Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Yr C, Proper 16, August 24, 2025, Grace Episcopal Church, Mpls

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Yr C, Proper 16, 

August 24, 2025, Grace Episcopal Church, Mpls
Hebrews 12:18-29, Luke 13:10-17
 
When I watch anything streaming or on actual network television I have the mute button on the remote close at hand, and I wait impatiently for the skip button, for the ads. They drive me crazy. If I were one to believe anything I see and hear in those ads, or anywhere on social media, these are the things that I think are important to Americans, in no particular order: we have to buy the right pharmaceuticals to sleep better, to feel better, or to have better sex; we have to buy a sexy car or a big truck; 
we have to buy the right investment product to have financial security; we have to drink but do so responsibly; we have to wear the right clothes; we have to buy the right toys, etc. etc. etc. Even the feel good ads that make me cry, aren’t there just to make me feel good, somebody wants me to buy something. 

It seems to me that so much of life is a transaction. And it seems to me that transaction has become the dominant world religion, and we freely hand ourselves over to it. And, when we begin to believe in the religion of commodity, the religion of transaction, a gospel of prosperity, it’s a pretty short step to start seeing yourself as the most important person in the room, the one who is most deserving, so fulfilling your needs becomes the most important endeavor you can be about. I think this is part of what we are witnessing today in our country.

Enough about everyone else, here we are, in these pews, today. Why is it that you get up on Sunday morning and come to church? You've got other places to be, the lake place, or just drinking coffee in your own kitchen, soon and very soon it will be football. And yet so many of you attend vestry meetings as leaders in this church, 
you clean and tend the yard, you make sure spaces are ready for us to gather, you read scripture, you serve at this altar, you sing in the choir. 

You do all sorts of other things none of us see, you make meals, you give rides. Here we are, honoring the Sabbath; here we are, worshipping God. Here we are, listening to stories of faith in Jesus, we are not at home, watching TV drinking our coffee. Here we are, eating the bread that is body broken to make us whole, and drinking the wine shed for us, making us into the body of Christ, why do we do it? Why do we come here?

I think it is because we are the same as the woman in our gospel today. This woman whom Jesus set free. This woman who was bound up, enslaved, for all of her adult life. This woman whom Jesus released. We are here because somewhere inside us 
we know this good news we hear today is true. You and I know it is true because it describes our lives, each one of us is set free, each one of us is released from the bonds that hold us at a distance from each other, we are released from the bonds 
that keep us believing that ultimately our needs, real or perceived, are the most important needs in the room. You see, unlike what we experience in so many places in our lives, God's relationship with us is not transactional, God's relationship with us is loving, giving, emptying.
 
We find ourselves here today not because we have to be here, or we are obligated to be here, but because we are free. We are free from the bonds of selfishness, from the bonds of self-absorption and egotism. We are free from the religion of our culture 
that preaches our worthiness is in a transaction - you must buy, you must have, you must consume, you must be the most important or most good looking person in the room.

This is keeping Sabbath and keeping Sabbath matters, your being here matters. We bring all our brokenness, we bring all our hurt, and we are healed. And in the healing and being made whole again, being put back together, we are freed. We are freed to show compassion. And in reaching out, showing compassion, we participate in bringing God’s healing, freedom, joy and peace to those in need, and that is what new life, eternal life, looks like. We are free to be transformed into the persons we are created to be. So what’s really important here? God's dream is healing and

reconciliation, God's dream is love and compassion. Keeping the Sabbath is about keeping God’s dream the main thing. It is about the nearness of the kingdom.
 
The woman in our story today was released from the bondage of her ailment. We too are released from bondage, but you and I both know that we tend to choose to stay in bondage. We tend to believe the religion of our culture that says to us either “you are like God” and deserve to have anything and anyone you want, 
OR 
“you are worthless” and deserve only what happens to you, both of which are lies.
 
The truth is so very different from any of that. The truth is that we are God’s beloved creation, and that God loves us whether or not we love God, and that God came to be part of creation, to live, love, suffer and die, so that we may be reconciled, or joined together with God, and with one another. The truth is that the story is not about any one of us, but the story is about God’s relationship with us, and our relationship with God and our neighbor.
 
That’s the main thing, and what flows from that main thing, what flows from God’s amazing and abundant love for us is the freedom to love others, regardless of approval or disapproval, regardless of whether or not they deserve our love, regardless of whether or not they brought life’s circumstances upon themselves 
or if they are a victim of circumstances. What flows from God’s amazing and abundant love for us is mercy and compassion.
 
So this week as we reflect on the gospel, as we get ready for a new school year, or newness at work, it might do us some good to linger where Jesus lingers, to begin in a moment of Sabbath, to start from a quiet place within, and remember the main thing. The main thing, that it isn’t about you today, it isn’t about any one of us, it is about what happens outside the walls of this church. It is about meeting others with God’s compassion, God’s mercy, and reminding ourselves of the dignity, the freedom, and the blessing that is God’s desire for each of us as God’s beloved child.
Amen.  
 

Life is short, my friends,
and we do not have too much time
to gladden the hearts of others.
So be quick to love,
and make haste to be kind.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
who created you in love,
who walks with you in love,
and who will bring you home in love,
be upon you and all whom you love,
this day forth and forever more. Amen.”
 

