September 29 Sermon

“We brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these… We are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, so that we may take hold of the life that really is life.”

The 1st Letter of Timothy exhorts its listeners to live content with the riches they have, food and clothing. Not to be haughty, not to be overcome by riches for the root of much evil in this world lies at the pursuit of such wealth, but instead to be rich in good works & ready to share, so that we may take hold of the life that really is life.

I wonder if a football coach had 1 Timothy in mind this week when he suspended all 80 players on his team.

“Union High School coach Matt Labrum took the bold action after last Friday night's loss, saying the players needed to earn back the privilege of playing football at the school through community service and better behavior off the field. Labrum was alerted by a guidance counselor to the cyberbullying of a student by some football players. He was also unhappy with players cutting classes and disrespecting teachers. Instead of practicing this week for this Friday's game, the players have been performing community service. He gave his players a sheet called "Union Football Character," detailing the next steps for the boys to be reinstated.” (http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/09/26/utah-high-school-football-coach-suspends-entire-team-cutting-classes-cyberbullying)

I think that football coach taught those kids a great deal about what it means to be on a team, the privilege of playing football and how to do good to others. To take hold of what life really is, beyond the football field. Hopefully it also ended the bullying and disrespect.

We each have a part to play in bringing about good in our world, "Do a little bit of good wherever you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." ~ Archbishop Desmond Tutu

But we live in a society that struggles with our individuality and the common good. We have a hard time seeing the need next door, in our town or in the nearby city, even as we are more and more connected in this media driven age.

In the parable, the rich man ignores Lazarus who is at his gate, and only after their fortunes are reversed at their deaths, does the rich man see Lazarus. It is Abraham, the patriarch of the faith that says to the rich man in hades that his brothers should listen to Moses and the prophets, for if they won’t listen to them, they will never listen to someone risen from the dead. (Hint: he’s talking about Jesus!)

Which is a reminder to us that we have Moses & the prophets and Jesus who was raised from the dead, telling us of our calling to care for one another, especially those in need like Lazarus.

The rich man was blinded because of all his wealth, he did not or would not see the poor man Lazarus who was at his gate. There was a CEO recently who wanted to find out what it would be like to be Lazarus.

The CEO of Panera Bread thought he knew what poverty was like…

“I thought I knew a thing or two about hunger. I've met thousands of people who struggle to feed themselves and their families, visited dozens of soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless shelters and food banks, and worked closely with nonprofit organizations like Feeding America [in developing five "Panera Cares" community cafes with no set prices.] I really thought I understood the scope of the problem.

But let me tell you something -- I had no clue. My SNAP Challenge last week taught me that merely observing someone else's plight does not hold a candle to consciously altering your habits to better understand what it might be like to live someone else's life. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was formerly called the food stamp program. In the SNAP challenge, you live on a food and beverage budget of $4.50 a day, the average amount a recipient of food stamps gets in benefits.

I was hungry... I was scared about eating portions that were too big, and wasn't sure what to do if my food ran out. I canceled two scheduled dinners, knowing they were way beyond my budget. I couldn't even eat in Panera, my own restaurant.  

All I had to worry about was my food, and that was challenging enough.  One in six people in this country, or roughly 48 million Americans, face this reality. At the same time, they confront other obstacles and manage to deal with more pressing challenges every day.

One person wrote me, "It's not about a weeklong 'challenge.' It's about months. It's about deciding whether to eat or buy heart medicine or diabetic drugs. ... It's about knowing that this week is followed by another and another and another. It's not about (whether or not food is) boring. It's about living."

Throughout my SNAP Challenge, I kept returning to the same questions: What kind of society do we want to live in? Do we want to live in a country that turns a cold shoulder to the problem of hunger, or one in which we work together to face it head on?

If the past week has taught me anything, it's that hunger is not a problem of "them," it's a problem of "us." Hunger exists in every community, in every county, in every state. Simply put, this is our problem to solve, and it's time to do so.” (http://www.newpittsburghcourieronline.com/index.php/featured-news/national/17730-panera-ceo-clueless-about-hunger-till-his-food-stamp-diet)

We are blessed in so many ways and we need to find ways to give those blessings to those Lazaruses at our gate. To answer the question – what society do we want to live in?

