Sermon 13 December 2015 Luke 3:7-18 Advent III Year C

God is easy to forget. The busy world calls us to everything but God on a daily basis. Distractions are plentiful; it’s pretty obvious from today’s scripture that distractions were plentiful even in Jesus’ time.

John the Baptist calls the people who came out to see him to remember God and how they have strayed from God. He starts out in a pretty compelling way. I suspect if I’d gotten up here this morning and yelled, “You brood of vipers,” some of you might leave. It’s a memorable opening line all right, but it probably won’t get you  a place on the most popular preacher list.

I suspect some people in John’s crowd probably heard him and left. They didn’t come to be insulted. Being called to task is always painful to hear and difficult to heed. And honestly, that’s what sometimes happens during a transitional or interim time too. Believe me, I may not holler from the pulpit, “You brood of vipers,” but often when people have to examine what they are doing in a church that may be preventing growth or keeping guests from returning to join, I think about John the Baptizer. He’s my hero, because he was not a popular guy, and I am not a popular gal sometimes.

John the Baptizer called the people listening to him to awaken. He wanted people to recognize how they had strayed from God. He called people to come back to God while there was still time. He called people to engage in inward and outward housekeeping: to get the clutter out of their lives so they can concentrate on the main thing.

The first part of the repentance John talks about occurs by turning away from something, which therefore implies turning towards something else. That something, to John the Baptizer, is turning to God.

The second part of turning around, of repentance, is action. Repentance is not simply being sorry. Repentance is doing something to change our sorry state to joy. And even if our sorry state isn’t our fault, we need to acknowledge our grief and anger and find a new way of being and doing. Acknowledging grief and anger is a kind of repentance too. We can say, “Okay, this happened. Now what do I need to move on?” And then do that thing, assuming it harms no one else. Sometimes it’s talking it out, sometimes it’s writing it out, sometimes it’s praying it out, sometimes it’s walking or exercising. Whatever it is, do it to free yourself to move on! 

After all his ranting about vipers and wrath and stones, John offers us some practical advice about what do about our sorry state. The crowds ask John, “What then shall we do?”[1] Meaning, once we’ve repented, what next? And John has a practical answer couched in individual terms for each person who asks.

In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”[2]

These are people on the road to repentance who are asking, “Now that we have repented, to what shall we turn?” John’s answer is God: the God who offers forgiveness to those who repent. Rather than doing something to earn our forgiveness, once we have repented we want to become aware of our natural desire to do something more. It is in the gift of forgiveness from God that our repentance is stirred toward action. And our action brings the fruits of which John speaks.

This is when we truly “act ourselves into a new way” not only of thinking but also of being and doing. It is through our repentance that we can turn away from forgetting God and turn toward remembering God in all that we do. More than simply a new way of being, we take on a new way of doing. God turns our mind and our hearts to a new way.

What does that mean for us together during a transitional time? It means acts of kindness and beauty. And I am talking about specific acts that are thought out and acted on, rather than “random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” If we really, deep in our hearts, want Resurrection to become the church we imagine, then we must join together to encourage one another to do these things.

And really, these things are may seem difficult because they are different, but they are simple things that send powerful messages. They are simple things that send powerful messages to others and help us act ourselves into the church we want to become. Things like:

• ·      Wear a nametag every Sunday.
• ·      Talk to someone you don’t know.
• ·      Invite someone to church.
• ·      Look around you with fresh eyes. Does something need to be cleaned? Repaired? Repainted? Replaced? Or maybe thrown away because we’ve held onto it thinking, “we might use it someday.”
• ·      Attend events here, even events you’re sure you won’t like. You might be surprised!
• ·      Sing out in worship, even if God didn’t give you a wonderful voice. Make a joyful noise! Guests judge by participation rather than perfection.
• ·      Having said that, do everything you do here with passion and excellence. If you don’t know what your passion is, I can help you figure it out. Because passion and excellence are what you find in a place where people care.
• ·      Look at things that are happening here through the eyes of a non-churchgoer, a non-Episcopalian. Just because you don’t like it probably means a new person will. You bet we need to nurture one another, but we must pay attention to the people who walk in our doors for the first time.

