leaning that in school. The theory of evolution is not concerned with God’s existence. The question of whether there is a God or not, lies outside of what the theory of evolution teaches. The theory of evolution is concerned with how life on our planet evolved from one form to another. This theory does not deal with how it all began.

There are many people in our nation, however, who do not want their children taught evolution. They believe that the opening chapters of the Bible must be taken literally. If The Book of Genesis states that God made the world in six days, then that is the way that it happened.

Now the way that the Episcopal Church interprets the Bible’s creation story is as follows. All the ancient peoples had their mythical stories about the creation of the world. The Egyptians had their story. The Greeks had their story. So also the Jews had their story, and the Jews’ story appears at the beginning of the Bible.

When we hear the word “myth”, we tend to assume that it is a story that is not true. Actually, sometimes a myth does have a kernel of historical accuracy, but more important it contains symbolic truth.

In the Jewish myth of creation that we have in the opening pages of the Bible, we read the religious truth that there is one God who created the universe out of nothing. Whether God did this in six days or six billion years is really not important. What is important is that there is one God who did it. The world is not here, and we are not here because of blind chance.

Furthermore, there is a sentence in The Book of Genesis that is very important. It describes how God saw the world that God had made. It reads, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.”

I think that sometimes people think that Christianity teaches that material things are bad. Spiritual concepts are good, but matter and physical stuff is evil. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

God made matter. God made and still makes physical stuff. God considers this as God’s creation, and therefore it is good. What is bad is the misuse of physical matter.

In fact, in the early Church, there were some who taught that matter was evil. The Church leaders fought that belief, and the people who wrote the Nicene Creed put in it the words that God made the earth to counter that belief.

Food, for instance, is something physical. Food is good. It was created by God to give nourishment to the body, and it is meant to be enjoyed. It is not healthy if we do not have enough of the right kind of food. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” It is also wrong when we have too much food.

There is one subject on which many people have a very wrong idea of the Christian faith’s position concerning something physical. That is sex. So many individuals believe that the Church teaches that sex is dirty and immoral.

Sex was created by God, and therefore it is good. It was created not only for procreation, but also so that two people can grow in their love for each other. The misuse of sex, however, can and does have horrible consequences.

The famous Christian writer, C.S. Lewis, wrote that the reason that Christian writers have focused so much energy writing about sex is that sex has so much potential for good or evil. Lewis wrote that one can see that when one compares lust with gluttony. A man can eat enough for two or three men, but not enough for ten. A man, however, with a sex drive out of control can populate a whole village, not to mention the emotional damage that he can do. Sex, however, when it is used the way that God intended it to be used, is a beautiful gift.

God made the earth, as well as the rest of the universe, and what God made is very good.

Also, the immense size of the universe really should emphasize to us in the most startling terms, the immense power of a God who created and controls such a universe. The size of the universe is beyond our comprehension. How much more the God who stands behind it.

It is not just in the size of the universe, however, that we see God’s majesty. Look at how there are no two snowflakes that are exactly alike.

The Nicene Creed, also, states that God is not only the maker of earth, but so the maker of heaven.

We talk in church about heaven quite a bit. We believe that our loved ones who have died are in it. We believe that some day, we will be there also. What, however, can we say about heaven.

We can surmise two facts. The first is that it is a place where God’s will is always done. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray that “thy will be done on earth is it is done in heaven.” There is perfect harmony around the heavenly throne because everyone there wants to do what God wants.

The second fact about heaven is that it is a place of perfect joy. In heaven, people are not obeying God out of fear, but out of a sense of joy. In fact, there is no joy that we experience in this life that can be compared to the joys of heaven.

Beyond these two facts that heaven is a place of perfect obedience to God, and a perfect joy with God, we do not know what heaven is like. Only one person has ever gone into the depths of heaven and come back. That was Jesus, and he did not give any details of what heaven is like. There have been some people who have died and been brought back to life. They have described a white light, and a feeling of great peace, and seeing loved ones. They, however, are like people who walk into the vestibule of a building, and then leave. We could spend the rest of our lives trying to imagine the details of heaven, and we would not even come close. Heaven cannot be proved. As Christians we accept it on faith.

What then does it mean to you that God is the maker of heaven and earth? What does it mean to you that the material world that we are part of is created by God as good? What does it mean to you that there is a realm that we call heaven where God is perfectly and joyfully obeyed?

Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, you made the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms, worlds, and galaxies, and the infinite complexity of living creatures: Grant that, as we probe the mysteries of your creation, and as we believe in heaven, we may come to know you more truly, and more surely fulfill our role in your eternal purpose; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on December 6, 2009 – The Second Sunday in Advent

Sermon on December 6, 2009 - The Second Sunday in Advent

In the Nicene Creed, after we say, "We believe," we say "in one God, the Father Almighty." The collect for today, the Second Sunday in Advent begins, "Merciful God" not "Merciful Gods."

As modern Americans we take if for granted that if there is a God, then there is only one. On our money are the words, "In God We Trust"; not "In the Gods We Trust." Someone may ask another person, "Do you believe in God?" He or she does not ask, "Do you believe in the Gods?"

Yet thousands of years agog, it was assumed by most of the world's population, that there were a multitude of divinities. Some were male and were gods. Others were female and were goddesses.

If you go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, you will see an exhibit entitled, "The Temple of Daedalus." It is an actual temple that has been moved from Egypt to the museum. It was dedicated to the god Daedalus.

You might think since it is from Egypt, that it dates from the time of the Pharaohs. It is actually much more recent than that. It was built by the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus for the citizens of an Egyptian city.

I think that he paid to construct this temple to Daedulus for two reasons. First, it would win him favor from the people of that community because the Emperor had paid for their temple. The second reason, however, was that it was always a good idea to be on good relations with the local god. You never knew when you would need his favor. You might fight a battle on his territory.

It was assumed by the ancients that the aspects of nature were all divided among divinities. To the ancient Greeks, for instance, Apollo was the god of the sun, Artemis was the goddess of the moon, and Poseidon was the god of the sea. In addition, there were the local divinities to worship. If you lived in Watertown you better pray to the god of Watertown. If you went down the road to Waterbury, you had better pay your respects to the god of Waterbury.

In our tradition, the people that began to change this thinking were the ancient Hebrews. They had been slaves in Egypt, and God had rescued them under the leadership of Moses. With great portents of power, God finally persuaded the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to release his Hebrew slaves. When Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army to bring the Hebrews back to Egypt, God caused the miracle at the Red Sea, and the Hebrews escaped into the Sinai desert.

For forty years, Moses led the Hebrews around and around the Sinai desert. Their destination was the land that we know today as Israel. Even on foot, it does not take forty years to travel from Egypt to Israel. The reason that it took so long was because God was using that time to teach these Hebrews what kind of a God, God was and how God expected people to act toward God and others.

As I said last Sunday, God established a covenant or sacred agreement between God and the Hebrews. This covenant can be summed up in the words that God said to the people. "I will be you God - your only God - and you will be my people."

Strictly speaking, these ancient Hebrews were not monotheists or believers in one God. They were what is called henotheists. These are people who believe that many gods exist, but they only worship one.

The Hebrews believed that other nations had their divinities, but that their God was more powerful than any other divinity. Furthermore, it did not matter whose territory a Hebrew might be on. He or she was to only worship Yahweh, the name of the Hebrews' God, who had the power to protect the Hebrew wherever he or she was.

By the time of Jesus, the Hebrews had come to be known as the Jews. The Jews of Jesus' day had become monotheists. That is, they believed that only one God existed and that is the God that they were to worship.

Now since the first Christians were Jews, the belief in only one God was a bedrock belief of the Christian Church's teaching. There was seldom a debate among Christians about whether there is only one God.

Furthermore, the Nicene Creed describes the one God as "the Father Almighty." What this means is that God not only rules the universe, but that God loves us like a father loves his children.

I know that this is a difficult concept for people who have had abusive fathers. For them, it is not comforting to think of God as father. No concept of God will be equally helpful to all people, but the call of God as father is meant to convey that God is a personal being who wishes to have a relationship with people. God is not an impersonal force. You might be interested to know that there are references in the Bible where God is portrayed as a mother.

It is very important to realize that the Bible portrays God as a personal being who wishes to be in communion with people and enters into a relationship with them. God is not like a big heavenly watchmaker who set the universe in motion, and then took a hands off approach. In the Bible, God is constantly intervening in people's lives.God gets angry with God's people when they sin, and yet always loves them. This is true in both the Old and New Testaments.

This would be a good time to mention a common misconception that many Christians have. That is that the God of the Old Testament is a God of judgment, and the God of the New Testament is a God of love. In reality, there are many instances in the Old Testament where God is a God of love, and many instances in the New Testament where God is a God of judgment.

Yet God the Father that we say that we believe in, in the Nicene Creed, really is a God of love. I have mentioned before from this pulpit what a Bishop told a group of clergy, but I will say it again. He said, "The love that you have for your children compared to God's love for you is like comparing a forty watt light bulb to a thermonuclear explosion."