For the hungry, the homeless, and those in need, it isn’t just food they need, they also need love. They need to know they are not disposable human beings that they too are children of God.

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” Mother Teresa

Consider your lives my brothers and sisters; what do you need to do to reach out? What is your blessing to offer this world? What can you offer the hungry, the lonely, the Lazarus?

For it is in giving that we receive our truest blessings. Amen.

At the Police Station Dedication (A Prayer)

O Gracious God, we thank you for the beauty of this day and for your presence with us as we come together to celebrate the renovation at the Monroe Police Department and dedicate this brand new building. We thank you for all the persons who have worked very hard to complete this project for the town of Monroe and its police force. Our prayer is that you will continue to lead and bless all who work in this magnificent facility, that all may live into their duty to protect and serve all the citizens of Monroe as they have done since its inception in 1952 and enhance the quality of life for all people. Help all of us, Lord, in these anxious days to be free of our fear, to look to these helpers, those who defend our freedom & keep us safe & sound, so we can tuck our children & grandchildren into bed in peace and harmony. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, guide us courageously to stand with each other and our men and women in blue, in faith and truth. Amen.  (cobbeled from various sources)

Poem from Sermon: Bridge Builder

This is the poem that Deacon Christopher mentioned in his sermon.

The Bridge Builder is a poem written by the acclaimed author Will Allen Dromgoole (1900).

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him."

International Day of Prayer for Peace

from the World Council of Churches
Each year on September 21st the World Council of Churches calls churches and parishes to observe the International Day of Prayer for Peace. September 21st is also the United Nations-sponsored International Day of Peace.

As it approaches, the World Council of Churches invites people to offer prayers for peace. This year we would like to invite you to pray for the upcoming World Council of Churches 10th Assembly. The theme of the assembly is a prayer for peace:

“God of Life, Lead Us to Justice and Peace”.

Churches from all over the world will gather in Busan, South Korea, October 30 to 8 November 8, 2013, for the event.

We would like to ask you to pray the theme – pray it for the world, pray it for the church, pray it for the churches attending the WCC assembly, pray it with the assembly.

God…
God of Life…

God of Life, Lead…
God of Life, Lead Us…

God of Life, Lead Us to Justice…
God of Life, Lead Us to Justice and Peace.

Each word and phrase of the assembly theme are a kind of prayer. The nine words together are a statement of faith, a cry of hope, an affirmation of unity and a pledge to discipleship.

Some may meditate on the words; others may pray by finishing one of the sentences.

This peace prayer day please join us in prayer. Join the WCC 10th Assembly in prayer.

(From our BCP, adapted)  Almighty God our heavenly Father, guide the nations of the world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness, that we may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.  Amen.

September 15 Sermon

“We are all in this together” is an old saying (true of the Apple Festival!). I have heard our own Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it this way, “We can be human only together.”

We are linked you and I, awash in this individualistic culture, its hard to remember that at times. The rugged individualism that in many ways defines our culture, for good and bad, tells us we are distinct and often forgets the bonds that unite us.

But it is scripture that reminds us that we are all connected. Remember the poor, the sick, the hungry, those in prison, they are part of the family too. Jesus tells us to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves, such love is played out in the parables we heard this morning…

Parable of the Lost Sheep & Lost Coin

-why leave 99 to find just 1, why search for one coin out of ten? Why does heaven rejoice when one sinner repents?

-parables of who God is, of God searching out for the lost, not let anyone or anything be lost.

-Because God is more merciful than we ever could be, God is more forgiving than we could be, God will always seek the one out who is lost, to bring everything back into wholeness.

It is the story of our lives, that by the grace of God we are saved; that God always seeks us out, wants no one lost, wants us to be complete. And the parable is true of us, that often we are the lost and we are the ones searching for the lost. I think of this true story I read on the internet:

Rachel had just begun a new job teaching children with severe learning and emotional difficulties in an inner-city school. The job was draining, often bringing her to tears - but she prayed each day that she could make a breakthrough to one broken soul.

Her most difficult charge was ten-year-old Kyle, the son of a drug-addicted mother, a boy with permanent scars along the side of his left arm from a beating with an extension cord when he was three. Kyle was given to angry, violent outbursts and running away.

