Blueprint for Life and Ministry

 

Epiphany 4A; Micah 6:1-8; Matthew 5:1-12; St. Paul’s 1/28/2017

Jim Melnyk: “Blueprint for Ministry”

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.”  There are more than just The Twelve with Jesus – the whole community probably follows him up the side, and Matthew wants us to think about Moses, the ultimate teacher and prophet of the Hebrew tradition, when we hear this story.  And those seated or standing on the hillside before Jesus come with the same thoughts many of us might have – they wonder if Jesus will address their particular situations – address their particular human condition.

What they hear is not totally new.  It’s a summation of what the Law and the Prophets teach.  The proverb that says there is nothing new under the sun holds true in many ways for what we have come to call The Sermon on the Mount.  What Jesus says to the crowd in the story, and so what he says to us nearly two thousand years later, is not something that is radically new to Judaism in his time – in fact, if anything, he doubles down on the tradition and holds us to an even higher standard in many of his teachings (You have heard it said…but I say to you…).

Jesus begins to teach a reversal of what was, and still is commonly thought to be, the equation for worldly success and a happy, fulfilled, life.  These teachings of Jesus, including what have come to be called the “beatitudes,” are the starting place for everywhere Jesus will go – they, along with the verses which immediately follow, are a blueprint for his life and preaching – an explanation and an expansion of the prophet Micah’s words we just heard read.  The words we will hear read over the next couple of weeks are Jesus’ own summation of all that is taught in the Law and the Prophets.

           

And although we hear this lesson from Matthew’s gospel often, it still has the power to capture our attention and perhaps even cause us to scratch our heads a bit.  This call from God to be a part of the unfolding kingdom of heaven certainly doesn’t sound like something that will make blessedness, or happiness, possible.

When we hear the words “Happy, or blessed, are the poor in spirit,” or “Happy, or blessed, are those who mourn,” it doesn’t seem to add up.  Most of us have felt poor in spirit from time to time.  Most of us have had an occasion to mourn over a loss.  Happy, or blessed, are not words that come immediately to mind at those moments of life.  Our modern idea of being happy or blessed doesn’t include things like being poor – in spirit, or any other way.  Our modern day idea of being blessed doesn’t include grieving or being meek. 

But, what if we tried translating the phrase as “God’s favor rests upon the poor in spirit,” or, “God’s favor rests upon those who mourn?”  Perhaps it can begin to make more sense.

God’s favor rests on the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Perhaps because they best understand that only God’s Holy and life-giving Spirit can fill the emptiness which inevitably comes to all of us at some time in our lives.  The things of this world just cannot fill that void.  They will learn to give of themselves out of love.

God’s favor rests on those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  One of the earliest and important definitions of the word “comfort” is “to strengthen.” Comfort is more than a gentle conversation or a caring hug when we need one – though those responses are meaningful.  This is about being strengthened to withstand the circumstances of life.  God’s favor rests on those who mourn – because God has known deep grief and loss as well – God knows what it’s like to lose a child to senseless violence.  God understands the brokenness and the separation that under-girds many of life’s hard experiences.  God knows that our grieving can lead to a longing for communion with one another and with God as well – and the strength that can come from being in community with one another.

God’s favor rests on those who hunger and thirst after righteousness – promising that they will be filled.  In part that means seeking justice for all persons - a part of our baptismal covenant.  As our bodies hunger and thirst for food and water, our souls hunger and thirst for God’s vindication and support.  God’s favor compels us to fulfill what the prophet Micah proclaims: that we are to “do justice, and love kindness….”  This is a challenge for all who seek God’s promise for this world, for as the late Verna Dozier once pointed out, we are much more comfortable with loving justice and doing occasional acts of kindness than we are with practicing steadfast love for others – especially those who are different from us.

God’s favor rests upon the merciful, for they will receive mercy themselves.  When we have mercy for others, we show forth steadfast love and forgiveness.  Without God’s help our ability to show mercy soon runs out.  But with God’s help, our ability to show mercy for one another, for our neighbor, and for our own selves can become limitless.         