That’s a beginning. That’s where we need to start. And yes, I know Christmas is coming soon and we’re all busy. But Christmas is a time when we have many guests. What would people see and hear this Christmas at Resurrection that would make them want to come back?

It is in what we do that we find God. It is in what we do that we encounter God in others. And it is in what we do that we find Christ in one another. Let us prepare for the birth of Jesus by turning away from whatever is holding us back, and turning toward God with expectation and eagerness. Then we will bear fruit worthy of our God. We will become the place and the people God is calling us to be. AMEN.

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2015

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[1] Luke 3:10b (NRSV)

[2] Luke 2:11-14 (NRSV)

Sermon 6 December 2015 Luke 3:1-6 Advent II Year C

        Advent in the ancient church was a period of repentance and preparation. More recently we seem to forget the repentance part, and instead consider Advent a time of preparation and waiting. If this is so, then we might well ask, “Preparation and waiting for what?”

The obvious answer is a time of preparation for Christmas, getting ready for the birth of Christ. But somehow we’ve left out of this season the idea that to be ready we have to make room for whatever is coming. Our metaphorical closets are full of outdated, outmoded, unusable clothing. Advent calls us to clear out those closets to make room for the swaddling clothes of a new babe. Unfortunately, what most of us do instead is fill Advent with shopping and wrapping and cleaning. Rather than move anything out, we just move stuff around to fit in more stuff.

Much as we might like to conveniently forget or leave repentance out of Advent, the Gospel reading for this second Sunday of Advent makes it difficult to concentrate on much else. Each year of our three-year lectionary cycle we’re forced to listen to that odd dude, John the Baptizer.

·      John the dunker, who held people under water in the Jordan.

·      John the fashion plate, who wore camel hair with a leather belt.[1]

·      John the health food nut, who invented trail mix.

Don’t look at me as though I’ve lost my mind. What else would you call dried locusts mixed with honey? I’ll bet they’d be a big hit at your Christmas buffet this year.

In addition to holding people under water, wearing weird clothing and eating strange food, John did a lot of shouting. He called people names, as you’ll find out in next week’s Gospel reading. During this season of Advent, John keeps popping up like an unkempt, loudmouth in the middle of our lovely season of preparation for the Christ child. It’s like the minute you get the Christmas tree up, there’s your least-liked relative leaping in front of it yelling, “ Surprise!”

Unpopular and untidy as he seems to us, John reminds us we can’t move into the future until we are willing to deal with the past. John is the fellow telling people exactly what they don’t want to hear. John spent his days, “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”[2]

This is not something we like to think about unless it’s pleasant. Reflecting on our sins can be pleasurable when we remember how much fun we had committing them. It’s when we look at the results that reality sets in. And some of us hold onto the past without truly assessing how things may be different now; that things that went well then cannot continue in the same way now.

John the Baptist annoys us with his shouting about repentance and his yelling about dealing with the past. And besides, there is all that business about making the paths of the Lord straight, filling valleys, and bringing mountains and hills level.

Perhaps it is the ending phrase in our gospel today where we can find the most meaning for what John the Baptist is telling us. Luke’s gospel paraphrases the Prophet Isaiah, and says, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”[3]

“All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”[4] This is what happens when true repentance and examination of the past takes place. The best of the past remains a gift. The door to God is flung open. And our hearts have room for the Babe.

Taking off garments of sin and sorrow can be hard. It requires honesty and willingness to do an Advent closet cleaning of the past. Examining our lives is seldom easy or fun. We have to look closely at what we thought and did and felt and reflect on how those things may or may not have contributed to what is happening in our lives. It’s a time to put away the blame game and become responsible grown ups. It’s a time to look at what was good about the past that we can bring into the future in a new way. It’s a time to house clean, both inside and outside us.

Advent is a time to ask, how can I make rough places smooth? How can I fill valleys and level hills?

In our cleaning and making room, God is always present. Where we least expect it, as we become immersed in what we have thought or said or done, we can see where God is present. God has been present in our worst, because even in our worst we are struggling to be the person God created us to be. And God is present in our best, as we become the person God created us to be.

