Sermon 31January 2016 Luke 4:21-30 Epiphany IV Year C

         Church growth language changes from decade to decade and some times even from year to year. A few years ago, the talk was all about moving from maintenance to mission. You’d hear that particular phrase used for just about everything. We need more money in the budget to move from maintenance to mission. We need more people to move from maintenance to mission. We need a dynamic rector who can move us from maintenance to mission.

But you know what I’ve discovered with the parishes I’ve served for the last fourteen years, including this one? That stuff doesn’t matter. You don’t really need any of that stuff. What we all really need is to grow closer and deeper in our relationship with God. People and places that do that are growing. And, those people and places grow naturally and sustainably because the people in the church recognize what to do to share their faith, to welcome others, and to serve others. Whether a church starts out with twenty-two people on Sunday morning, or two hundred twenty-two, growing deeper and closer to God means growth will happen because people want to be there.

Today’s gospel speaks to moving closer, and deeper in our relationship with God and helps us understand why doing so challenges us at our deepest levels. We are challenged by letting go of our preconceived notions about how things should be and letting God show us God’s way of being.

         In last week’s gospel, the beginning of this week’s story, Jesus read the scripture in the synagogue. He announced that the scripture he read had been fulfilled. And it was obvious Jesus meant he was the fulfillment of that scripture. Jesus called people to rethink how they thought of the Messiah. And, Jesus called people to enter a deeper and closer relationship with God in the form of himself, Jesus the Christ.

         This week the scripture picks up again with the ending sentence from last week: “Jesus began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”[1] What happens after that is Jesus’ answer to the question “What shall we do?” and no one likes the answer. I suspect most of us don’t like some of the answers we get from Jesus.

The underlying assumption, of course, is that things always change with Jesus, and we can never stay the same with him. But, for those of us who are unwilling or unable to change, the question becomes this. “What am I willing to give up to stay the same?” Because, to stay the same, we have to let go of where we want to get to in the future.

If we continue to maintain only what we have, we make God hostage to our own desires. We make God hostage to our need for maintaining things as they are, rather than moving into the future God wants for us. We make God hostage by asking God to care for those of us who are already here instead of opening the doors to those who are hungry for what we have here. We make God hostage to renewing only us and forgetting about those who have never had the opportunity to be renewed. We make God hostage by settling for security rather than risk gaining the blessing of the Spirit for our future.[2]  

         We so often expect things to happen in a certain way. Most of us want to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.[3] And this too makes God hostage to our desires and wants. We have to be willing to say, “Please God, advise me. And when I try to advise you, please tell me to shut up!”

         God is using this time to call us closer and deeper to God’s self. God is using this time for all of us to become more closely the people God created us to be. This is when we begin to think about a future with God that is exciting and new and graced by the Spirit. This is when we are willing to try the new and be curious and lively and expectant about what things will happen in the future.

         If we fail to do this, we will make God hostage in the same way as the people in Jesus’ hometown. The people in Jesus’ hometown had difficulty believing God might be working in a hometown boy they knew. Who did Jesus think he was, anyway? And maybe, (Can I say this?), some of you are struggling with the idea that one small woman is kickin’ butt to bring us all closer to God. So instead of wondering about me, join Jesus in what he wants to do here.

The members of Jesus’ hometown expected the ordinary from him. They knew him. We expect the ordinary. You know each other, and by now most of you know me.

I challenge us all to grow closer and deeper to God this Lent. Ash Wednesday is only 10 days away. Be here during Lent. Come to church. Sing and listen to the words of those unfamiliar Lenten hymns. What might God be saying to you? Come on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am to Christian Education during Lent. Experience scripture in a new way: Grow, Sing, and Eat the Bible! And come on Wednesday nights for Soup, Salad, and Forgiveness. Jesus told us to forgive, but he didn’t tell us how. Come and learn how.

         We can do this together. We can live into God’s love because God’s love will sustain us and inspire us to a vibrant future. We will truly become all God is calling us to be for one another, for Resurrection, for Oklahoma City, and for the world.