Now I would ask you to reflect on this question. What does it mean to you to believe that behind the Universe is one God who loves you with even greater love than a parent. How does that affect your life? I believe that as you ponder that question, you will see that to say with others, "We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty" really does make a great difference in your life.

Let us pray: Lord God, we bless You and are filled with gratitude for the numerous gifts, the countless blessings, that come to us from You. Your blessings come in times of joy, in times of victory, in success and honor, and they come as well in times of pain and sorrow, in sickness and defeat. Your blessings, however, come always as life. Blessed are You, Lord our God, Who in the richness of Your divine love, blesses us with good things; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon on November 29, 2009 – The First Sunday in Advent

As I wrote in the November Reporter, I have been studying for over the past two years for my Doctor of Ministry degree at Hartford Seminary. I undertook this study in order to gain more knowledge that would help me in the parish ministry.

The Doctor of Ministry that is awarded by Hartford Seminary is called a professional degree rather than an academic degree. That is, it is designated to aid a professional person in a church setting to better conduct his or her ministry. The point of my studies at Hartford Seminary was not just to help me, but to help me in my ministry at All Saints’ Church.

Part of the Doctor of Ministry program is to conduct a project in one’s parish. After consulting with my advisor, I have decided to preach a sermon series on the Nicene Creed. As I wrote in the Reporter, we say the Nicene Creed every Sunday, but do we really know what it means?

Therefore, this morning I would like to begin this sermon series, by looking at the first two words of the Nicene Creed which are “We believe.”

In the psalm of today, psalm twenty-five, the psalmist talks about the covenant that God has made with God’s people. God made it with the Hebrew slaves after God had led them out of slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses. This covenant can really be summed up in this way. God was saying to the Hebrews, “I will be your God – your only God – and you will be my people.” The Hebrews responded, “Yes; we believe in you and our covenant.

We have a stained glass window here in church showing two tablets of stone with Roman numerals from one to ten. This stands for the ten commandments which in turn really symbolizes the covenant that God made with the Hebrews.

This was a corporate response. It was all of the people together agreeing to be a people loyal to God. The idea that some of the Hebrews could be part of the covenant, and some of the people could opt out did not occur to them.

When we read the letters in the New Testament, the writers such as St. Paul and St. John were making it quite clear to their readers that it was very important that Christians believe what is true about God and about Jesus. Any one who thinks that they were saying that it is not all that important what you believe as long as you are nice to others, has not really read the New Testament.

When we say “We believe” as we begin to recite the Nicene Creed, we are saying that this is a corporate belief of our faith as Christians.

One of the problems that we have as Americans with this “We believe” idea is that as a people we are proud of our individualism. The myth of the rugged individual is sort of inbred into our American DNA. We like the Horatio Alger idea of everyone pulling oneself by one’s own boot- straps. So the concept of us all believing the same seems foreign to us.

In Africa, for instance, there is much more a sense of common identity and beliefs. They have a concept called “ubuntu” which means, “I am because you are.”

Yet we, as Americans, really do have common beliefs. We all, or at least most Americans, believe in a democratic form of government. We believe, as Americans, that we are entitled to, in the words of the Declaration of Independence, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Well, the Christian Church has for centuries had a common statement of belief. It is called the Nicene Creed and we say it together every Sunday. During this sermon series, I will talk more about how this statement of faith came to be. Suffice it to say, that the Nicene Creed is the common statement of faith that is said by Christians all over the world. It does not matter whether the Christians are Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptists, or Presbyterians. All of us profess a belief in the Nicene Creed.

There is an interesting story that I read about an Orthodox priest who was a visiting lecturer at a seminary class. He was giving a talk about the creed when a student raised his hand. When the priest acknowledged him, the student said, “My problem with what you have said is that I have trouble saying the creed.”

The priest replied, “It is really not that hard to learn. Just keep reciting it and you will learn it.”

The student answered, “No, you do not understand. It is not a matter of learning the words. It is that I have trouble believing it.”

The priest then said, “Young man this is not your creed. It does not belong to you. It belongs to the whole church.”

When we recite, “We believe” each Sunday, we are one with Christians all over the globe and millions of Christians who have lived before we were ever born who hold to this common statement of faith.

As I hope we will learn in the months ahead, the Nicene Creed is really a gift of God to us to help us understand God and what God intends for us. We can be thankful that as we recite, “We believe” that we believe this together.

Let us pray: O God, we wish to give you thanks for the gift of the Nicene Creed. As we recite this creed each Sunday, may we remember that we are one with Christians throughout the world in proclaiming who you are and how you relate to us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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All Saints' Episcopal Church 262 Main Street PO Box 33

Oakville, CT Phone 860 274 2352