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Yr C Proper 14 August 10 2025, St. Martha and Mary, Eagan MN

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Yr C Proper 14 August 10 2025, St. Martha and Mary, Eagan MN

Genesis 15:1-6, Psalm 33:12-22, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, Luke 12:32-40

Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid God assured Abram, do not be afraid, the angel assured Mary, do not be afraid James and John, for now on you will be fishing for people, do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Do not be afraid we must be assured as well, do not be afraid.

Fear is a powerful motivator, for good or for ill. It seems that the world in which our sacred stories originated, and the world in which you and I live are not so different. Our ancestors were afraid of the same things we are afraid of, not having enough: food, water, clothing, housing. They were afraid of persecution, afraid of being teased and bullied for being different. They were afraid of death, afraid of the unknown, afraid of the dark, afraid of mortality and absence, afraid of natural disaster and human made disaster. They were afraid of those who seemed a threat, those whose ways are so different, those who believed in a God who seemed so foreign.

Today we live in a culture of fear. We are afraid of not having enough, and we are afraid of those we think may take away what we do have. We are afraid of hearing the news because we don’t want to hear of the sadness, violence, and tragedy all around us. We are afraid when our investments are doing poorly and cutting into our retirement. We are afraid of getting sick because we don’t have enough health insurance to cover the hospitalization. We are afraid of getting old because we are unsure of what our bodies will become and what they will do, and the value of our lives until we die. We are afraid of people who think and do and believe differently from ourselves. We are afraid of dying and so we forget to live.

We are afraid of losing, losing our money, losing our lives, losing our house. And when we are so afraid of losing we hold on tight, we become greedy, we worship idols. We heard all about greed and idols in the parable we heard last week of the Rich Fool. Fear leaves us insecure and paranoid. Fear breeds intolerance and suspicion. Fear causes our relationships to be conditional and abusive.

No fear. Be not afraid. These are words of comfort, and they are words of action. How do we follow Jesus in a culture of fear? What is the fitting response, the ethical response to fear? Now, fearlessness is not always a good thing. But that is why God chooses to be known to us, so that we may stop being afraid of the wrong things. Putting fear in its place is being freed from fear to being empowered by love to love. The quieting of fear is required in order to hear and do what God asks of us, and yet in our culture, fear seems to make the loudest noise.

Quieting our fear is not easy, but these overwhelming fears need to be overwhelmed by bigger and better things, by a sense of adventure and fullness of life that comes from locating our fears and vulnerabilities within the larger story that is ultimately hopeful and not tragic. It is the story of God’s abundant and amazing love that resides with us in the life and love, in the pain and suffering, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And only by facing death, our most primal fear, can we move ahead to embrace life with the great nevertheless that is God’s gracious word to a broken world.

At our baptism, we were united with Christ and marked as Christ’s own forever. Through baptism we have already faced death, and seen it overcome. Every time we gather together here to celebrate Christ with us we acknowledge the work that God does in Jesus on the cross. Be not afraid, you are not alone.

Following Jesus in this culture of fear is to offer hospitality, and then we are no longer strangers. Following Jesus in this culture of fear is to be compassionate instead of safe. Following Jesus is to transform this culture of fear into a culture of hope.

And this is what it looks like to follow Jesus, it is our work as baptized people. Bringing the kingdom near, for the gospel writer Luke, is all about the amazing grace of God. We are followers of Jesus who express openhanded mercy to others, especially those in need. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, extend hospitality to those who cannot reciprocate, give without expectation of return. Such practices are possible only for those whose dispositions and convictions and commitments have been reshaped by the transformative encounter with God’s amazing grace.

And we continue to hear, Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. How do we live as kingdom people and live without fear? Sell your possessions, and give alms. In other words, be generous. The call of discipleship is to live as if we mean it, not as if we are afraid of it. The call is to live as if God is our priority. Eugene Peterson’s translation in The Message is, Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out.

The call is to live our transformed lives in the world, and when we do that, we can change our world, we can transform our world, and the kingdom will be near. The call of discipleship is to no longer be afraid to be yourselves, to be the person God created you to be, to live your life as the beloved of God. When God is the priority, when God is our treasure, there our hearts will be also, and there will be no fear. There will be courage, we will be dressed for action and have our lamps lit. There is nothing we miss out on, instead, we are emboldened and encouraged to live our lives as agents for change, as revolutionaries, we are participants in bringing the kingdom near.

God gives us opportunities for discipleship, God gives us opportunities to minister with the least, the lost and the left out. God gives us opportunities to live boldly and courageously. God gives us opportunities to live as if we mean it, to live with no fear, and to witness to the nearness of God’s kingdom.

Be not afraid.

Be an outrageous expression of hope.  

6 Pentecost Yr C Proper 11 July 20 2025 Colossians 1:15-28, Luke 10:38-42, Grace Episcopal Church, Mpls. MN

6 Pentecost Yr C Proper 11 July 20 2025
Colossians 1:15-28, Luke 10:38-42, Grace Episcopal Church, Mpls. MN

My mom loved having people over to our house. She was in her element when she was bustling about the kitchen, cooking and baking for all of us and our friends.  Like many of you, the kitchen was the center of our house. In the kitchen, the stories would be told, the tears would be shed, love was prepared and served. She actually did the same thing at church, she was the kitchen queen, she hustled and bustled around that kitchen as well as her own. But my mom also had this other side. She loved to read.. She’d sit in her chair, feet up, reading everything from People magazine to murder mysteries. But mom was convinced she was not very smart. I think she had put herself in a box, and I think she looked for validation from those around her. There was this one thing she believed she was really good at, cooking and baking and serving, and it became her identity. Even if she had wanted a way out, I don’t think she could have found it.