Come Holy Spirit and blow into us your vibrant and living Word: Jesus the Christ. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.        

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2016

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[1] Luke 4:21 (NRSV)

[2] With thanks for ideas from Bratcher, Dennis. The Christian Resource Institute. http://www.cresourcei.org/lectionary/YearC/Cepiphany4nt.html Accessed 27 January 2007.

[3] “Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.”--Adrian Rogers (September 12, 1931 – November 15, 2005, president of the Southern Baptist Convention for three terms.

Sermon 24 January 2016 Luke 4:13-21 Epiphany III Year C

         In the Episcopal Church on the Sunday of the Annual Parish Meeting, the Rector, Vicar, or Priest-in-Charge some times uses his or her sermon to give a report on the state of the church. Included in that report is a recitation of facts. Things like average Sunday attendance for the previous year, pledges compared to previous years, special events of the past year, pastoral care given. You may have heard such things in the past, and you may hear them again in the future, but not today. Part of the reason is that information is available elsewhere in the Parish Parochial Report that each church sends to the Diocese and then to the National Episcopal Church. That document is available, once it is completed, for any parishioner to look at and ask questions. The other reason is I am during this interim time your spiritual leader. And odd though it may sound, I happen to believe spiritual leadership in the Christian Church is about preaching the Gospel.

         The other, and largest reason is that while facts can be important, they seldom tell the whole story of the church itself. Why? Because a church is much more than a building, or services held in that building, and how many times and how many people gather for which events.

         What might this have to do with our gathering today? The purpose of church governance, the job of the Vestry, is to set the vision of the church. We gather and then “call out” one another to the core purpose of the church. As you might imagine, a transitional or interim time is a time to rediscover our purpose.

The ways in which we have sustained Church of the Resurrection are no longer sustainable. We cannot continue to be a small club of people who enjoy one another.

We have also attempted to sustain ourselves with lots of projects and lots of busyness. It reminds me of a bumper strip I saw some time ago, “Jesus is coming. Look busy.” But a multiplicity of projects is no longer sustainable with the number of people we have here. We need to review our tendency to “major in the minor.”[1] Instead, we must focus our energy on passionate life-giving ministries that follow the Jesus way of service to others. We must look outward and continually ask the questions, how are our lives becoming living scripture for others?

The good news is all of you in your own unique ways are wonderful people who want to reach out to those in need. We want to reach out to those wanting to join a place to worship, to feel, and hear the Spirit moving.

We have a place and people who believe we have something so special others will want to join us. And that belief is right. What we have is special, palpable, and transferable outside these walls. What we will continue to learn during this transitional time is to forgive one another, to end blame seeking, and to rediscover the joy of sharing our faith with what we say with our mouths and what we do with our hands and hearts.

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus stood up to read in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. “The Spirit of the Lord God us upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[2]

Then Jesus sat down. Sitting down meant it was time for the sermon, or the interpretation of the scripture. Once he sat, he had only one sentence to say. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”[3]

In the Christian Church these words of Jesus call us to become living scripture, to gather together and call one another to the core purpose of the church. These words of Jesus are words spoken then and now. They are words for us to hear and to heed. They are words of invitation and blessing. We are invited to do more than hear the good news. We are invited to become the good news. These are words for us to become as we rediscover the blessing of our purpose during this interim time at Resurrection.

So now, I would like you to join me in claiming our heritage as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, called to become the gospel for others. Please stand if you are able. Let us pray together the words Jesus spoke in the synagogue that remind us to gather and call one another to go from here and follow Jesus. Please repeat with me:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

We believe this. We will fulfill this together, with God’s help. AMEN.”

            

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2016

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[1] The Rev Charles Morris, Ft Washington Collegiate Church, New York, NY.

