Walter Hobgood
ArchivedSermons
Sermon on Sunday, August 30, 2009
“For now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come; and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. The fig tree put forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance.”
As I listened to the first reading today, a beautiful song from Solomon’s Song of Songs, I could not help but remember my childhood years.
It reminds me of the change of seasons, coming out of the gray of winter and into the freshness of spring time. Beautiful wild flowers, budding trees, crops (corn, cotton and soybeans) sprouting out of the ground. There are new born calves and colts, just learning how to walk and playing in the pastures. It is a time of life and renewal of life.
It also brings back memories of attending St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. A small church built in 1848 facing the mighty Mississippi River and with a beautifully landscaped and well maintained cemetery with gravesites for generations of families dating back to the 1830’s. With windows opened during the spring time, we could smell the jasmine and honeysuckle fresh in the air so powerful that whenever I smell them today, images of the Sunday church services of my child hood come rushing back.
One cannot experience these things, these memories, and these traditions, without knowing and seeing and experiencing God in your life. All of these memories and the ones we are making today, as we heard in the Epistle from James, are gifts from God. From a God that does not change, that is a constant in our lives. Perhaps the only thing in our lives that will not and does not change. And this can be very comforting.
However, while God does not change, the world around us does change. And the prospect of change can make us uncomfortable. Have you ever noticed that on your journey through life, God calls you to be a part of His ministry and this often means change? Think of how many times in scripture, Jesus asked his disciples to do things they did not understand or were outside of life’s experiences. God does the same thing in our lives.
The lessons today speak of the role of God in our lives. That all things come from God and how easy it is for us to forget this.
A few weeks ago, I spoke about the fact that God made Humans in God’s likeness. And how, sometimes in our humanness we tend to get this reversed.
Think with me for a moment.
· How often do we get angry with others?
· How often do we think, “I am right” and of course those other people are wrong?
· How often do we hear a sermon and think “I agree with that.” Or “I support that”. Yet if we were to take a hard look at what we do, our actions would say that we don’t really do what we say we believe.
While this may not be exactly what James is telling us in the Epistle, he is saying: “Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.” And he goes on further to say, “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers that deceive themselves.”
Is this an example of God calling us to do more than come to church on Sunday? We know that being a Christian is much more than just going to church on Sunday.
James goes on to say: “If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.
In our human nature, we have a tendency to judge others by our standards, by our traditions, by the norms of our culture. In doing so, we are in essence saying that my standards, my traditions, and the norms of my culture are “right” or ‘better than yours”.
We see in the reading from Mark today, Jesus being confronted by the Pharisees and some of the scribes. They were questioning why Jesus and some of his followers were not following the strict rules of cleanliness. While I am not going to argue against washing one’s hand before eating, for they ate with their hands, just as they still do in many parts of the world, or against washing the pots and pans before and after cooking. These are common sense things to do. I don’t know about you, but my Mama taught me to wash my hands before eating and she also taught me how to wash the pots and pans. But that isn’t the point of this reading.
In Jesus’ response he says to them: “You have abandoned the commandments of God and hold to human tradition”. In other words, our focus should be on our relationship with God while following his commandments, rather than on the rules and traditions created by man.
And the world has not changed much. We see similar situations playing out almost daily in the world around us. We see it between opposing political parties, between opposing religious beliefs, between opposing denominations, between the right and the left within the same denominations. And often times, each side is so busy “talking” about or criticizing or judging those holding an opposing view that they cannot or will not listen. This brings me back to the Epistle reading. Have we become a culture that is slow to listen instead of quick to listen, quick to speak instead of slow to speak and quick to anger instead of slow to anger?
Now, I am not saying that tradition is not important, it is, particularly in our Anglo-Catholic Episcopal Church, but we need to put it in the proper perspective. And I think this is what Jesus was saying in the Gospel reading today. If my traditions are different from yours, it does not make one of us wrong. It simply means that they are different.
Let me give you an example: Back in the late 1970’s, the Episcopal Church was in the process of introducing the “new” Book of Common Prayer. For those of you that are old enough to remember, this was controversial; and for some, it is still controversial. For some, there were theological issues, but for most of us (myself included), the language and liturgy that we had grown up with had changed. Our traditional liturgy had been messed with!
Today, many of you have no knowledge of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer or the old prayer book as it is commonly referred to. Today your tradition is rooted in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. It is the only Book of Common Prayer that you know.
During this time period, Gail and I had the opportunity to live in Singapore and Australia. In Australia, we were members of a local Anglican church. They used a similar, but different prayer book. Yet I am certain that God was present, with us and among us, in those congregations.