All of us have beloved people like my mom in our lives, they are our siblings, our friends, our children even. Some of us are that way too. We do this identity thing to ourselves, and we do it to each other. Am I a Martha who is happiest and most comfortable serving? And do I get a little bit resentful at my sisters who seem to not be so concerned with getting the meal on the table?  Am I a Mary who loves to learn and chides my sisters who can’t seem to sit down long enough to catch the deep meaning of the story? But when we construct this scenario it is filled with words like resentment, jealousy, expectation, responsibility. We put ourselves and others into identity boxes that may not be helpful and that are hard to dismantle.

I think we’ve put our sisters Mary and Martha into this same box, and it’s so very hard to dismantle that box. You see, focusing on what Mary and Martha are doing seems to get us into the same box each time. I wonder if focusing on who Jesus is encouraging them to be, and who Jesus is encouraging us to be, may help us to break out of the box, and see this story of our sisters Mary and Martha in a new way. A new way that may help us pay attention, and open our eyes to the Christ who is with us.

We are in the midst of Luke’s story, and just like the one we heard last week, the story of the compassionate Samaritan, we hear this one that is so familiar. It is so familiar that many of us, as soon as we hear the names Mary and Martha, jump to identify ourselves, or even are identified as, a Mary or a Martha. When we do that, we invoke all the stereotypes that each of those represent. So today, I want to take a deeper dive. What may we be missing when we go immediately to the question of who am I, a Mary or Martha?

Jesus is a guest at the house of Martha, who is “distracted with much serving”. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet listening to his word. There is very little other detail. So it is left to us to wonder. Mary and Martha are sisters, do they get along? Is one jealous of the other? Where are all the people who travel with Jesus? Why don’t they have anything to say about this? As we hear this story in Luke, we need to realize that this is the first we’ve heard of Mary and Martha, and there is no brother Lazarus, that’s not here, it’s in John’s gospel. So how is it that Martha is even hosting this single, Jewish man? What is Jesus doing at their home? The story doesn’t really suggest anything about a prior relationship between Mary and Martha and Jesus. It seems almost as if Jesus just showed up at Martha’s door. Do they know him? From what we know of this culture, that shouldn’t be happening.

But the gospel writer seems unconcerned with all of our concerns. So what is Luke concerned about? Why is Luke telling us this story about these sisters? We’ve often assumed this is a story about who or what is better, sitting at Jesus’ feet learning, or stomping around in the kitchen getting things done. I don’t think it’s a competition about who is better. I don’t think Jesus would enter us into a sibling competition. But sometimes, as we visit these two women in their home, we come away feeling like we lost. Either I’m a Mary and I’m not doing enough, or I’m a Martha and I’m not quiet enough. I’m sunk no matter what. But, I don’t think there is a winner and a loser here.

Jesus is not so much chiding Martha because of what she was doing, actually, what she was doing was the right thing to do. Martha was showing hospitality, and hospitality is one of the most important values in Luke’s gospel. Actually, the word that is used to describe who Martha is, is diakonia, it is the word that becomes deacon, one who serves.

Jesus says, Martha, you are distracted by so many things. So I wonder if Luke tells this story because being distracted was as true in the 1st century as it is in the 21st. We really haven’t invented distraction, it’s been around a long time. Jesus really is asking Martha to pay attention, and I think Mary hears that as well. I wonder if entering into the fullness of life in Christ is about not being distracted by all the things that circle about us, and instead, paying attention. I wonder if diakonia, serving, is really about paying attention to the Holy Presence. Because, what is hospitality but gracious attention to the guest.

You’ve seen it, you do it. I know I do. In the middle of a conversation, in the middle of a meal, sometimes in the middle of church, your phone rings, you get a text message, something on Facebook catches your attention, and off you go. You’re driving your car, your phone beeps, your eyes leave the road for a moment…Being distracted may be the greatest danger to us right now in so many ways. It surely is in driving, but it is a danger to us in relationships as well. Being distracted puts a wedge in between me and thee.

And there’s even a more insidious distraction going on today. Words, because words matter, when they are used in ways intended to cut, and bite, and chew particular people just to be cruel, those words distract us from the very fundamental truth of love. Don’t be distracted by the words and the antics of some who want to call our attention away from the very basic commandment given by Jesus, love one another, love your neighbor. Pay attention.

Paying attention is good for our hearts. Paying attention to the Holy Presence right in our midst. Not thinking about or worrying about the next thing, or the other thing, or the wrong thing. Mary and Martha had Jesus right there, in their living room. The Holy Presence sitting in their most comfortable chair. And something else was more important: resentment, anger, guilt, or even arrogance. We must not let our attention be drawn from the one who says, love your neighbor, and who died for that truth. And we must not let our attention be drawn from actually loving our neighbor.

