Christian Unity

Again, this is an "old" sermon -- but I have been having a series of injections into my knee - they seem to be working very well. however.  Think about what it is that we are "in-parished" to do.  Then read this sermon.  Please remember that history and theology are inseparable.  Either without the other will lead -- surely indeed -- in a wrong direction.  This was written in 1998. Comments are always welcomed.  Perren

                              Epiphany 2, Octave of Unity

It is too slight a task for you, as my servant, to restore the tribes of

Jacob, to bring back the survivors of Israel: I shall appoint you a light

to the nations, so that my salvation may reach earth's farthest

bounds.  Isaiah 49:6b

Tomorrow is the Feast of the Confession of St.  Peter, and the

week after that will be the Conversion of St.  Paul.  That

means that Annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins

tomorrow; and so today is my annual sermon on Christian Unity.

An important part of my personal prayer life since I was in High

School has been for the reunion of Christians; and especially during

this specific week, which is now about 100 years old.  If you are not

aware of it, it is the Episcopal Church   in this country   the began

the modern ecumenical movement for Christian Unity.  Its specific

origin is the Chicago Quadrilateral passed by the General Convention

in 1886, and, slightly modified, adopted by the First Lambeth

Conference of Anglican Bishops in 1888.  The American Bishops

wrote: "We do hereby affirm that the Christian unity . . . can be

restored only by the return of all Christian Communions to the

principles of unity exemplified by the undivided Catholic Church

during the first ages of its existence; which principles . . .[are]

incapable of compromise or surrender . . . and [are] essential to the

restoration of unity . . . we count the following: 1.The Holy

Scriptures; 2. The Nicene Creed; 3.  The two Sacraments   Baptism

and the Supper of the Lord; 4.  The Historic Episcopate."  The full

text is in the Book of Common Prayer on page 876,7.  

This  week of prayer grew out of this declaration; and, since the

1890's we have been speaking with the Roman Catholics and the

Orthodox Churches.  We have entered into a common relationship

with the Polish National Catholic Church, the Old Catholic Church,

and a few other very small  independent Catholic Churches.   The

last General Convention, using carefully parsed definitions of key

words, adopted a resolution that would have allowed us to enter into

a long term relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in

America, during which time, we would be supplying them with

Apostolic Orders.  After 30 years, it would be presumed that all

Lutherans would then be ordained by Bishops whom we recognize as

Bishops of Apostolic Succession.  The Lutherans refused to

participate with us, although they did open lines with some of the

other Protestant Churches..  Thus although we have been successful

in unity movements with Catholics, our first attempt to work also

with Protestants failed   but not because of us!

It might be noted that the changes the Episcopal Church has been

making in Baptism since the 1898 Book of Common Prayer have been

part of our fulfilling of our desire for unity.  The directions of the

General Convention to the Prayer Book Revision Committee as it

made ready the current (1979) Book of Common Prayer are also part

of our work toward unity.  The Committee was directed to go back to

the earliest forms and concepts, forms that existed before disunity

began to appear in the Church.  The Committee succeeded.

For us to understand fully about Christian Unity and our part in it, 

we need to note that the reformation in England, by and large, was

not a matter of religion.  What that means is that what Archbishop

Laud laid down his life for, the certainty that the Church of England

was the exact continuation of the medieval Church, and not a new

creation of the 16th century.  The Reformation and the Churches it

created still suffer from the same set of Medieval issues that set it off

in the first place.  The Reformation Churches   including the modern

Roman Catholic Church   still have the same non-Biblical theology

that infected the Medieval Church: 1. You earn your way into the

Kingdom of God; and, 2.  The Church is an association of individuals.

As long as Christians live and act on these two items, there will never

be Christian Unity, either on the national level or even in local

parishes such as our own.  It was Luther who taught that It is Faith

that makes God accept you, for it is by Faith that you are saved.  Even

the modern Roman Catholic Church adopted that idea.  What this

does is to make us think that we are individually members of the

Church, and further, that it is our faith that makes us members of the

Church.  We then act individually, and privately; we pray alone and

ignore the corporate worship of the Church.  This makes the Church as

the Family of God a fiction that does not exist.  Individualism in its

worst form becomes rampant; and further, we   because we are alone

before God   have no sense of vocation.  Our task is to maintain

ourselves "right" before God.  My friends, Biblical Study and the

history of the early Church, will not allow us to live this way.

Faith is not the cause of our relationship with God: the Cause of our

relationship with God is the Faithful love of God.  Faith is the badge,

the sign, that God gives us to tell us that he has brought us into his

very life in the new family of Christ.  And to that family, which is

found in the Body of Christ the Servant, God gives a vocation, a

burning vocation:  I shall appoint you a light to the nations, so that

my salvation may reach earth's farthest bounds.  Anything less than

that, however nice it may be, is not Christian life.  And if I sound

tough about this, I am.  The Gospel will bring good news and good

relationships in all the world: of Jesus did not rise from the dead.  We

are here because we believe that he did rise from the dead.  No matter

what we may have been taught in the past, it is incomplete  if it does

not bring us to corporate worship not only on Sundays, but also on

such others days as we will make the effort to accept the vocation

God has given to us.  While in the context of the failing Christianity

that has existed since the Reformation it sounds good when it is said

that this little parish has Dail Morning Prayer and Daily Eucharist,

this should not be surprising.  This   like the tithe in pledging   is not

a goal to be attained: it is a point for the beginning of real work.