God’s favor rests upon the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  On the days when our hearts are pure, we come before God with no other motive or purpose that to be in the presence of the One Who Creates Us, Who Loves Us, and Who Lives Within Us.  When we “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves” - which again is a part of our baptismal covenant - we begin to see God – if only because we begin to see God in the face of our neighbor – and we remember from Luke’s gospel whom it was Jesus named “neighbor.”  It was a Samaritan – an enemy – a dangerous enemy who was named as neighbor.

God’s favor rests upon the peacemakers – they are called children of God.  We are peacemakers when our attitudes, words, and actions preserve friendships and respect the dignity of every human being - once again, part of our baptismal covenant brought to life.  We are peacemakers when we use all our energy to restore friendships where they have been fractured or destroyed by human friction and strife.  We are peacemakers when we honor our own boundaries and care enough for our own soul’s peace to leave behind destructive behaviors.  We are peacemakers when we love our neighbor, when we welcome the stranger among us, and when we pray for our enemies – when we welcome the refugee among us – something that is making headlines around the world these days. 

We welcome the refugee because we remember that Jesus and his parents were once refugees welcomed in Egypt.  We welcome the refugee because we know that Israel was once a refugee people enslaved in Egypt – we know what it means to be turned away or abused.  If anyone welcomes the refugee it should be the Church.  We are peacemakers when we refuse to consign any fellow human being to the trash heaps of society.

God’s favor rests upon those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  We human beings, when we are emotionally healthy, rarely seek out opportunities for which we will be persecuted or reviled.  But these words from Jesus carry special meaning for us, for we are a people called to respond to the injustices and prejudices which cause persecution in our time – and that, my friends is a risky calling in life.But Jesus never says, “Follow me and you will be safe and secure in your homes without a worry.”  What we do recall our Lord telling us is that we must be willing to take us his cross and follow him – and that the cross is an instrument of death – although through Jesus it becomes a promise of resurrection life as well.  As the prayer of St. Francis – which we just sang a few minutes ago reminds us – dying we live.

And we must remember that our faith must never be an instrument used for the persecution of others, simply because they do not look, or sound, or believe as we believe. 

These beatitudes which we read today – these sayings of Jesus captured at the opening of what we have come to call The Sermon on the Mount – are not mere platitudes to be cherished or trashed depending on how we feel at any given moment.  As the late theologian and Editor Carl Henry once wrote, “Jesus clothes the beatitudes with his own life;” and as such they are words that speak to the very meaning of Christ’s life; and are words that call us to action as followers of Christ (Carl F. H. Henry, Synthesis Today, 1/23/2017).  These words are Jesus’ blueprint for life and ministry, and they are meant to be our blueprint as well.

The Good News is that we have the Spirit of God to empower our lives, to fine-tune us a people upon whom God’s favor rests.  Like those disciples gathered to hear Jesus speak so long ago, we come here hopefully looking for meaning in our lives – we come here hopefully looking for a word spoken toward our particular situations in life – and to receive comfort - to receive strength - as we take within ourselves the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We travel this road of life as the Body of Christ gathered together and then sent into the world. Perhaps we struggle to understand how we can be all the beatitudes call us to be.  But we take heart in the words of the great Reformer, Martin Luther – words we hear each Sunday as we leave this place: “We are not what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished, but it is going on; this is not the end, but it is the road.”

Becoming Jesus Followers

Epiphany 3A; Matthew 4:12-23; 

St. Paul’s, 1/22/2017

Jim Melnyk: “Becoming Jesus Followers”

Like a few Sundays back, I’m beginning today’s sermon with a bit of show and tell – and again, like before, the piece of artwork I am holding up was created by Michael Podesta – a well-known calligrapher with a strong theological leaning.  I still recall the morning I was talking with Michael about his work when one of the prints on the back wall of his booth caught my eye.  It more than caught my eye – it called out to me.  The message it offers – a paraphrase from today’s gospel lesson having to do with the calling of Simon Peter and his brother Andrew – is compelling in its simplicity.  It reads, “Follow Me.”