The good news is that Jesus is in our midst too, the Holy Presence is in our midst too. God is with us, we need not be so distracted that we cannot still ourselves, be present, pay attention. Jesus may be in our most comfortable chair, and most assuredly Jesus is in the person who is hurting, imprisoned, or exiled. Jesus is in the person you meet in the grocery store, the person stomping around the kitchen preparing a meal, the homeless woman in the park. Jesus is in the one who is sitting next to you. Pay attention, don’t be distracted, Jesus is here.

4 Pentecost Yr C Proper 9 July 6 2025 Galatians 6:(1-6)7-16, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, Grace Episcopal Church, Mpls

4 Pentecost Yr C Proper 9 July 6 2025 Galatians 6:(1-6)7-16, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, 
Grace Episcopal Church, Mpls
 
Recently, the readings from Luke have been about the unfailing love and abundant grace that God has for us. We are called by love and grace into relationship with God, and that changes us. God does not call us away or out of the world, but instead calls us to do our work, to be in relationship, to go about our business in a way that reveals God’s unfailing love and grace to the world. This work that God calls us to 
is about following Jesus. This is our call, this is our work. And the gospel of Luke is all about showing us what following Jesus looks like.
 
Following Jesus is to be on a journey of active faith formation, and following Jesus is to be part of God's dream of love and healing in this world. That is what Luke means when he writes about God coming near. 
God coming near is the kingdom of God. And according to Luke, the kingdom of God is about reordering human interaction, we see that when Jesus brings to the center those who are on the margins. And the kingdom of God is about loving one another as God loves us. A sign of this love, a sign of God's dream in our interactions, is offering peace to all people we encounter.
 
In this gospel passage from Luke, we learn that God's call, God's love, God's kingdom, includes everyone. And we learn that following Jesus is about radical hospitality.
 
In the New Revised Standard Version translation we just read, we heard that Jesus appointed seventy disciples and sent them out in pairs. However, many New Testament scholars are convinced the earliest transcripts read 72. And the reason this is important, is that seventy-two is a significant number. At the time Luke’s story was told, the number of the world’s nations was seventy-two. Seventy-two is also reckoned in an apocryphal book, called Enoch, as the number of princes and the number of languages in the world. And according to legend, seventy-two elders were commissioned to translate the law from Hebrew to Greek, a project undertaken in order to win renown throughout the whole world for the Jews and their God.
 
All that is to say that seventy-two really means everyone, everyone is sent out, but never sent out alone. 
So now it is not just the original Jewish disciples of Jesus that spread the Good News of God in Jesus Christ. It is gentiles as well, and that is all of us; every one of us is a follower of Jesus, a disciple, and we are all called to spread the Good News.
 
Last week the church celebrated the feast day of St. Peter and St. Paul. A gift that St. Peter and St. Paul 
give to us in the 21st century is the gift of disagreement. At the very beginnings of the church, these two important church leaders could not agree on who’s in and who’s out. The argument about circumcision, 
which is referred to in the Galatians passage, was a huge argument in the 1st century. Basically, the question was, do followers of Jesus have to be circumcised before they can be baptized? This question was really about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, and what it means to be Jewish. It is a question that caused communities to stop talking to each other; it caused communities to split apart and even stop eating together. The answer to the question however, was always, Love one another as God has loved you. And, a sign of that love was to settle your differences before you come to the table to eat. St. Peter and St. Paul taught us to agree to disagree, because we are all part of one family. The way St. Peter and St. Paul taught us to agree to disagree is to practice radical hospitality.
 
These days I am finding it harder to agree to disagree. There are just some things that are wrong. But I don’t think we live in times different from Peter and Paul. And that is why this passage about hospitality is so important. All of us are called to radical hospitality; all of us are called to offer God's love and hospitality to everyone we meet, and to receive hospitality as well. First say “peace to this house” and then stay there and eat and drink, cure the sick and preach the Good News. You see, with the offer of hospitality also comes healing.I know this is so hard for us. When we are at that difficult family picnic,
we’d really rather not do any of it, right? We’d really rather not be there for starters, we’d really rather avoid the difficult conversations, and then we’d really rather put those idiots in their place, even though we are related to them.But what if we offered something else besides vitriol? What if we offered hospitality, kindness, healing. The kingdom of God comes near. Maybe then we make space for Grace. 
Maybe then we can do as Jesus does and invite those on the margins to the center.

What does the discipleship of radical hospitality look like for us? As disciples, as followers of Jesus, 
we are called to welcome the stranger. We are called to offer rest, to wash their feet, and a place at the table. When we offer this radical hospitality, we act as disciples and the kingdom of God is near.  We, as disciples, are called to offer hospitality to everyone, people we agree with, people we disagree with,  people that look like us, people who look different than us, people that we grew up with, people who are strangers.
 
As disciples we are also called to go out into the world, walking alongside one another, and say to all we meet, Peace to you, peace to your house, peace to your people. This is a weekend of celebrating freedom. 
In these days I think we are wondering about what freedom really is. What if freedom is about walking alongside each other? Journeying together. Listening to one another. Offering hospitality, including and especially those who are different from us? What if freedom is really about following Jesus to the margins to place the most vulnerable and marginalized at the center of our common life? What if freedom requires dependence and interdependence. Dependence on God, and one another, the Body of Christ. There are few things more satisfying and life giving, it turns out, than sharing with others, giving of our abundance,  receiving in our need, all the while being knit more closely together as the Body of Christ, a very different witness to people in this world who would exclude, divide, and keep out.
 