[2] Luke 4:18-19 (NRSV)

[3] Luke 4:21b (NRSV)

Sermon 17 January 2016 John 2:1-11 Epiphany II Year C

         Fourteen years ago, I was in my next to last quarter of seminary and I came back to my home parish to do my “field education.” This means you generally become the priest’s shadow and follow him or her around in all the daily activities of a priest.

Ash Wednesday I was standing at the altar on one side of the priest and the deacon was on his other side. After the priest consecrated the bread and wine, he stepped away from the altar and the deacon began to prepare the chalices by filling them with wine. What none of us knew was that a new altar guild person had reversed two of the silver carafes. The tall one was supposed to hold wine, and the small one water. This was a big parish so we had more than one of each. After filling one chalice with consecrated wine from the first carafe, the deacon picked up the second and larger carafe to fill the other chalices. As he poured, a stream of clear water came out. Without missing a beat, the deacon turned to the priest, and assuming a deeply concerned expression, exclaimed, “Father, He's done it in reverse this time!”

         As you might imagine, that was probably the most irreverent serving of communion I think I’ve ever seen. The three of us giggled our way through the rest of the service. Every time we’d look at one another we’d start laughing again. Luckily, no one in the congregation seemed to notice. And on one of the most solemn days in the church calendar, no less! But it has made me look at both wine and water differently ever since.

         This Gospel is all about grace: surprising, abundant grace. But I wonder: What does grace look like? What does grace taste like? What does grace feel like? What does grace sound like?

Today, in the Gospel, it looks like jars. It tastes like wine. It feels like there isn’t enough and suddenly there is more than enough. It sounds like water being poured in and wine being poured out.

I think sometimes we view grace as a transaction, as something to be earned. Yet instead, grace is a gift freely given, unearned, unasked for, and here’s what we seem to forget. Grace is given out of all proportion to what we expect.

At the wedding banquet when Jesus tells the servants, “Fill the jars with water.”[1] He is revealed as who he is when he says, "Now draw some out and take it to the chief steward.”[2] Jesus, this man who is also God, creates abundance in unexpected ways. He takes water  and transforms it into wine for a feast. Jesus, this man who is also God, is able to free the host of the wedding banquet from the shame of running out of wine, yes. But more than that, Jesus makes so much wine that hundreds of bottles could be filled and then some. Jesus comes not just to take away our shame but also to give us grace upon grace. This is not a transaction; this is grace, abundant grace, freely given, out of all proportion to what we ask.

I’m inviting you to be as excited about this as I am. You need to know that in Jesus’ culture, lack of wine at a wedding feast meant more than a simple lack of hospitality. Lack of wine at a wedding feast meant lack of hospitality on the part of the host. Running out of wine meant great shame to the host and the bridegroom.

The first thing Jesus did was to ask the servants to fill the jars. The jars were standing empty. I am convinced had he wanted to, Jesus could have put wine into empty water jars. Instead he chose to have the servants fill the jars with water. Water that was used for washing, for drinking, for cooking; water that in a desert culture was life itself: good, clean, life-giving water.

And then, out of good, clean, life-giving water, Jesus made wine. He made wine in such abundance and of such richness that “the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’”[3]

Jesus took something that was good and made something better out of it. In his making wine out of water, Jesus took away the shame of lack of hospitality and the scarcity that this lack represents.

This is what Jesus does for us. He takes away any shame or lack we feel and makes it not only whole, but also full of life and overflowing with abundance far beyond what we expect.

This is what grace looks like: a simple jar. (I held up a simple pottery jar used for holding water or oil.) This is what it tastes like: wine. (I poured a little wine out of the jar into a ceramic bowl and drank a sip. This is what it feels like: there wasn’t enough and suddenly there is more than enough. (I kept pouring the wine into the bowl. and pouring, and pouring, so everyone heard the sound of the wine pouring.) This what grace sounds like: water being poured in and wine being poured out. (I kept pouring so people could hear the sound.)

Let us pray.