If you believe the things you promised last week when you renewed

your Baptismal Promises, then praying alone in your room by your self

will not be enough; just as coming here to participate in the corporate

worship of the Church is not enough.  The Gospel expects both, not

either.  And there is no one in this room who cannot do something

positive for Christian unity.  But it will not be in pledges, it will not

be in giving money, it will not in "good works", it will not be in study,

it will not be in prayers or worship:  it certainly will not be in concern

with the petty details of parish administration.

If you believe in Christian Unity   and you shouldn't be here if you

don't   then you will immediately start doing things that will help this

parish become a beacon of light for the Gentiles.  You will go and

bring people to worship who cannot make it on their own; you will fill

this Church with the people who claim they belong here, but do not

come. 

We spent much of last years trying to get this parish established on a

framework that will allow it to work for the Gospel.  This year we

need to establish the principle that Worship is the most important

thing a Christian does: that without regular -- week by week --

worship, there is no hope for the success of the Gospel.  What else

you may do, how much money you give, how many hours of volunteer

service here or somewhere else in the name of the parish, how much

study you do: if you do not worship God, all the rest is worthless and

destructive of the mission you have accepted by your Baptismal

Promises.

My brothers and sisters, I beg you to pray hard for Christian unity this

week.  Not just in your private prayers, but here in the Liturgy, in

your Parish Church.  God gave you your faith   for you all have it  

as a badge of your participation in his task for you as his servant:

Listen again to Isaiah:  It is too slight a task for you, as my servant, to

restore the tribes of Jacob (the parish) , to bring back the survivors of Israel

(other Christians): I shall appoint you a light to the nations, so that my

salvation may reach earth's farthest bounds.  Act like Christians!

This sermon originated at St. Mary's Convent in Peekskill NY while I was chaplain for them.  This version was a slightly edited version from my early days at St.. Peter's Lewes, DE.   It takes a slightly different venue from what is usually said -- and for that I am indebted to the late Fr. Raymond Brown, the Roman Catholic New Testament Scholar.  I present it to you; maybe it will assist you with this strange story of the Magi/Wise Men that we so often associate either with the giving of gifts or with the killing of the Holy Innocents.

Perren

Epiphany

There shall come a man out of Israel’s seed . . . I see him, but not now; I see him, but not close; a star shall rise from Jacob and a man shall come forth from Israel.  Num 24:7,17 LXX

Epiphany doesn’t often come on a Sunday, and I wasn’t the preacher the last time it happened – or at least I have no file sermon!  So when Father Jeff asked me to celebrate the mass for him today, and I could find nothing from the past, I hurried to write a new sermon.  It does, however, follow on the series I wrote on the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke during Advent, Christmass and the two Sundays following.  I preached the Second Sunday after Christmass sermon for you last summer, on the finding of Jesus in the Temple and his going home and being obedient to his parents – even though he was of an age to begin a family.  You may recall I suggested using the word cherish as a substitute for obey wherever it appears in scripture.

Those of you who have been exposed to the Advent sermons have heard me say that it is utterly impossible to integrate the nativity stories of Luke and Matthew.  Each author had his own audience and his own purpose in writing his own story.  And the stories, we must always remember, are not history: they are the presentation of the Gospel to the audience for whom the author was writing.  We might, today, call such writings theological explanations of the Good News.

Matthew’s is a very carefully produced document that relies on the Jewish Scriptures (though not necessarily in Hebrew – the Septuagint was more widely known.)  His gospel begins with the genealogy of Joseph, who is a just man, a term used in Scripture only of Noah – from whom all humans are descended; Noah, the new source of God’s life in God’s world.  Joseph, like an earlier Joseph, learns from God through his dreams. This child that Mary is carrying, conceived through the Holy Spirit, is the Davidic messiah: although this depends on Joseph’s adoption of Jesus as his own child.  And Joseph, like Joseph of old, dreams and learns from הוהי God , and then brings his family into Egypt thus escaping an attempt on his life.

And it is amazing to us to realize that Jesus’ escape from Herod is remarkably similar to the story of Moses’ escape from Pharaoh.  But when we look at the parabiblical documents that existed at the time of the birth of Jesus, we see how they had been expanded to include that Pharaoh had been forewarned that a child was to be born who was a threat to his crown.  So he decided to kill all the male Hebrew children.  At the same time, these same documents show, the father of Moses had a dream that warned him that his already pregnant wife was to bear a child who would save Israel – this child would escape Pharaoh’s massacre.  The parents acted to save the life of Moses – and later on in his life Moses returned to his people from his flight to Sinai when he heard from הוהי God that “All those seeking your life are dead.” – Matthew exactly quotes Exodus so that his readers/hearers will know exactly what he is saying to them.

Then Matthew continues his analogy with the matter of the Magi and the star – a further account of Moses we often fail to associate with the nativity/salvation.  Matthew combines this account about Moses with the picture of a Messiah descended from David– and Matthew had prepared us for this with his very first words:  “The genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David.”