You, like me, are probably news weary, world weary, politics weary. You, like me, might wonder what the church and these stories we read have to offer the world. But the gospel is the gospel, the good news. The kingdom of God is near, Peace to this house, peace to your house, peace to the stranger’s house, offer hospitality, construct a bigger table, go to the margins and bring everyone to the table.
 
Amen.

Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 7, Year B St. Martha and Mary, Eagan Enmegahbowh, transferred

Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 7, Year B St. Martha and Mary, Eagan

Enmegahbowh, transferred, Isaiah 52:1–6, Psalm 129, 1 Peter 5:1-4, Luke 6:17-26

If there is one thing I learned as a priest in the Diocese of South Dakota, it is to show up and listen. It’s an interesting thing to be a white woman priest in a Diocese in which 75% of the Episcopal population is Native American. One thing I learned in all that listening, is that showing up and listening is enough. Because showing up and listening imparts worth. So many have served the “Indians” in South Dakota, and believed that that was all about making them into Christians, Episcopalians, just like us. Or going to the reservation and “doing” mission projects for those poor people. But what that does is to devalue the person made in God’s image. You see, people, no matter where they’re from, what they believe, or their skin color, are already God’s beloved. Our job is to listen to the spirit already present, and that is enough. Sometimes, in that listening emerges a way forward, a partnership that may result in a project that is good and helpful to people. But, sometimes not, it is enough to be in relationship with God’s beloveds who are not us. 

So today, we observe the life of Enmegahbowh, in 1867 the first Native American ordained a priest. During the Dakota War of 1862, which began as treaty payments were due for distribution to the starving Sioux at Fort Ridgely, just north of Sleepy Eye, not to be confused with Fort Ripley, the Gull Lake Band of Mississippi Chippewa rose to attack Fort Ripley. Enmegahbowh prevented other Ojibwa bands from joining the Gull Lake Band, for which the rebels imprisoned him. Enmegahbowh escaped and traveled thirty miles at night to warn Fort Ripley. This discouraged the Gull Lake Band from attacking the fort. 

Enmegahbowh died at the White Earth Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota on June 12, 1902 at the age of 95, and is buried in St. Columba's churchyard. The people of St. Columba's honor him each June during the White Earth Pow-Wow. The Episcopal calendar of saints remembers Enmegahbowh on June 12. 

Chosen for this observation, is the beatitudes from Luke, and in Luke, the beatitudes are just a little different from Matthew’s sermon on the mount. Let’s listen to it again, from this translation by N.T. Wright, who is the former bishop of Durham, in the UK.

Blessings on the poor: God’s kingdom belongs to you!

Blessings on those who are hungry today: you’ll have a feast!

Blessings on those who weep today: you’ll be laughing!

Blessings on you, when people hate you, and shut you out,

But woe betide you rich: you’ve had your comfort!

Woe betide you if you’re full today: you’ll go hungry!

Woe betide you if you’re laughing today: you’ll be mourning and weeping!

Woe betide you when everyone speaks well of you: that’s what your ancestors did to the false prophets.

Part of the difficulty of this text is that it is hard for us to hear. It is hard for us, who are not really very poor, who are not usually hungry. Those of us who are not oppressed, mistreated, thrown away or thrown out. We don’t really know what to do with it. And Luke’s version has these woe statements. 

I remember sermons that tried to teach me about Be-attitudes. You know the ones, where we learned that these are all about having the proper attitude toward the challenges in our lives. If you just have the right attitude or do it the right way you can overcome the obstacles in your path.

I’m not sure that’s the correct approach, I think that misses out on the incredible grace these blessings offer, and the corrective the woes offer. The word itself, blessed or blessing, could be translated happy or fortunate, and has been so in many of the bibles we read. But even happy or fortunate does not come close to depth of meaning of blessed. Happy is a great word, a great way to be, but being happy is really up to me, isn’t it? It is much like having a good attitude. Fortunate is a word that makes me think of lucky, as in, “I was lucky that car didn’t hit me!” and maybe a bit capricious or arbitrary.

Blessed and blessing is not capricious or arbitrary. Being blessed is not a result of a transaction with God. Blessed is who you are, who every one of us is, especially those who are thrown out or thrown away. Blessed is who you are created to be. Blessed is connection and relationship. We are blessed, we are related, we are known. And that blessing is for all of us. Every part of God’s creation is blessed, the whole of God’s creation is blessed. 

So when I hear these blessings that are beatitudes, what I hear is blessings on you, all of you, even the poor, who society shuts out. Blessings on all of you, even you hungry people, yes even you, you people who are excluded from the finer dining establishments, you who are excluded from getting jobs that pay a living wage, even you are blessed. Blessings on you people who weep, even you, blessings on you when you close yourself off in your home and cry, thinking that no one wants to hear you. Blessings on your tears when you think no one can see you. Blessings on your broken heart. And blessings on you, even when you stand up for what is right, blessings on you when you stand for justice and peace, blessings on you who preach with your lives that God loves all of creation and weeps when this earth is mistreated. Blessings on all of you.

And in this gospel, blessings bestowed on all of God’s creation, even on those who are thrown out or thrown away, turn into anguish and grief for those who misuse wealth, money, and power. Woe betide you, aren’t those great words? This is not simply do or do not. Because it is not a transaction. This is a call to deep transformation, not just to doing good, no matter how good that is. It is a call to us who are blessed, to all of us, to participate with God in the healing of our planet, in the healing of our nation, in the healing of our hearts.