                         

Follow me.  Two words that tell us so much about what it means to live the Gospel – to live the Good News of God in Christ.  Follow me – follow Jesus – well, at one level it’s what being a Christian is all about.  In Matthew’s Gospel account the call is immediate – immediately Peter and Andrew set aside their nets and turn to Jesus.  Immediately James and John leave their father’s side – nets left unattended – and answer Jesus’ call.   Follow me.  “Stop whatever it is you are doing,” Jesus says to us.  “Set aside that which you thought of as ultimate in your lives – and follow me.”  If we are realistic about it all, we see it’s a whole lot tougher to do than it looks on the pages of a book, on our bulletin inserts, or on a beautifully framed matt.

You see, a lot of folks these days think that being a Christian is all about convincing other people to believe what they believe – to think the way they think – or to act the way they act.  One way we see this lived out today is in our politics and our faith.  Those of us who would never think of telling a racial joke, or challenging someone on the basis of their gender, can get pretty hurtful in the way we challenge those whose politics or theology differ from our own. 

We often don’t realize the pain that comes from expecting someone to believe, think or act the same way we do.  Openness to diversity often hits the proverbial wall when that openness challenges that which we hold dear.  It’s true about our reactions to national elections, party platforms, or public policy; and it’s true about theological and political debate in the church as well.  But borrowing a phrase from our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, I’d like to believe that as Christians we have a “deeper call” than a call to be right – we have a call to follow Jesus.  We have a deeper call than the call to win a debate – we have a call to be a part of the family of God.  We have a call to be the Body of Christ – together – in and with all our imperfections – bringing with us all the diversity that comes with being human.

Oh, it’s a lot tougher – a much deeper calling than those two simple words, “follow me,” make it sound.  And any time we engage with others in our communities around us – with so many folks from so many different places in life – we run the chance of being reminded of the depth – and the challenges – of our calling to follow Christ.  And St. Paul saw the same challenges - the challenge to respect one another and treat one another with the love of Christ.  As a fellow theologian puts it, “The way will not always be easy, and we will often have questions, doubts, and reservations. But the same Jesus who calls us will empower us to follow Him day by day” (Br. John Braught, SSJE, Brother, Give Us a Word, 1/17/2017).

So, okay, we know following Jesus is challenging.  We know it looks something like the Great Commandment – loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind; and loving our neighbor like ourselves.  We know following Jesus looks something like our Baptismal Covenant, which most of us renewed just last Sunday.  But we also know that we’re not a bunch of cookie-cutter Christians - that is, we know that one size, beyond the basic boundaries or guidelines of covenant and creed, does not fit all. 

Isaiah, the Psalmist, and Matthew all describe faithfulness to God as a willingness to walk in the light – a willingness to live with an integrity that bears the scrutiny of the light of day and the light of God; and we all know that a key aspect to following Jesus has to do with being faithful to the God who creates us, who loves us, and who lives within us.  But again, what does that look like for each of us? 

We need to each ask ourselves, what does this following of Christ look like for me?  What does following Jesus look like for a bunch of twenty-first century people living a hemisphere and two millennia away from the quaint villages of Galilee and the bustling streets of Jerusalem once walked by Jesus? 

The Gospel gives us a hint when we see what Jesus does.  He goes about teaching – no doubt about the kingdom of God.  Jesus goes about proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom. 

He gets close to God’s people – so close his mission and ministry includes healing the pain and infirmities that are so common among us as human beings.