This is the passage in Numbers, involving Balaam.  You remember: Moses was leading the People of God through Transjordan to the Promised Land.  He encountered a wicked king who, like pharaoh was determined to kill him.  It was Balak, the king of Moab – and he summoned a famous seer from the east, a man named Balaam.  Balaam was a practicer of the occult, an enchanter, one who in Jesus time would be called a magus.  Balaam came with his two servants, but refused to curse Moses and Israel.  “There shall come a man out of Israel’s seed . . . I see him, but not now; I see him, but not close; a star shall rise from Jacob and a man shall come forth from Israel.”  At the time of Jesus, the expanded stories indicated that David was the star that would arise.  And arise he did, in the savior, Jesus.  Note that in Matthew’s story that not only did Herod  act like the pharaoh of old by killing all the Hebrew male children, but he tried to do so by using a magus  from the east.  Balaam saw the star of David rise; and so also Matthew’s magi saw the star of the king of the Jews at its rising – a better translation than “in the east.”  In this series of Old Testament allusions, Matthew has proclaimed the entire story of salvation.  The magi and the star tell the story of salvation: a story presented to both Jews and Gentiles; a story with a double response of both acceptance and rejection.  Matthew, after all, knows about the resurrection.

Matthew is writing to a church that is primarily gentile now, even though his special audience is heavily Jewish in their understanding of scripture.  The faith that must be involved comes to all, including the gentiles, through the very fact of nature itself.  (Paul reflects this in Romans.)  And so it is, Matthew shows, that it is the Gentiles (magi) who can interpret the signs of astrology, and respond with faith.  The birth star brings them the good news of salvation; but it is incomplete.  They must go and seek the truth from the source.  The gentiles, says Matthew, can perceive God through nature, but the full meaning comes through the Jewish scriptures.  They can worship, but they need the Scriptures to explain it all to them.  The scriptures give them the answer, as the priests tell them where to find the Messiah.  But, paradoxically as Matthew points out, those who have the benefit of the scriptures and are able to read where the Messiah will be, not only fail to worship – they actually conspire to destroy him, and the wicked king decrees his death.  But God spares his son, and ultimately brings him back from another country.

Now, you see, these Old Testament stories of Joseph, Moses and Balaam have been woven into a new fabric of the passion and resurrection of Jesus.  The same people are present: the secular ruler, the chief priests, scribes – all are aligned against Jesus who has only God on his side.  But God is victorious, because he brings Jesus back.  Note: those who have the scriptures reject Jesus; but the gentiles come, and with the help of scripture, find and adore him.

Matthew is presenting to us the revelation of God.  God has made himself present with us – Emmanuel – and he did so in the life of the one whose story comes next in Matthew’s writings.  Indeed, Matthew says, when you read the story that follows, you will know that God is present in this Jesus; indeed he is so present that Jesus is the Son of God.  This message is offensive to some, but to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, he is salvation in fact.  Thus, you see, the Magi for Matthew, are the forerunners of those who respond to the preaching of the apostles as they proclaim the resurrection of Jesus.

Just as Balaam said “I see him, but not now; . . . a star shall rise from Jacob and a man shall come forth from Israel,” so also the magi in Matthew’s story see the star of the King of the Jews at its rising; they also see, but not now, the Jesus whose kingship will not be visible in history until he hangs on the cross – beneath the title “The King of the Jews.”

Inbox (286) - kypieeleison@gmail.com - Gmail

Althnough this sermon was preached in Year B, it is the end of the Prologue to St. John's Gospel, and so is approp[riate for every First Sunday after Christmass.  Merry Christmass! Happy New Year!  Perren



The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The Torah was the center piece of Jewish religion.  Torah means “teaching,” but Greek version of the Old Testament translated Torah with the word “Nomos” which is the usual Greek word for law.  And so for nearly 2500 years it has been referred to as “The Law.”

The Law, (or Teaching), given by Moses, contained all the rules needed to make it possible for people to live together in peace with their God and with each other.  If only each person would obey the rules, all would be perfect, and peace would prevail all over the earth.  The punishments - as they saw it - of the Jewish people came from the fact that they did not obey the law, either by deliberate action or by accidental misstep.  If only they would obey the Law, life would be fine and perfect.  Obeying the law defined the People of God.

But in any case, they looked to the Law to save them.

To save them from what?  What was the problem that they faced?  Why did they find a need for a Law?  What were they trying to accomplish?  The answer, in part, lies in the Epistle to the Galatians.  Underneath all the legal language Paul uses there, particularly in the 3rd chapter, there are at least two important things: First, our relationship with God is messed up, and needs to be restored.  Because of this fact, our relationship with each other is also messed up.   These two things, relationship with God and relationship with each other are fundamental to living together with peace and justice on the earth, here and now.  The Law can point you in the right direction, says Paul, but the Law cannot restore the relationships.

Yet not only the ancient Jew, but people in every time and in every age, have tried to make law, or some other icon, and use it in order to take away from us the responsibility that is of the very nature of the creation itself.