Rachel and another teacher had planned a field trip for their students. But because of his behavior issues, Kyle would have to remain at school. Kyle flew into a rage, screaming, cursing, spitting, and swinging at anything within striking distance.

And then he did what he had done at other schools, at home, and once at a juvenile detention center: he ran. Kyle dashed out the door, straight into the heavy morning traffic.

And Rachel ran after him. She had no idea what she would say or do once - and if - she caught up with him. But she ran after Kyle.

Kyle ran for several blocks, dodging cars like a professional athlete. He was fast, but Rachel managed to stay with him. Finally he stopped, near a trash compactor behind a dilapidated strip mall. Bent over with exhaustion, he looked up, surprised to see his teacher running toward him. But when he saw Rachel, he did not run. He stayed still as Rachel approached. He calmed down; his anger and fear subsided. Rachel and Kyle locked eyes. Rachel willed every ounce of compassion and understanding in her heart toward his.

Before either could say a word, the principal of the school arrived with the police. Kyle would be taken for psychiatric evaluation. Rachel did not take her eyes off Kyle as he got into the car - and Kyle's eyes never left Rachel's.

Rachel later shared her disappointment at what had happened with Kyle's speech therapist who knew Kyle's history and family situation. The therapist placed her hand on Rachel's shoulder and said, "Rachel, no one ever ran after him before. No one. They just let him go."

Kyle eventually returned to school. He asked if he could return to Rachel's class. As the weeks passed, Kyle was glued to Rachel's side, complying with instructions, attempting to do his work - once even smiling. For a child with deep attachment issues, it was amazing to see Kyle finally developing a bond with someone - someone who ran after him. [From a story by Rachel Macy Stafford, http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=310]

Grace is the joy and fulfillment experienced by the shepherd who finds the lost lamb, the woman who recovers the missing coin, and a teacher who ran after a lost student. We are meant to be whole. We are meant to be connected. And it is the love that is behind it all, that led us to find the lost and be found when we are lost and be united. Amen.

A Prayer for the 12th Anniversary of 9/11

O gracious and loving God, on this 12th anniversary of the terror attacks on 9/11, we lift up our nation in prayer. We remember all the victims who lost their lives to hate. We remember the brave and courageous who rushed to the scene to help, to those who came to search through rubble, who cut through steel and debris. We remember those who grieve loved ones lost and for all the anxiety and fear we had in those days. We also remember how we came together to support one another in a time of need. Have mercy, Lord, give us strength and peace to not seek revenge nor turn our hurt to hate, but make us courageous in compassion and in justice for all. Help us to know your steadfast love & hope, your presence that is as near as breath; rekindle in our hearts the hope of life that conquers death. This we ask in your son’s name, Jesus our Lord. Amen


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Rev. Robert Farrar Capon, RIP

The Rev. Robert Farrar Capon died on September 5. (1925-2013) My favorite books of his are the  trilogy he wrote on Jesus’ parables: The Parables of Grace, The Parables of the Kingdom, and The Parables of Judgment. I love this quote from him:

 "I am and I am not a universalist. I am one if you are talking about what God in Christ has done to save the world. The Lamb of God has not taken away the sins of some — of only the good, or the cooperative, or the select few who can manage to get their act together and die as perfect peaches. He has taken away the sins of the world — of every last being in it — and he has dropped them down the black hole of Jesus’ death. On the cross, he has shut up forever on the subject of guilt: “There is therefore now no condemnation. . . .” All human beings, at all times and places, are home free whether they know it or not, feel it or not, believe it or not. "But I am not a universalist if you are talking about what people may do about accepting that happy-go-lucky gift of God’s grace. I take with utter seriousness everything that Jesus had to say about hell, including the eternal torment that such a foolish non-acceptance of his already-given acceptance must entail. All theologians who hold Scripture to be the Word of God must inevitably include in their work a tractate on hell. But I will not — because Jesus did not — locate hell outside the realm of grace. Grace is forever sovereign, even in Jesus’ parables of judgment. No one is ever kicked out at the end of those parables who wasn’t included in at the beginning."