If we think about teaching, it doesn’t have to be in a Sunday school room or a classroom – though it may well be.  We teach others about what we value most in life by the ways in which we interact and treat others.  Are we kind and patient?  When others watch us, do they pick up on our deeply held values of integrity and respect for one another?  Do the words and tones of voice we use reveal that we care for others – especially those who may differ from us whether that be by religion or race, gender or age, ethnic origins or economic status?   Remember how we say children learn more by watching us than they might by what we tell them?  The same is true for adults when it comes to lessons about our faith!  Are we consistent in living what we say we believe?

           

When Jesus proclaims the Good News of God’s kingdom, he does so in things like sermons, parables, and brief, pithy sayings, most definitely.  But the Good News comes to life in Jesus in and through his everyday actions – in the ways he advocates for those in need whom he encounters, as well as the words he uses to describe how transformational is the love of God.   We can do likewise.  We can also proclaim the kingdom in the very same ways we just noted about teaching.  It goes back to our call as Jesus followers to live as Jesus “be-ers.”  It goes back to being a part of what Presiding Bishop Michael Curry calls “The Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement.” 

The healing ministry Jesus carries out takes many forms in the Gospel accounts of his life – and feeding the body as well as the soul is an intricate part of his faith and witness.  At the end of the day when the resurrected Jesus sits beside Peter on the shore of the lake, he doesn’t ask Peter if he knows the right dress code or the proper way to pray.  Three times Jesus ask Peter, “Do you love me?”  After Peter replies for the third time – perhaps with a bit of frustration showing in his tone of voice, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you!” Jesus doesn’t respond by saying, “Make sure everyone follows the rules,” or, “Make sure they belong to the synagogue.”  Looking at Peter and loving him, Jesus says, “Then feed my sheep.” 

Next Saturday we’ll gather here at St. Paul’s to pack thousands of meals for Stop Hunger Now and when we do so, we will be participants in a global healing ministry.  To feed God’s people strengthens bodies and minds, yes – but to feed God’s people also nourishes their souls.  The meals we package together also carry with them a deep-seated message of love – the kind of love we learn from following Jesus.

Follow me – two of the toughest words in the Christian vocabulary.  Once in a while in spite of our anxieties, our fears and our strongest differences of opinion, we get it right.

Is following Jesus easy?  Nowhere near as easy as we wish it were.  But it is do-able.  “The way will not always be easy, and we will often have questions, doubts, and reservations. But the same Jesus who calls us will empower us to follow Him day by day.”  Amen.

Beloved of God

Epiphany 2A; Isa 49:1-7; Ps 40; John 1:29-42; St. Paul’s 1/15/2017

Jim Melnyk: “Beloved of God and Witnesses to the Light”

The late poet Maya Angelou once wrote, “The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind” (brainyquote.com).  “The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.”  The quote captured my attention on at least a couple of levels.  First of all, it’s about the need for change – a need that each of us knows deeply at many times in our lives.  And secondly, it points to the incredible resistance we human beings all too often have when it comes to change. 

“The need for change,” which I recognize to be real in my life, “bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.”  Bulldozers are huge, fascinating, powerful, machines that can seemingly knock down anything in their way.  The fact that from time to time I might need a bulldozer to crunch its way through the center of my brain speaks to how intransigent I can be at times – no matter what the source of that need for change may be.  Sometimes it’s the only way God can get my attention – the only way God can get our attention.  Rev up the engine, lower the blade, and hit the gas – sometimes it’s the only tool at God’s disposal.

The stories of our faith always have change – or transition – at their heart.  Even when we’re getting it right – when we’re living faithfully as people of God – we are being called to an even deeper relationship of love and trust.  Today’s lessons are all about transition – and what it takes for God to help us find our way through the roadblocks that life – and sometimes even our own minds – put in place to hinder that change.  God’s call is made known in everything from the image of a tiny nation at the crossroads of the Middle East becoming a light to the nations (Isaiah 49), to the promise of God to deliver us from the Pit and place our feet on solid ground (Psalm 40), to the calling of everyday people to leave everything behind and follow Jesus (John 1). 