Again and again we search for, and hope for, something external to ourselves that will remove from us the responsibility of making decisions about our relationships.  One of the great disappointments of those of us who worked in the Civil Rights movements in the 60's is that the passage of laws giving legal status to equal rights for all people (not just black and white) - one of the disappointments is that even where the laws are obeyed, it is often done with a precision that requires an extra piece on the law.  Instead of treating all people with the same respect and honor that we would expect for our selves, many people see how far they have to go to be obedient to the law, and then not go any farther.  Others actively study the law to see what they can get away with legally.  And while this is a great curse on our society in the matter of civil rights for all kinds and groups of people, this attempt to obey the law just enough to avoid getting indicted, it is equally true in other areas of our life.  Without meaning to offend anyone who is trying to do the right thing, one of the duties of tax attorneys is to find what are improperly called loopholes in the law; the same is true of anti trust, and securities.  Now I hope you see the real problem with obedience to the law.  It has no heart; no generousity, no love.

The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John, or whoever is the author of the Fourth Gospel, tells us that Law is not sufficient, because it takes away from us our own responsibility; it removes us from the essential nature of Creation; it keeps us from Truth.  When you look at the Greek of this passage, you will see that indeed the law was given through Moses - was given, is the verb.  But the next part of the sentence is quite different: Grace and truth. The word for grace is χαρις, the basis of the word for self giving love, or, as the Revised Standard translates the word, steadfast love.  And the word for come is the verb to be born: thus another translation might well be, “but love and truth are born in Jesus Christ.”  It all reads, then, The Law was given through Moses, but love and truth are born in Jesus Christ.

Some of you may have heard of the late Dr. W. Edmonds Demming.  General MacArthur brought Demming to Japan after World War 2 to teach the Japanese how to develop their economy.   Many people are not aware that Dr. Demming was not only an Episcopalian, but a very active and devout member of St. Paul’s Parish K Street in Washington.  Dr. Demming clearly understood what the Evangelist is talking about here.  In fact,  he made it the basis of his managerial instructions to businesses all over the world, especially in Japan. Individual responsibility and personal commitment are fundamental to successful businesses, to successful manufacturing, and to fundamental living together.  The Fourth Gospel teaches us that: Dr. Demming teaches us that.  People are not cogs in a machine.  Each is a fully independent person, each with his or her own individual responsibility for excellence each step of the way.  People and businesses and schools that work this way will be successful.  Why? Because this is of the very essence of the universe that God has created.

Love and Truth are born through Jesus Christ.  Listen to St. Paul:  “When God gives you the Spirit and works miracles among you, is it because you keep the law?  Or is it because you have faith in the Gospel message?.”

You see, it is not in some external thing that salvation can be found; it is not in the Law given through Moses; not even in law given through the Church or religious rules; Salvation is found  in the Love and Truth born in the person of Jesus Christ.  Again, St. Paul: It is through faith that you are all children of God in union with Christ Jesus; baptized into oneness with him, you have all put on Christ Jesus like a garment: there is no such thing as Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and female: you are all one person in Jesus Christ.  Love and Truth are in Jesus Christ, and it is in our humanity that God came to show us this fundamental truth of nature.  See how important the translation used in the Liturgy really is.

God’s love is so great that he not only became one of us, but even then he asked our cooperation, not only with the fact of the incarnation itself (Mary could have said “No thanks.”), but at each stage along the way, God asks our cooperation. For love and truth are born of the person of Jesus Christ.

Listen to the words of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, who died in 389: “Christ is born: glorify him.
Christ comes from heaven, go out to meet him.
Christ descends to earth: let us be raised on high.
Let all the world sing to the Lord; let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad, for his sake who was first in heaven and then on earth. . .  The things of old have passed away; behold, all things are made new.
He who has no mother in heaven is now born without father on earth. The laws of nature are overthrown, for the upper world must be filled with citizens.  He who is without flesh becomes enfleshed; the Word puts on a Body; the Invisible is seen; he whom no hand can touch is handled; the Timeless has a beginning; the Son of God becomes the Son of Man– Jesus Christ, the same yesterday today and forever. . .  O strange conjunction!  The Selfexistent comes into existence; the Uncreated is created.  He shares in the poverty of my flesh, that I may share in the riches of his God head.

My sisters [and brothers] God asks your cooperation:– go from this place filled with his love and truth; through you let truth and love be born into that place where God has placed you as witness to the new life of Resurrection; for it is Resurrection Life that is born into the world –

through Jesus

through you!

This sermon is for the First Sunday after Christmass.  Although this one was preached in Year B, it it also appropriate for Year A -- this year.  After all, it IS the concluding part of the Prologue to the Gospel according to John.  Marry Christmass/ Happy New Year. Perren

The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The Torah was the center piece of Jewish religion.  Torah means “teaching,” but Greek version of the Old Testament translated Torah with the word “Nomos” which is the usual Greek word for law.  And so for nearly 2500 years it has been referred to as “The Law.”  

The Law, (or Teaching), given by Moses, contained all the rules needed to make it possible for people to live together in peace with their God and with each other.  If only each person would obey the rules, all would be perfect, and peace would prevail all over the earth.  The punishments - as they saw it - of the Jewish people came from the fact that they did not obey the law, either by deliberate action or by accidental misstep.  If only they would obey the Law, life would be fine and perfect.  Obeying the law defined the People of God. 

But in any case, they looked to the Law to save them.