Repentance is what brings us to God in ways that are deep and lasting. It is when we can say, “I have sinned; I have done wrong and I regret what I did,” that we have done our Advent cleaning. The door to God is flung open. And our hearts have room for the Babe. AMEN.

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©201

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[1] According to both Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospels.

[2] Luke 3:3b (NRSV)

[3] Luke 3:6 (NRSV)

[4] Ibid.

Sermon 29 November 2015 Luke 21:25-36 Year C

(I had intended in this sermon to walk through the congregation asking people to tell stories of where they saw hope, courage, compassion, and confidence. We had a damaging ice storm the night before. Many people had no electricity. We cancelled the early church service because both driveways of the church were blocked with fallen tree limbs and roads were still icy. Attendance at the later service as so low it would have been difficult to pull this off well.)

        “Stand up and raise your heads!” Wait. What? Stand up and raise our heads when there are signs in the sun, moon, and stars? Stand up and raise our heads when there is distress among nations? Stand up and raise our heads when others faint from fear of what is coming upon the world? Stand up and raise our heads when the heavens are shaken? What kind of crazy person is Jesus to tell us stand up and raise our heads because our redemption is drawing near?

        Could it be Jesus is telling us quit worrying and obsessing about when this may happen? Could it be he is telling us to stop worrying about what may happen and start thinking about what we do in the meantime? And perhaps this is the Jesus Way: to reject both hopelessness and worrying, and equally so reject our pursuit of empty pleasures and things. If you think about Jesus and how he led his life, even knowing he was on his way to crucifixion, he lived in the meantime. He lived in the meantime between the presence of huge evil and the coming of eternal good.

        He lived this way because violence is never the greatest threat. The greatest threat is fear. Fear causes us to do all kinds of things when we are in its iron grip. So what’s the solution?

        Well, how about this? Do you read mysteries? Watch them on television? Live stream them on your laptop? If you do, you know that every mystery has in it the hope of something. It can be the solving of the crime. It can be the perpetrator brought to justice. It can mean old wounds being healed. It can mean the innocent being set free. Does this sound familiar? Does this sound like what Jesus is saying to us?

         I’ve a challenge for you this morning to enter the mystery of the Gospel. Want to follow Jesus? Become a Hope Detective![1] (Here is where I pulled on a deerstalker-style cap and got out magnifying glass.)

        Where do you see hope? Where do you see courage, compassion, and confidence? Where do you see these things despite despair and violence? Where do you see these things despite everything that is happening in the world around us?

        Where did you see hope? Where did you see courage? Where did you see compassion? When did you see compassion? Where did you see confidence?

        When we become Hope Detectives we see God at work in the world. When we stand up or when we raise our heads, our range of vision increases and we can see our redemption drawing near. We can see it because we can increase our vision by seeing what God sees in us. God sees the hope that is in us. God sees our courage to go forth in the name of Christ. God sees the compassion we have for others. God sees the confidence that is in us.

        When we reject hopelessness and worrying, and our pursuit of empty pleasures and things we become Hope Detectives. We remember who we are: God’s people doing God’s work. And we remember what we believe: That we are God’s hands and feet and hearts in the world.

        Be a Hope Detective! Live in hope. Live in courage. Live in compassion. Live in confidence. That is what we shall do in the meantime. Stand up! Raise your head! AMEN!

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2015

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[1] From a comment online that Dr Jacqueline Bussie, religion professor at Concordia Seminary, challenged people to become “hope detectives.” She is the author of The Laughter of the Oppressed, Bloomsbury T&T Clark. 2007.

Homily 24 November 2015 Matthew 6:24-34 Thanksgiving Service Year B

         What school of financial management do you attend? Is it the one where you tally your income, make a budget, and follow the budget? Maybe it’s the one some friends of mine used to teach their children how to budget. They would take their paychecks, cash them, and then divide the money into envelopes marked rent, food, utilities, and so on. Or maybe you don’t bother with a budget anymore. You keep it in your head. You know how much you make, about what taxes you’ll owe, about how much you spend. You mentally track whether or not you’ll have any month left at the end of your money. Or maybe you do what a scientist is portrayed as doing in a science fiction story I read years ago. When he got paid he cashed his check. He had two bowls in the entryway of his home, one labeled “us” and one labeled “them.” At the end of the year, he would gather up what was in the “them” bowl and send it off to the Internal Revenue Service. When the IRS remonstrated with him that they could not accept cash, he read them the part on the dollar bills that said, “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.”