In Singapore, the congregation was evenly split between American Episcopalians and English Anglicans. Fortunately we had a priest from New Zealand to keep the peace. In our respective traditions “back home” we used different prayer books and had different traditions, particularly around tithing, yet God was present and with us.
Whether you were someone that experienced the change from the 1928 Prayer Book to the 1979 Prayer Book, or someone that experienced different Prayers Books in different cultures, the changes caused us to get out of our comfort zones and focus on the things we had in common rather than on those things that were different and then build community around those things we had in common.
The beauty of the Episcopal Church is that there is room in the Church for people that genuinely disagree on issues, while building a community based on the things we have in common. I hope and pray we never loose this.
In the reading from Mark, Jesus calls us to put aside those things that can defile a person: one of these is pride. Pride comes from within, from our human nature and can and does get in the way of our relationship with God and with others.
Jesus calls us to focus on our relationship with God, individually and collectively, to focus on our mission as a congregation, to minister to each other and to our community. To do this we have to be open to and embrace change as we engage in mission and ministry, today and in the future.
When we smell the jasmine and the honeysuckle of our youth, and the memories and traditions of past years come to mind, we should honor the past but stay open to God’s invitation to create new memories and new traditions.
The Diocese of Georgia and Christchurch (you and me) are at an exciting time in our history. The Holy Spirit is working through us and leading us to a new future.
As a Diocese, we have an opportunity to choose a new Bishop. This is only the 10th time in our history that we have elected a new Bishop. Will we choose someone that we are comfortable with and that will continue our traditions? Or will we choose someone who will honor our traditions while challenging us to change? While challenging us to focus on our unique missions and ministries? Are we open to the discomfort of change? Are we willing to accept God’s invitation to create new traditions for new Christians and new Episcopalians? What I am confident of, is that the Holy Spirit will lead us to elect the right person. But because all of the candidates are different, there will be change, and the prospect of change could make some of us uncomfortable.
At Christchurch we have some choices to make about our future as we consider plans to expand our facilities. These choices could take us in some bold and different directions. As we grow in numbers the face of our congregation will change. As we offer new and different ministries in our community we will allow the next generation to create new traditions, on a solid foundation that has been built over the past 50 years or so. And yet, the prospect of change will be uncomfortable.
While the prospect of change can be uncomfortable, I am confident of, that the Holy Spirit is with us and guiding us. God is present in our lives and does not change, even when the world around us is changing. And this is comforting, in a world that is changing around us.
I would like to close with a prayer and that prayer is the collect for the day:
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one god for ever and ever. Amen.
July 25, 2009
Miracles!
Don’t you love the miracle stories found in the Gospels? Jesus healing the lame and the blind. Jesus turning water into wine. Jesus calming the seas. They are all great stories.
Today we heard two miracle stories that are often referred to as the Galilean miracles.
The feeding of the 5000 (and this is 5000 men, not counting women and children) and Jesus walking on water are two very familiar stories. Stories that we have probably heard most of our lives.
Today I would like to focus on the feeding of the 5000. The feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle story to appear in all 4 Gospels, although they are not identical in each Gospel.
This is not surprising when we consider that each was written from stories that were passed down from generation to generation in an oral tradition. While it is generally accepted that the Gospel according to Mark was the first Gospel to appear in written form, it is also generally accepted that, due to their similarity the authors of the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke may have had access to the written version of Mark before they were written. John on the other hand is sufficiently different that it is generally accepted that there were other oral traditions that John had access to that were not available to the other authors.
So we have the same miracle story in all 4 Gospels, but seen through the eyes and interpretations of different and unique individuals.
This story, is a great example of the grace and glory of Jesus. He shows his grace by knowing and responding to our physical needs for food and nourishment – without asking for anything in return.
Jesus also demonstrates his glory, but on his terms.
When the crowd, which has been following him for sometime, observing miracles of healing and feeding the hungry, they attempt to glorify him by making him king.
Why would they want to crown him King? Well, they saw signs that were consistent with Old Testament prophecies and responded in a very human way – to make Jesus a human and earthly King in their image.
However his reaction is to withdraw from them. They did not yet understand the message of Jesus Christ.
And why should they? At this point even the disciples, the people closest to Jesus, have yet to fully understand the mission and ministry of Jesus. It is only after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension and the Holy Spirit is with them and in them that they really get it.
As I read and reflected on this passage, my thought was that our human nature can often get in the way of our understanding of what God is trying to tell us. Just as the human nature of the crowd of 5000 and the disciples got in their way of their understanding of Jesus.
God in his wisdom made all of us different. In our human nature, in our differences, we see the world through different sets of lenses. Just as the writers of the 4 Gospels interpreted Jesus’ ministry on earth a bit different, we interpret the world around us and our relationship with God, different from each other.