Sometimes all it takes is God holding us by the hand, which is an image from last week’s lesson from Isaiah – and sometimes it takes a holy bulldozer – to get us going.

Israel knew both approaches from God.  Certainly Assyria and Babylon ploughed through the Northern and Southern Kingdoms like a piece of construction equipment gone amok.  The political and religious leaders of the nation had turned their backs on the Covenant and upon the people.  God tried everything from reasoned arguments, to parental challenges; from sensual love poems to rattling sabers – all to no effect.  It would take the reality of exile to finally capture the attention of the leaders and get them to heed the words of the prophets.

It’s in the midst of exile that Israel begins to understand herself as the Suffering Servant.  And it’s in the middle of exile that she finds God standing by with outstretched hands in the middle of the path that had been bulldozed through the center of her brokenness.  As we would have heard last Sunday if Mother Nature hadn’t intervened, God tells Israel, “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

God calls Israel back to the Covenantal relationship she made with God on Mt. Sinai – a covenant that underscores the commandments to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves – and then promises to make Israel a living witness that will call a whole world to God.

We find that same Covenantal calling whenever we renew our own Baptismal Covenant, as we do today in place of our lost Sunday last week.  And two weeks ago, as we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, we talked about what it means to bear the name “Christian.”  Bearing the name Christian, I said, means we are called to be Jesus Followers – and even more than that – we are called to be Jesus “Be-ers” and Jesus “Doers.”  To bear the name of Christ means we make a conscious decision to be Christ-like – or to at least strive to be Christ-like – even in light of our own human frailties.  It’s simple, ordinary folk, who end up heeding Jesus’ call to follow – people like Andrew and Simon Peter.

And for us it all begins with the baptism of Jesus – the beginning of his public witness - attested to again in today's gospel lesson – and how we are invited to participate in his baptism and in his ministry.  As one author puts it, “In baptism, Christians become one with Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection. We get written into the text, becoming the covenant Isaiah writes of, "given...to the people, a light to the nations…" (Isaiah 42:6-7)” (Kari Jo Verhulst, Sojourners Online: Preaching the Word, 1/8/2017).  In other words, as people who bear the name of Christ, we become people called to proclaim the love of God by word and example in the world around us.

But the Good News is that we are not asked to go about this honored calling all on our own.  As we will remind ourselves shortly in the reaffirmation of our Baptismal Covenant, the reasons why we can even talk about carrying out our calling are two-fold.  First and foremost, we do so with God’s help.  Baptism is a celebration of the Holy Spirit having come upon us and residing within us.  In Baptism we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever.  Through our baptisms we become empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the presence of God in this world.  It is Christ alive and working in us that allows us to engage the world and challenge the world to become a place of compassion and grace for all people.

And secondly, we live into this holy calling to be Christ-like as part of a community of people called to the same work - not just in St. Paul's, or in the Raleigh Convocation, the Diocese of North Carolina, or the State of North Carolina - but called to the same work in the wider world as well.  We are the body of Christ gathered together in this place. We are the body of Christ gathered in the world – and together we can make a difference in this world. Only sometimes we need to get ourselves out of the way to make it happen.  Sometimes we need God to bulldoze a highway through the center of our minds to get our attention, and to get all the junk we tend to store up there out of the way.

In today’s lesson from the Gospel According to John, God speaks to us through the Baptist – offering a word of encouragement and promise to us all: “I saw the Spirit descending [upon Jesus] from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him… here is the lamb of God!”  Last week we heard God proclaim, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  This is the One we follow – and through our witness to God’s love in Christ Jesus, we become a light to the nations as well.

As St. Paul reminds us: through our baptisms we are adopted by God, becoming children of God and heirs of God; and therefore we are joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:15-17).  That means we become God’s beloved as well – we become bearers of the Light.  Whether we’re right on the ball in our particular faith journeys or in need of a holy bulldozer at the moment – either way, we are God’s beloved – we are the Light of Christ – we are living witnesses – called to be Christ in the world.