To save them from what?  What was the problem that they faced?  Why did they find a need for a Law?  What were they trying to accomplish?  The answer, in part, lies in the Epistle to the Galatians.  Underneath all the legal language Paul uses there, particularly in the 3rd chapter, there are at least two important things: First, our relationship with God is messed up, and needs to be restored.  Because of this fact, our relationship with each other is also messed up.   These two things, relationship with God and relationship with each other are fundamental to living together with peace and justice on the earth, here and now.  The Law can point you in the right direction, says Paul, but the Law cannot restore the relationships.

Yet not only the ancient Jew, but people in every time and in every age, have tried to make law, or some other icon, and use it in order to take away from us the responsibility that is of the very nature of the creation itself.  

Again and again we search for, and hope for, something external to ourselves that will remove from us the responsibility of making decisions about our relationships.  One of the great disappointments of those of us who worked in the Civil Rights movements in the 60's is that the passage of laws giving legal status to equal rights for all people (not just black and white) - one of the disappointments is that even where the laws are obeyed, it is often done with a precision that requires an extra piece on the law.  Instead of treating all people with the same respect and honor that we would expect for our selves, many people see how far they have to go to be obedient to the law, and then not go any farther.  Others actively study the law to see what they can get away with legally.  And while this is a great curse on our society in the matter of civil rights for all kinds and groups of people, this attempt to obey the law just enough to avoid getting indicted, it is equally true in other areas of our life.  Without meaning to offend anyone who is trying to do the right thing, one of the duties of tax attorneys is to find what are improperly called loopholes in the law; the same is true of anti trust, and securities.  Now I hope you see the real problem with obedience to the law.  It has no heart; no generousity, no love. 

The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John, or whoever is the author of the Fourth Gospel, tells us that Law is not sufficient, because it takes away from us our own responsibility; it removes us from the essential nature of Creation; it keeps us from Truth.  When you look at the Greek of this passage, you will see that indeed the law was given through Moses - was given, is the verb.  But the next part of the sentence is quite different: Grace and truth. The word for grace is χαρις, the basis of the word for self giving love, or, as the Revised Standard translates the word, steadfast love.  And the word for come is the verb to be born: thus another translation might well be, “but love and truth are born in Jesus Christ.”  It all reads, then, The Law was given through Moses, but love and truth are born in Jesus Christ.

Some of you may have heard of the late Dr. W. Edmonds Demming.  General MacArthur brought Demming to Japan after World War 2 to teach the Japanese how to develop their economy.   Many people are not aware that Dr. Demming was not only an Episcopalian, but a very active and devout member of St. Paul’s Parish K Street in Washington.  Dr. Demming clearly understood what the Evangelist is talking about here.  In fact,  he made it the basis of his managerial instructions to businesses all over the world, especially in Japan. Individual responsibility and personal commitment are fundamental to successful businesses, to successful manufacturing, and to fundamental living together.  The Fourth Gospel teaches us that: Dr. Demming teaches us that.  People are not cogs in a machine.  Each is a fully independent person, each with his or her own individual responsibility for excellence each step of the way.  People and businesses and schools that work this way will be successful.  Why? Because this is of the very essence of the universe that God has created.  

Love and Truth are born through Jesus Christ.  Listen to St. Paul:  “When God gives you the Spirit and works miracles among you, is it because you keep the law?  Or is it because you have faith in the Gospel message?.”

You see, it is not in some external thing that salvation can be found; it is not in the Law given through Moses; not even in law given through the Church or religious rules; Salvation is found  in the Love and Truth born in the person of Jesus Christ.  Again, St. Paul: It is through faith that you are all children of God in union with Christ Jesus; baptized into oneness with him, you have all put on Christ Jesus like a garment: there is no such thing as Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and female: you are all one person in Jesus Christ.  Love and Truth are in Jesus Christ, and it is in our humanity that God came to show us this fundamental truth of nature.  See how important the translation used in the Liturgy really is.

God’s love is so great that he not only became one of us, but even then he asked our cooperation, not only with the fact of the incarnation itself (Mary could have said “No thanks.”), but at each stage along the way, God asks our cooperation. For love and truth are born of the person of Jesus Christ.

Listen to the words of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, who died in 389: “Christ is born: glorify him.  

Christ comes from heaven, go out to meet him. 

Christ descends to earth: let us be raised on high.  

Let all the world sing to the Lord; let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad, for his sake who was first in heaven and then on earth. . .  The things of old have passed away; behold, all things are made new.  

He who has no mother in heaven is now born without father on earth. The laws of nature are overthrown, for the upper world must be filled with citizens.  He who is without flesh becomes enfleshed; the Word puts on a Body; the Invisible is seen; he whom no hand can touch is handled; the Timeless has a beginning; the Son of God becomes the Son of Man– Jesus Christ, the same yesterday today and forever. . .  O strange conjunction!  The Selfexistent comes into existence; the Uncreated is created.  He shares in the poverty of my flesh, that I may share in the riches of his God head.

My sisters [and brothers] God asks your cooperation:– go from this place filled with his love and truth; through you let truth and love be born into that place where God has placed you as witness to the new life of Resurrection; for it is Resurrection Life that is born into the world – 

through Jesus 

through you!