Jesus, make us jars for you, thirsting to hear you say, “Fill the jar with water.” And, once we are filled with your life-giving water, make us into fine wine. Pour us out in abundance beyond all reckoning for service in your name. AMEN.

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2016

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[1] John 2:7 (NRSV)

[2] John 2:8 (NRSV)

[3] John 2:9b-10 (NRSV)

Sermon 10 January 2016 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 EpiphanyI Year C

        When I hear this scripture it makes me want to sit and enjoy being a Beloved Child of God, and so may you want to enjoy being a Beloved Child of God. Jesus heard a voice from heaven saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well-pleased.” While we may not hear an actual voice at our baptism, this is the same God who blesses and enlivens us as a Beloved Child of God. 

         A few years ago, though, I had a rude awakening about being a Child of God. My awakening came in the form of wondering if “Child of God” is something we should stay in or grow out of. And, maybe we should have grown out of being a Child of God a long time ago.

         The awakening occurred when I read an article by my primary mentor in ordained leadership, The Rev Dr. Rob Voyle of Clergy Leadership Institute. His article asked the question: What would happen to us and to the world, if instead of being Children of God, we grew up and became “Adults of God?”

         Let me be clear, I am absolutely and firmly convinced that like any child, to become an Adult of God you first need to know you are a Beloved Child of God. But I’m convinced for most of us, this knowledge of being a Beloved Child of God comes in bits and pieces rather than as a whole or a startling revelation. The realization that we are Beloved Children of God is a growing sense of the loving presence of God in our lives.

Jesus was blessed at his baptism by actually hearing the voice of God tell him he was God’s beloved Son. Jesus heard the voice at his baptism and we also are claimed at our baptism as Beloved Children of God.

We, too, are blessed by the knowledge we are Beloved Children of God, but unfortunately we’re not always able to hear it as directly as Jesus did. Perhaps it is because for many of us, other noises get in the way of our listening to the voice of God. Beloved Children of God get distracted. There are so many voices calling them to work and play they aren’t always sure which voice is the true voice: the One who calls us grow up from Beloved Children of God to do God’s Holy Work as Adults of God.

So what does it mean to be an Adult of God? What differentiates or sets apart an Adult of God from a Child of God? How do we grow from a Child of God into an Adult of God? And how do we, as Adults of God, still retain that deep sense of being beloved by God?

According to my mentor, to grow up and become an Adult of God, we need to stop whining and do something. We need to stop blaming others and accept our own part in whatever mess we’re in. Even if we think the only reason we’re responsible is because we happen to be a human being. And, most importantly, we need to accept our responsibility for being part of the solution.    

God gives us the ability to make choices. Each day we are faced with choices. We can choose to live in fear or to live in love. Growing into being an Adult of God means choosing to live in love. Growing into being an Adult of God means God's vision becomes our vision. St. Augustine once wrote when there are two interpretations of scripture, we must always choose the interpretation of love. And this is what we must do to become Adults of God. We must turn away from fear and turn toward the love that embraces both the vision and action of God. We must claim ourselves as Adults of God through our actions. Our actions become seeking that love and discovering how can we make that love shine brighter, not just in our own lives, but also in the lives of others and in the world.

Today, on this Sunday after the Epiphany, when we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, we repeat our baptismal vows as we would if there was a baptism to celebrate. When we repeat our baptismal vows we remember we are incorporated into the Body of Christ as Beloved Children of God, called to grown up as Beloved Adults of God. Listen closely as we repeat our baptismal vows today and think about how these vows we have taken prod us, call us, and urge us, to grow into the full stature of Christ, to become Adults of God. These vows call us away from the self-absorbed life to a life that is God absorbed.

We believe in a God who is not self-absorbed. We follow a Christ who is not self-absorbed. If we want to grow into Adults of God we too must be people who are not self-absorbed. We must become Adults of God who are absorbed in God’s word and world, living out that word in the world. How will each of us, knowing we are God’s Beloved Children, become Beloved Adults of God to the world? AMEN.        

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2016