Yet at times, just as the crowd of 5000 did, we, in our human nature, attempt to pigeon hold God in our image. We are tempted to define who God is and what God thinks. When in fact, it is God who created us in his image and he, by creating each of us different, defines who we are and what we think.
And Jesus, reminds us in all of the miracle stories that God loves each and everyone of us. Not just the disciples, not just the 5000 that he fed, not just the people attending church this morning, but the poor, the homeless, the less fortunate, the sick, the rich, those of different races, male and female, young and old – God loves us all – even when we sin and when we disagree with each other.
If you recall most of the miracle stories, they often end with Jesus going off alone with the disciples.
My human lenses interpret this action as teaching, as a parent to a child. He is teaching the disciples for the day when he sends them (and us) out into the world to do God’s mission. This does not happen over night. It took time and numerous sessions with Jesus for the disciples to get it. For us, it is a journey that can take a life time.
Fortunately God is patient. And, looking through our human lenses, it seems that God is full of surprises. God seems to ask us to do the impossible.
But how do we know what God wants us (individually and collectively) to do?
Some will answer, “Read the Bible”. And I agree that this is part of the answer.
But I also think that we need to open ourselves individually and collectively to let God be with us and in us in the form of the Holy Spirit.
You might ask, “How does one slow down long enough to get away from earthly things and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us through life?”
I know from personal experience that this is not easy, but I also know that is possible. And oh my, what an experience this can be.
I would like to share a personal story with you to illustrate this. I know that I have already shared this with some of you, so please bear with me.
When I was asked by the chairman of the standing committee to serve on the search committee for the 10th Bishop of Georgia, my first reaction, and my human reaction was, “I don’t have time for this.” But Joe Bowden was pretty persuasive and it didn’t take long before he had me asking when are we going to meet and how much time will this take?
When we met the first time, at Honey Creek, in about March of 2008, we had a mass of people there, including the Standing Committee, the Transition Committee and the Search Committee. At the time it was not clear what each committee would be responsible for.
After the meeting, as I was driving home my human reactions were:
· there is no way this group of people will ever get this done on time
· there is no one that knows how to do this
Sort of like what Philip said to Jesus when Jesus asked him to find enough food to feed the 5000. Phillip didn’t have a clue and responded in a very human way, but Jesus knew how He was going to do it.
But something happened after that first meeting. As we started to meet monthly in Dublin, the members of the search committee, started to open ourselves individually and collectively to allow the Holy Spirit to be present, with us and in us, and to guide us.
We found that, collectively we had the skills to do the search.
We found each person willing to contribute their unique skills to the effort.
During the summer of 2008, we conducted 9 listening sessions. During these sessions we made the statement that we would make our selection by consensus. Now people wanted to know how we were going to do this. We didn’t know! We had not discussed this before hand.
I think our collective reaction was:
· Hey God – Are you sure about the consensus thing?
· Do you know there are 14 of us?
· Do you know that we are all different?
· Do you know that we don’t think the same way?
· Do you know that some people still use the 1928 prayer book? And they are on this committee?
· Do you know that some people on this committee are opposed to ordained women clergy?
· And, do you know that we have 3 ordained women clergy on this committee?
· Do you know that some on this committee are opposed to allowing gay and lesbian people to attend our church?
· And do you know we have someone on our committee that is in a long term committed relationship with a person of the same gender?
· Do you know that churches in the big cities are different from those in smaller rural towns and we are all on this committee?
· Do you know that we have rich parishes and poor parishes and we are all on this committee?
OK – that enough. You can see my human nature starting to take over again. We were limited by our human experience. Just as the disciples and 5000 were limited by their human experience.
Over nearly a 15 month period, the Holy Spirit led us to a place where we valued our differences, where we truly loved and respected each other. We found that our unique perspectives on the issues facing our congregations and our diocese provided a richness to be celebrated.
As the months progressed, it was no longer a chore to drive to Dublin or Savannah once or twice a month – it was something that each of us looked forward to each time we met – we looked forward to being with each other in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
And, by the way, we did make all of our decisions by consensus. We reached consensus on the Profile of the Diocese. There were 30 original nominees. We reached consensus on 5 nominees that matched up well with the profile. We reached consensus on 5 nominees that offer us a choice (they are not clones of each other). We reached consensus on 5 nominees, anyone of which would be acceptable as our Bishop.
Not in spite of our differences, but because we valued, respected and embraced our differences
We got there through prayer and by being open to allowing the Holy Spirit to work through each of us. We would not have gotten there if we had relied solely on our human nature.
We put our egos aside. We let go of our humanness to allow God to work through us. As one person put it at the end of the process,
“I don’t think I have changed my mind on any of the issues, but my heart is definitely in a different place”.