         Let me propose something. No matter what school of financial management you currently subscribe to, imagine for a few minutes enrolling in the “Consider the Lilies School of Financial Management.” Imagine for a moment what it would be like to worship God instead of money.

        I know none of us think we worship money. We all worship God. We would never worship money. But suppose we did worship money. It might be something like this.

        If we had a lot of money, we’d be worried about losing it. And we probably wouldn’t think we had a lot anyway, because we could think of all the reasons we might need more. If we didn’t have much money, we’d still be worried about getting more. We might give money away, but we’d want to be really careful about how much, because we might need it. Either way, we’d worship what we have or worry about what we didn’t have.

        Matthew’s Gospel tonight focuses on blessings, God’s blessings. Yet for most of us, life seems far too complicated to do that. It seems too busy, too hurried; too worried, to stop and know we are blessed. And besides, we might need more someday. Or we might run out of what we have. Some years ago I read a description of our current culture that went like this. “Our culture is entirely materialistic: an impersonal self sliding through life in a bubble of technology, intent on enhancing its physical and emotional comfort, jealously guarding its sovereignty, perpetually distracted by consumption of goods and services.”[1] That’s quite an indictment. Most of us find it pretty offensive. We’re not like that. We worship God. We go to church.

        Yet it’s no more of a cultural comeuppance than what we hear from Jesus today. If we’re offended by the description of our materialistic culture that I just read, how do you think Jesus’ followers felt about having their behavior compared to Gentiles? Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”[2]

        The primary reason both the statement I read and the scripture can be offensive – to us, and to Jesus’ followers in his own time – is that they’re addressed to an in crowd. Both indictments of behavior are aimed at people who know better. In the one case it’s us: religious observers, religious attendees, those who show up at church, people who listen and read scripture. In the other case, it was synagogue goers, observing Jews, people who listened and read Torah, the Hebrew Scriptures. Then, and now, both statements serve as a warning about our worship of something other than God.

Observing Jews in Jesus’ time were told by their Rabbis and by reading and hearing Torah that obedience to God meant giving alms in the community. And giving alms meant letting go of some of what they had. It meant the possibility of not having enough if there was a famine. It meant the possibility of having to work harder to get or gather if there wasn’t enough.

        The Christian scripture also tells us that if we worship God we will give alms in our community. And giving alms means letting go of some of what we have. It means going without something we want. And many of us can’t work harder to get or gather because we’re paid a salary and working longer hours just means unpaid overtime.

        What Jesus tells us is that the “Consider the Lilies School of Financial Management’s” doors are open for those willing to enter. To enter those doors we can to repeat to ourselves until it becomes part of our nature:

·      We are blessed.

·      We have enough.

·      We can share.

·      We can give.

·      We will worship God only and always.

        At our Baptism, whether we like it or not, we are enrolled as members in the “Consider the Lilies School of Financial Management” and into a life of blessing.

So join me tonight in repeating after me:

·      We are blessed.

·      We have enough.

·      We can share.

·      We can give.

·      We will worship God only and always

(The congregation repeated the words above after I said them.)

        We are created by God to lead a life of blessing. Even when we don’t feel particularly blessed. We can wear God’s blessings like a garment, and we will never need to worry about what we put on. We can feed on God’s blessing and we will never be hungry again. We can drink God’s blessing like the living water it is, and we will never thirst again. Put on your garment of blessing. Eat, drink, and be blessed. Worship God only and always. AMEN.  

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2015

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[1] Ca caelum et terra. Volume IV, Number 1. Winter 1994. Falling leaves in late winter by Martin Horton. Page 12.

[2] Matthew 6:31-33 (NRSV)