You see, this is the sermon on the plain. In Luke’s good news, Jesus stands shoulder to shoulder, side by side, with the people who gather to hear him. In Luke’s good news, remember, at the very beginning, we hear Mary sing,

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel, for he has remembered his promise of mercy, The promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.”

The words that Mary sings as she learns of her child, and this sermon that Jesus delivers in this field, form the foundation for Jesus’ teaching in this gospel according to Luke. For Jesus this life is not about what you have and who you are, this life is about empowering those without power. This life is about raising up those who have been cast out. This life is about filling the hungry with good things. I think this is why this reading of the beatitudes was chosen for the observation of Enmegahbowh.

This life is about standing together when our hearts are broken, and being filled with the only thing that can put us back together again, Jesus. This life is about loving no matter what, even when it seems absolutely impossible to love.

Jesus’ very life and death and resurrection shows that. On the cross, in the midst of the pain and anguish, Jesus gives his life, and Jesus forgives those who hate. Blessed are those who forgive when it is easier to hate. Blessed are those who love when it is so very hard to love. The good news of this sermon on the plain is that Jesus stands with us, all of us. Jesus stands with those who are hungry, those who are grieving, those who are downtrodden. And we are all joined on this plain because we are all in need. And, through our need, by God’s favor for us and all who are in need. “Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, so that we might, too. So that we may be blessed to be a blessing.

MH May 25 2025, Ps. 84:1-4; Matt. 11:28-30

 

MH May 25 2025, Ps. 84:1-4; Matt. 11:28-30 (Proper 9A)

“Immerse in Sacred Spaces and Rhythms”

Creator God,

who makes the mountains rise and the valley low,

who makes the sea and all therein, 

You, lord God show us your power in creation, 

you show us your love in the lives we share with one another.

Give us vision, at this time in our collective lives,

when much seems so hard,

vision to see the burden that must be laid down.

Give us rest, so that we may hear your voice in the wind, the rain, and one another. Amen. 

We have heard these words from the gospel of Matthew so many times, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We’ve heard Jesus call the disciples, Andrew and Simon the fisher folk, and Matthew the tax collector. They dropped everything and immediately followed Jesus. But this passage extends that call, it is an expansive invitation from Jesus to all who can hear, including you and me, to follow. When these words fall upon my ears, I listen, but I am not sure that following Jesus is easy, or the burden is light. Sometimes, like you, I think this is really hard. It’s hard to step to a different drummer, when conforming to the values and morals of our culture seems like it would be so much easier. It’s really hard to be the voice in the wilderness that says, resist, resist all that would demean and destroy God’s creation, resist all that would raise the rich and the powerful over and above those who are poor and outcast. Resist the easy fix and the easy answers. Because when you do, when you follow Jesus, Jesus promises, I will give you rest.

And, you can do hard things.

Let’s step back just a bit and see what has happened to get us to this place in Matthew’s gospel. Matthew’s story begins with reporting the glorious works of God being done in Israel, and at this point shifts to focus on Israel’s failure to respond to those works. At the beginning of this chapter 11, Jesus was speaking to the crowds concerning John, the one we call Baptizer. Jesus was singing John’s praises at the very moment John was in prison awaiting his fate. At the same time, Jesus is railing against those who hold power, and who act against the common people. Jesus compares them to stubborn children who would not play well with others. Jesus castigates the people for being inhospitable and lacking repentance.

And then Jesus does something I hope we’ve all done, he stops what he's doing and saying, and he prays, Jesus giving thanks. In this, Jesus shows us that prayer, being present with God, is necessary especially when we are called to do hard things. It is what equips us to do hard things. Like Jesus, we are called to step away from all that is going on, to immerse ourselves in sacred spaces and rhythms. 

So what do sacred spaces and rhythms look like? In the world in which we live, a world in which information moves so fast; a world in which you can change a photo to be anything you want it to be and spread it so quickly people don’t have time to ask questions, or even know to ask - is this real; a world in which you can feed a few words into ChatGPT and get some really amazing results within moments; a world in which there is so much intentional noise to keep you distracted; in this world, what does it mean to step away? 

Many of you may have a rhythm of prayer and scripture study, individually and in community. But I would challenge you to first of all examine what your current rhythm is and how it serves your being present to God, and then wonder about the possibilities. Maybe it’s time to take a chance, to risk a messy path that may bring you to a place you’ve never been before, knowing that it’s not easy, that you can do hard things, and that immersing yourself in the rhythms of prayer is what equips you to do those hard things. 

Immerse yourself in sacred spaces and rhythms of prayer. I have a couple suggestions. 

1) Fast from the internet/looking at your phone when you are with people, because being with people is a sacred space. Remember Covid? Remember not being with people and how much we craved human interaction? Being with humans is sacred, put down your phone to be present with your people. 

2) I know many of you have a practice of reading scripture and prayer. Do you need to renew and refresh that practice? One of the ancient practices of the church is "Praying the Hours". This refers to the practice of praying regularly throughout the day, following a pattern of prayers that mark specific times of the day. These prayers, also known as the Daily Office, include Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and other offices like Noonday Prayer and Compline, for before sleep. Steeping yourself in the prayers and scriptures they contain, immerses your spirit, your body, and your mind, in the rhythms of the sacred.