Christmass Midnight Mass

This sermon originated at the Convent of St, Mary in Peekskill, and has been updated twice since.  It is still pertinent, I think.  Merry Christmass!

Christmas Day, Mass of Midnight

The ox knows its owner; the donkey knows where his next meal is.  Isaiah 1:2

When General Convention decided to produce the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, it instructed the Commission, it said (in  my interpretation)  that they were to reconstruct the theology on which th Prayer Book was based.  The first American Prayer Book was already the Scottish revision of the Puritan dominated English book of 1662; our American Book was revised in 1892 and took advantage of the beginning of modern Biblical and historical studies – it began a process that continued with the 1928 Prayer Book that emphasized “Incarnation.” The “humanness” of Jesus; the fact that a real  human being was born in Bethlehem, and that through that human being, humans were redeemed and brought into the very nature of God.  It was this teaching that allowed the midnight mass of Christmass to outshine all other Christian celebration of Christmass.  But the 1979 Commission was “instructed” to return to the “earliest” theology of the Church – the theology of “resurrection.”  (You know, “Easter” we call it.)  And so they did;  generally speaking though, little attention was paid to this massive change.  (Just one more step before I move into today.)  Important as Incarnation is to our religion, it has zero meaning without Resurrection/New-Life/Creation theology.

We are here NOT because of the oxen, the donkey, the angels and the new born babe in swaddling clothing, the Virgin Mary, and the rest of the beautiful picture.  You know, none of that has the slightest bit of importance without the Resurrection.  There were more than 100 people who had claimed to be ‘messiah’ during the time of Jesus, and, except for their execution, they made no mark in the history of the world.

My friends, we are here, because Jesus was raised from the dead.
We are here because Jesus is a new act of creation, a new burst of the primal energy that my generation was beginning to learn to call “The Big Bang.”  (A Roman Catholic priest invented the term at the end of the 1920s.)  “Big Bang” was accepted as a term to explain what modern math and science of the time could not explain.

In fact, science STILL cannot explain it – in spite of math, mirrors telescopes, radio and other electronic waves.  Stephen Hawking taught that even with all our scientific tools, we could explain and even diagram the actual beginning of the Great Universe in which we all live – but only so far.  This huge expanding universe in which we live commenced from a dot so tiny that it had no measurements that we can determine with our math and quantum physics.  We can get close, he said, but no closer than 10 to minus 1 with an excess of 40 places.  He said that the laws of nature, as described by Isaac Newton’s studies are limited, and that we probably will never get closer than that to the moment of origin of the Universe.

(By the way, Isaac Newton was a member of the Church of England, the mother of the Episcopal Church, as also was Charles Darwin.)

Even though we really don’t know about that exact moment of the beginning of the universe, yet we have a story that we all learn and believe.  It tells of how this tiny spot exploded, creating gasses that instantly began moving away from that spot outward into nothingness.  It has been doing that for some 16 billion years – still moving into nothingness!  This is the eternal human attempt to explain who we are, how we got here and what we are supposed to do.  The fact is, though, that we cannot, through the use of what we know to this point in history, really understand it.

We kill each other, both literally and verbally; we accumulate bits and pieces of the debris from the original big bang, and think we have something of value; we try to force others to think and act as we do, and shower them with contempt or worse; we allow children to have less than the best tools to learn about life; we allow many to starve to death, as we heap our own plate high; we sleep in our comfortable beds as we allow others of our brothers and sisters to sleep under the shadow of the steps at the back entrance into the International Monetary Bank.

My friends, we come here to this place, week after week, month after month, year after year, because we believe that there is more meaning to all these scientific calculations.  And so we retell our story here, each year, at the time of solstice, in the deepness of dark.  We add our faith to the faith of the scientists; we tell the same story – exactly.  But we see hope – a better ending.  Yes,
“In the beginning of God’s creation, God created all you see, all you don’t see. . .
God spoke: “Light”
And light appeared. . . .
God created human beings,
he made them godlike
reflecting God’s nature
he created them male and female.. . .
God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good!

And, trusting in the work of Creation, God directed humans to examine the universe, and use it to bring joy, peace, justice into creation – infusing them and it with the love that brought it all into reality.  And it doesn’t come about like magic – it comes about with the intertwining of all humans – each with his or her contribution to make toward the whole.  Thus does Creation move to a fulfillment none of us can really understand.  But we can tell about it in poetry.  Listen:--

The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
     God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.

Everything was created through him;
nothing – not one thing –
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was the light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.

There once was a man, his name was John, sent by God to point out the way to Life-Light.  He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in.  John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering life,
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves
These are the God-begotten,
not the blood-begotten,
not flesh begotten,
not sex begotten.

The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into [our own] neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out
true from start to finish.  (The Message translation)

But, you see, redemption was shown by the life , death and resurrection of Jesus.  That event made it clear that the order of nature as God created it was in charge of things.  We humans are not the subjects of God, bound by some law to obey him.  No, we are partners with God in bringing the creation – in those places  where we are in touch with it – into its fullest function, its fullest being.  That’s why God the Word – or God the Communicator – moved into our neighborhood.  He lives among his partners and he assists us in carrying out our share in the completion of the NEW CREATION.