3) I brought with me today some prayer beads, another way to focus your spirit, your body, and your mind on your prayers. 

These are all things you can google for more information. 

Whatever your prayer and scripture reading entails, whatever your prayer practice needs you to do, I urge you to do it in community. Community is at the heart of our sacred spaces and rhythms. We are connected to one another, we are connected to this earth, we are connected to those who walked this way before us, and those who will walk this way long after we’ve gone. You are not alone, celebrate, pray, read, grieve, with each other. No matter what you do, you need to show up and make space for something holy to flow through.

And then Jesus makes this invitation, come to me, follow me, take my yoke upon you. Jesus knows this is hard, probably the hardest thing we ever do. Jesus is asking the people he encountered, and loved and cared about, to exchange the “yoke” they lived under, which is the control of the empire of Rome, for the “yoke” that Jesus offered, the yoke of love, the yoke of reconciliation, the yoke of forgiveness.

We don’t use the word yoke much anymore. In fact, some of you probably can’t picture a yoke in your head. It’s a device for joining together a pair of animals to do the farm work of making rows to plant the seeds, in the days farming was done without big machines. The yoke was a piece that went across the shoulders of two large animals, usually oxen, each enclosing the heads of the animals. The yoke was heavy, it kept the animals doing the job the farmer wanted them to do.

When we imagine that yoke, the image becomes clear. Jesus says, leave the heavy burden that is keeping you hostage, and take on a new yoke, the yoke of love, the yoke of reconciliation, the yoke of forgiveness. Jesus was asking the people of his time to do something very hard. Jesus was asking them to risk everything, their lives and their livelihood, to be free of the empire of Rome. Jesus promises that when we exchange the yoke of the powerful for the yoke of the one who is crucified, we will find rest.

I think we live in very similar times today. The burdens are huge and heavy. Can we even do that hard thing that Jesus asks? Some of our leaders are showing us that wielding power over people is much more desirable than working with each other to come to the common good. We see and hear those who are in power that the goal is to make as much money as possible for oneself. We live at a time and place where true joy, deep satisfaction, and the realization of what we were created for is to be disdained.

But is the hard thing really laying the burden down? Or is the really hard thing believing Jesus, who says, come to me and I will give you rest, my burden is easy, and my burden is light. You see, Jesus doesn’t simply call the picture of the way we think the world works into question. Jesus doesn’t simply call our expectations into question. Jesus gives us a different picture. God is the one who bears our burdens. God is the one who shows up in our need. God is the one who comes alongside us. Nothing demonstrates this more than the cross – God’s willingness to embrace all of our life, even to the point of death, in Jesus, to demonstrate God’s profound love and commitment, love and commitment that will not be deterred…by anything.

It’s not necessarily what we want. We often would prefer a God who takes away our problems rather than helps us cope with them, who eliminates challenges rather than equips us for them. It’s not usually what we want, but pretty much exactly what we need. That’s the rest Jesus is talking about. It’s not an easy rest, it’s not usually what we want, but it’s exactly what we need.

And we are reminded that God always shows up where we least expect God to be: in the need of our neighbor. We are reminded that God shows up in the violence and the protest: demanding that we face the truth that all people are truly created in God’s image.

In our estimation, growth and change are not easy. Seeing the world in a new and different way is not easy. But ease is not what Jesus asks of us. Jesus asks us to exchange the burden of the world for the relationship Jesus offers. It is hard, and we can do hard things. And it is what following Jesus looks like. But as we undertake this new yoke, we discover God in Jesus is already there. Waiting for us, encouraging us, forgiving us, bearing us, loving us. Which is what makes the burden light, the yoke not just easy but joyful. Pick up the yoke that Jesus offers, the yoke of love, the yoke of reconciliation, the yoke of forgiveness.

It is hard, but we can do hard things. It is joyful, and love does win. Amen.

Speaking of hard things, a point of personal privilege if I may.

Even though there has been much pleading and cajoling, today is my last Sunday as your interim for pastoral care. I want to thank you for giving me this privilege of serving God with you. As I came to the decision, with God’s help, to come by your side and accompany you through this liminal time, I did so with the confidence that the Holy Spirit is active, and that who I am, could be helpful to you. You have shown forth your best selves, you have received me with love and care. What I ask of you, is that you show each other that same love and care, that you give one another your best selves, always remembering that your best self is authentic and messy, not perfect. This building is filled with really lovely people, be church for one another, forgiving, healing, reconciling. It is now my time in life to do what I please, when I please, retirement. Let’s all have some fun!

"Risk the Messy Path of Faith" Meetinghouse Church, May 11 2025

Matt. 9:18-26; Mark 8:34

“Risk the Messy Path of Faith” 

Let us pray,

Beloved God, creator of all that is seen and unseen, 

meet us in all our messiness, meet us in our dis-ease and our health,

help us to walk your way, help us to walk your way with one another, 

even when we are unsure of the path. 

Help us to risk doing the next right thing.

What would it be like to not be well for twelve years? Some of you have some experience with this, some of you know those who have chronic illness and have good days and bad days. Some of you are there yourselves. What would it be like to be a woman in Jesus’ time and bleed for twelve years, without relief? She’d spent any money she had on physicians, and she continued to grow worse. I imagine a body exhausted, listless, unable to really get up and do much of anything; and certainly unable to go far from home. What would that be like when you are a woman who must take care of a household, as well as caring for children and most likely for your parents. Would everyone leave you? What would they do with you?

And added to the misery of exhaustion and the inability to really do anything, she is unclean. To preserve the holiness of God’s people, Jews in Palestine avoided contact with lepers, menstruating women, corpses, and Gentiles, among others. Such contact defiled a person for a period lasting from one to seven days, until purification, ritual washing, and enduring a waiting period. So on top of her exhaustion, she was prohibited from participation in festivals, certain meals, and Temple functions.

So what was she doing there? She should not have been there. At the end of her hope, she must have sensed something about this man Jesus and decided to take the messy path of faith. A crowd of people had gathered around him. One of the leaders of the synagogue came to Jesus and asked him to come and see his daughter who had died. This leader was confident that all Jesus had to do was lay his hands on her and she would live. So Jesus went with him. This crowd followed Jesus and pressed in on him. Those kinds of crowds make me jittery. Hot sticky people, oh so very messy, craning their necks, looking for the rock star or the sports star, trying to get a glimpse of the hero. But she had nothing left to lose. All she had was a flicker, a glimmer, of hope. She was at the end of her rope, at the end of her life, at the end of his cloak. She touched it.

You know when your car battery is dead, and you jump it from another car, and it roars back into life? Or when your favorite song comes up on your playlist and you just gotta get up and dance? Or when you can’t get out of bed because you’ve got the worst sinus infection of your life, and you finally get the antibiotics you need and you feel like you can live again? She felt his power surge through her giving her new life. Jesus felt it too. It was as if they were the only two people alive in that crowd -  connected by an umbilical cord of life and power. 

Jesus moved on to the leader's house and pronounced life for the little girl, she is not dead, but sleeping. 

Jesus’ life and power is connected to us too, giving us all we need. Are we willing to risk this messy path, like the woman in our story?

Sometimes, when I am reading the newspaper, listening to the news, or talking with people, I hear hopelessness, faithlessness, despair, in our community, in our country. I hear people wondering what is next. Where or what is the next way people are disrespected, mistreated, and distrusted? What is the next means of exclusion, violence, hatred? Why are we having so much trouble making space in our communities, our lives, our country, for people who are unlike us? Why are we having so much trouble risking this messy path of following Jesus?

I think it may be because of the blood. This woman’s blood flowed out of her, through no fault of her own, making her unacceptable in the neighborhood in which she lived, and, they believed, unacceptable to God, yes, to God. These rules were to keep God’s people holy, and to keep God holy as well, maybe even to keep God from getting messy.

We continue today with boundaries and barriers that keep us apart, outward appearances that are no fault of our own, inward realities that are no fault of our own. But because some are certain there is a particular set of rules one must follow, they are unwilling to risk the uncertainty, or to risk the messy path of love.

But Jesus changed those rules. Jesus said, the commandments now are, love God, love your neighbor, no exceptions. And yet we keep doing it. We keep people away, we put distance between us, we inflict animosity, because they are not like us. It is as if we need to keep ourselves unaffected, clean even, and it is as if we need to keep God in our box of holiness, orderliness, surely not messiness.

But we needn’t worry about God; God can take care of Godself, much better than we can. God is found in all sorts of objectionable places, places where hungry people live, places where unhoused people live, places where boundaries are erected and walls are built. And yet, we see God in those places, in the faces of all of God’s beloveds. We see God in those places, in the faces of the helpers, those who go running toward trouble, those who go running toward violence and sadness. We see God in the faces of those whose color, language, and culture is unlike our own. 

In Jesus’ life, and in Jesus’ journey to the cross, and in Jesus’ love on the cross, Jesus crossed boundaries. Jesus risked the messy path. Jesus heals any who need healing, regardless of their status, regardless of who they are, regardless of who they even believe in. And on that cross, Jesus healed the one who hung next to him, who uttered the words, “remember me, when you come into your kingdom”, and who does the same for us, regardless of our status, our holiness, our orderliness.

Jesus’ life and power is connected to us too, just like that woman who touched his fringe. We are connected to love, we are connected to healing, we are connected to dignity by that same umbilical cord of life and power. We see God in one another, in our hurts, our messiness, our vulnerability. We are connected to each other, Jesus not only reaches out to touch us, Jesus embraces us. 

We follow the one who makes people free, the one who unbinds, the one who heals. We follow Jesus who crosses boundaries, who goes to the margins, who overcomes obstacles in the service of the kingdom of God. Who comes to us in the muck and messiness of our lives. We are the followers who cross boundaries to proclaim the good news to the ends of the earth, and the mission is urgent, it feels more urgent every single moment.

The good news is right here. In the midst of that hot mess of a market square, in the midst of the hot mess of our lives, Jesus brings new life, to make people whole, to heal, to empower, through you, and me.

Just like that woman of so long ago, Jesus’ life and power is connected to us too, The good news is right here. Do you feel it? Can you feel it? “She is not dead, she is alive!” Jesus says the same thing to us. Get up, be a part of the Jesus Movement. Stand up, be counted as one who is connected to Jesus; whose blood courses through our veins, whose body is broken for us. Stand up, be counted as one who is connected to Jesus. Stand up, be counted as one who loves God, loves others, and and shows that love to the world.