THAT”S why we care about the ox and the donkey and the manger and the baby-son-of-Mary.  For that baby-son-of-Mary is in totally real fact, you and me.  We are here, because, if you will, because of the Great Vigil of Easter.  When Jesus died in triumph on the Cross and went to bring the Light to those who had gone before, he did it to show that all who have faith in the great Creator God are EQUALLY the children of God.  (I didn’t make this up; there is nothing new in what I say – you can read all about it in Paul’s writings, especially Romans and First Corinthians.)

You see, the manger is here – this table. [point at it]
The food and drink are from the old creation.
The newly born surround it and feast on the heavenly food.
And we, the new born in Jesus, are  like the ox and the donkey,
for we know without any doubt that HERE is the meaning of Creation.
And it takes both our faith and the faith of the scientists and mathematicians to help us understand all this.

But when all is said and done,
the Word was made flesh and joins us here.
And as we struggle in our swaddling clothes,
the angels come right here, into this very place.
And they sing -- Oh! they sing --
Glory to God in the highest,
and
peace to all of good will.      

Merry Christmass

This is the second sermon in Advent for Year A.  This sermon was preached at St. Thoms Parish, Croom (Diocese of Washington (DC)) in 1998.  Perren


Advent 2, 1998, Series, Croom, A
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

Last week we began this series of Advent Sermons with a discussion of Creation.  If one does not understand the Biblical concept of Creation, the one cannot understand the Biblical concept of sin.  These two things are so intertwined, that it is difficult to separate them: if indeed they should be separated.  Let me try to clarify somewhat.

Whether you believe that the universe was created in a literal six days or you accept the current theory of the “big bang” and a gradual evolution is not a valid issue when discussing the Bible teaching about creation.  The Bible is concerned to make it clear that however it was created, it was created by God and by God  alone, and creation was created by God alone, from nothing apart from God.  When we understand that fact, then we will see that everything that is created, everything that exists or that can exist, in fact flows from the very essence of God.  Because everything that exists flows from the essence of God, that same everything participates in the nature of God; and because it participates in the nature of God, it shares in the underlying spirituality which God is.  Thus, everything that exists is of God, is good, and shares in the purpose or will of God.  To live in terms of reality means to live in terms of this fact about God and creation.  And, in fact, all of Creation – with one outstanding exception – lives automatically in terms of reality.  Plants, animals, land- and sea- scape, planets, galaxies; electrical charges: all of these things do the will of God, because they do exactly what they were made to do: they cannot do other.
To the best of our current knowledge, only human beings have an option.  The Bible tells this in the story of the Man and his Wife in the Garden of Eden.  (Again, whether you see them as actual people or as part of a story that explains a truth, is not important.)  This story tells us about sin.  And the way it tells about sin is to show that sin means living out of touch with reality – separated from God.

God made all creation – the Garden – and created humans to be the administrators, the stewards, the caretakers, of the creation.  Humans were to be able to do this because they reflected God himself; they were God’s own image, so to speak.  Among the great multitude of things that means, is that humans can see God’s purpose, and live in accord with that purpose.  But if the image of God is complete, it also includes freedom.  In a perfect love relationship, each does the will, or shares the life of, the other by actual free choice.  That is the meaning of the command not to eat the fruit of the tree in the midst of the Garden.  God intends humans to love just as God loves: a continual outpouring of love – the essence of life: for, remember, God is love.

But humans are able to choose what they do.  Humans don’t do things automatically; as a seed, when watered and placed in the sun, grows automatically.  And the story tells us that humans, when allowed this freedom, this choice, humans can and often do, choose to place self in that place in their relationship to reality where God belongs.  And when humans replace God with their own will, what they have done is to move away from reality: they have separated themselves from God.   Thus sin is living outside the realm of reality; sin is separation from God; sin is placing self where God belongs in life.  It is as simple – and as complex – as that.

Life apart from God is as painful as being hungry; it is as distressful as being thirsty; it makes one a stranger among your own; it makes one blind to creation;  it makes one unable to hear the truth; it places one in prison; it makes one naked, exposing foolishness for all to see.  Above all, sin makes one assume God’s greatest prerogative: sin makes humans presume to judge the motives and actions of others.  Sin is the root of all broken relationships; sin is the root of all harm; sin is the root of whatever places humans against each other or against creation; sin is so powerful that it can convince one that sin is not involved in any painful situation.

When you see this Bible approach to sin, you will see that sin is NOT a list of wrong actions.  Sin is an attitude of mind; sin is the real motivation behind any action or event in our life.  It is NOT what you do so much as it is WHY you do it.

It is in this matter that we Anglicans are very different in our approach than Roman Catholics and the Reformation Churches.  Often you have heard of “Mortal Sin” and “Venial Sin.”  You have heard it said that “such and such” is a sin.  Actually, that is NOT the case.  The thing “done or not done” is not in itself sin – what is sin, is the motive.  When you don’t sin because it’s on a list; or when you confess a sin that is chosen from a list; someone else has made your decision for you: - your are one step back from personal responsibility.  Not so with Anglicans.   We speak of “Sins of Malice,” not Mortal Sins; we speak of “Sins of Infirmity,” not Venial sins.  “Malice” means deliberate personal choice; “infirmity” means a weakness in resolve.  The only sin that is unforgivable is the Sin against the Holy Spirit: that is  the sin that says “I have done nothing wrong:- it is all the other party’s fault.”

In essence, sin is the failure to use our minds to interpret our perceptions of God’s world.  We allow our feelings or emotions to overrun our wisdom.  We make all our judgments based on our own perceptions.
Repent/change your ways: the kingdom of God has come near.

This is the first of a series of Advent Sermons I preached in Year A, 1998.  I present it to you for critique and/or other comments.  I had just become Rector of a parish for the first time in 25 years; although I had been in charge of Missions or troubled parishes for about 15 of those years.  The Bible translation is The Revised English Bible.

Perren


Advent I, 1998, Series, Croom
In the beginning, God created. . .  (Genesis 1:1)

Being left-brained and literal – male in other words – I have always had trouble with subtlety in general, and poetry in particular.  I’m uncomfortable with ambiguity.  If I’m not “getting” what someone else is “getting,” is anybody “getting” anything?’  So begins an article in a magazine dedicated to success and power that came my way recently.  It occurred to me that this also applies in the field of religion, that is,  the field of living meaningfully.

We live in a nation, a society, a culture, which is perhaps the most left-brained, the most literal, the least subtle – or most unsubtle – nation, society or culture that ever existed.  According to the people who study these things, our brains are made up of two parts.  One, the left side, deals primarily with logic, math, precision, organization.  The right side deals primarily with art, colors, gestalt or intuition, subtlety poetry. Each of us is, in fact, a combination of the two parts: but still, the vast majority of us has the left side far more predominant in the way we understand and relate to the world around us.  And it is precisely this fact that has made us the nation, society and culture we are.

Now don’t misread me; I am not condemning this; I am not complaining about this; I am not wishing that things were different.  It is this left brain emphasis that has enabled us to produce all the wonderful things that we have to make our society so pleasant to live in: microwaves, TVs, radio, bumper food crops, tall buildings, space stations and all the rest.  

But I am absolutely convinced that religion is primarily a right brain function.  Yet, because we most often approach religion with a left-brain dominated mind, we miss much, if not most, of what religion has to offer us.  And that is unfortunate, because most of what religion has to offer us is what our nation, our society and our culture really needs.  We need to understand about power, about selfishness, about relationships with others and with the world in which we live.  Our left-brain orientation tells us we need something, but we are often mystified about where to begin.  That is why I have chosen to use the sermon time this Advent to speak about four absolute essentials: Creation; Sin; Judgement; Redemption.  If we do not have some insight into the meaning of these four things – Creation; Sin; Judgement; Redemption – we will miss the meaning of Christmass; we will not understand our Liturgy; we will find spirituality incomprehensible; we will relate to others and to the world around us on a basis of law and/or materialism.  Our religion will then become what left-brain orientation is best at: formalizing, stereotyping, standardizing, atomizing, studying, compartmentalizing.

The religion of the Book of Common Prayer, the religion of the Episcopal Church, the religion of the Bible: these do not conform to any left-brain concept.  True religion and undefiled (to quote the Epistle of James) begins with what is unknowable to the left-brain.  True religion tries to give us an understanding of those things that the left-brain finds unknowable: things we cannot see, hear, smell, touch, or taste.  Yet, the right-brain insists, these things are just as real, just as knowable, just as important as are left-brain perceptions. Indeed, since we each have both parts to our brain, if we are to be whole, healthy, realistic people; there must be a balance between the parts: the two parts must work together to provide us with a balanced life.  That is why, a week or so ago, we mentioned the four things that are distinctive of the Episcopal Church: Bible, Ministry, Creeds, Sacraments.  Bible and Sacraments are right brain functions;  Ministry and Creeds are left brain functions.  Together, they provide a balanced Christian.

The Bible provides us with the results of centuries of right brain contemplation of reality.  The Bible begins with these words: “In the beginning, God created. . . “ Reality, the world, the universe, clearly was not made by humans, even though humans seems to be the most intelligent or intellectual or creative beings in reality; nor was it made from anything; there must have been a time when it did not exist; who, or what ever made it, must exist separately from perceptible reality.  That Creative Being, or Energy, we call by the name “God.”  Who, or what God truly is we cannot comprehend.  It is no accident, however, that the Hebrews gave God the name “Yahweh”: it is a form of the verb “to be”, and can be translated as “Reality.”  But we can come to know and appreciate this God by the examination of “Reality”, the universe, the world,  in which we live.

Do we make God in our image?  Only if we see God from the left!  If we look from the right, we will see that our ability to create, develop and manufacture and rationalize, are all reflections from the Reality who made us.  We ‘image’ or ‘mirror’ the Creator.  As wonderful and marvelous as are the incredible accomplishments that have come to humans because of this examination of Reality, we still cannot make anything from nothing.   We are not origin/creative; we are only pro/creative.  All Reality exists to work together for the furthering of whatever prompted God to make it (directly or indirectly) in the first place; as such it has a good purpose; known to God.    Clearly that means we are caretakers, stewards, of Reality.  We are not owners; we are servants, slaves, stewards, employees.  We must start there: God, not we, made everything; God made it all good; for a purpose; our greatest fullilment comes from living in accord with this view, and saying “Thank you.”