Sermon Synopses - 2011

Sermons at Trinity are usually ex tempore, that is done without notes...Please enjoy our "Sermon Synopses" or short summaries of sermons preached at Trinity

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Sermon for Thursday, February 24, 2011
Feast of St. Mathias
Acts 1:15-26

St. Mathias is an apostle about whom we know nothing more than is told us in today’s reading from Acts:  he was “one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us.”

Though we know almost nothing about Mathias, Mathias is significant to us because, in today’s account of his selection and election, we have a job description in a nutshell of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ:  “…one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.”  Christian disciples are those who “become a witness with us to his resurrection.”

What does it mean for us to be a “witness with us to his resurrection?”  The story of Mathias, short though it is, gives us three clues:

1. We must know something of resurrection power ourselves.  If we are to bear witness to Jesus’ resurrection, it helps to have experienced resurrection ourselves.  And in order to have experienced resurrection, it helps to first have experienced death.  Mathias was one who had experienced death.  Mathias had “accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us.”  He had experienced Jesus’ long journey up to Jerusalem, his rejection by the chief priests and elders, his being brought before Pilate and finally his crucifixion.  Mathias had experienced Jesus’ death first-hand, and therefore could experience – and bear witness to – Jesus’ resurrection first-hand. 

If we would bear witness of his resurrection, it helps to first have experienced resurrection ourselves.  And if we would know resurrection, it helps to first have experienced death.  Where have you experienced the powers of death in your life (or “wilderness,” or “darkness” or “imprisonment” – however death may be called)?  It is in these places that Jesus is working resurrection.  When we have passed through “the valley of the shadow of death” and found Christ yet with us, then we, too, will know – and can bear witness to – Jesus’ resurrection.

2. We must be “witnesses with us.”  Our bearing witness to Jesus’ resurrection power is not something that we can do on our own; witnessing to resurrection is not a solo sport.  Bearing witness to resurrection is always a “with-us” that flows from community.  We experience resurrection community as we worship, as we pray (even as we pray “privately” –prayer is never really “private),” as we study the scriptures, as we confess our sins, and as we serve others in the name of Christ.  Bearing witness to Jesus’ resurrection is too hard to do on our own; it is a communal endeavor.  We can authentically bear witness only as we are “with-us,” continuing in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.

3. We must pray that God will make himself known, and be willing to trust that God will make himself known.  This story of Mathias’ being chosen by the “casting of lots” has always captivated me.  The disciples prayed that God would make himself known, and then they trusted that God would make himself known.  In the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, the church in which I was raised, I am told that at one time it was the practice to match seminary graduates with parishes based on saying a prayer and the drawing of straws, just like in tonight’s story of Mathias. If we would bear witness to Jesus’ resurrection in our lives, we cannot do it without prayer; it is only by God’s gift that we can bear witness.  Nor can we bear witness without trust.  It may seem foolish to do as the apostles did, to chose Judas’ successor by prayer and the casting of lots.  But, as the Sunday epistles have recently been reminding us, we Christians ought not be hindered by what the world considers foolish – “We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23).  Putting our trust in Christ and the cross will often seem foolish by worldly standards!  But by our faithfulness in prayer and by our trusting in the power of God we can “become a witness with [the apostles] to his resurrection.”

The Greek word behind “witness” is the same root of our word “martyr.”  Becoming witnesses with the apostles of Jesus’ resurrection will not always be easy. But as we are faithful in paying attention to the power of Jesus’ resurrection at work in us; as we are faithful to “bearing witness with-us,” being part of the faith community;  and as we are willing to open ourselves to prayer and to place our trust in God, we will be able to say, as did the disciples on the Emmaus Road after they encountered the risen Christ, “Did not our hearts burn within us?” as we go about our day and through our life, discovering Christ in ten-thousand places.   And with the apostles we will be able to proclaim, “The Lord is risen indeed.”   

Sermon for Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Polycarp of Smyrna

Though it is easy to overlook them on Sundays, our midweek services remind us several times each year of the martyrs in our past.  There have been several martyrs whose feasts we have celebrated in the past year – The Martyrs of Lyons, Clement of Rome, the Holy Innocents – and plenty more whose feasts have fallen outside of our Wednesday services – the Martyrs of Japan, Bernard Mizeki, James Hannington and His Companions, to name only a few.

The reason the martyrs are in our calendar is not merely to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice – the saints’ calendar is not our memorial wall of names.  The reason the martyrs are in our calendar is because remembering these lives from the past helps deepen our faith today.  Their stories help us deepen our faith because, perhaps more than the stories of other saints, the stories of the martyrs capture our imaginations. 

As we hear their stories, we wonder what it would be like to be taken from our family and friends and be hauled by hostile men before the magistrates; we wonder what it would be like to spend our last night in a prison cell, knowing that we were to be killed in the morning; we wonder what it would be like to be burned at the stake.  And, as we imagine ourselves in their shoes, we also wonder, What would it be like to be so saintly?  What kind of relationship must they have had with Jesus Christ, that they would be willing to die for him?  And as we ask these questions – and as we bring Jesus Christ into the conversation:  “Lord, how did Polycarp love you so much?  Shed some light, please, on how I can love you like that, too.” – our own souls are opened up to be shaped by God and grow more and more into the likeness of Christ.
 
Keeping in mind how the martyrs’ witness captures our imaginations, leads us to wonder about our own relationship with Jesus Christ, I am going to share with you from a contemporary account of the martyrdom of Polycarp.  Listen, imagine, and let Polycarp’s witness speak to you.

When the pyre was ready, Polycarp took off his outer garment and shoes.  He had been unable to do so earlier because the faithful were crowding upon him and trying to touch him.  Even before his martyrdom he was a man of goodness and virtue.

When the executioners wanted to nail him to the stake, he said:  “No need.  He who gives me strength to suffer the flames will keep me steadfast in the fire without being nailed.”  Therefore they did not nail him but simply bound him.

He looked up to heaven and prayer:  “Lord, God almighty, Father of your blessed and Beloved Son Jesus Christ, through whom we know you, God of the angelic powers, of all creation, and of those who live uprightly before you.  I bless you for counting me worthy today to join the martyrs and drink the chalice of your Anointed One, so as to attain resurrection and eternal life through your Holy Spirit.  May I indeed be received among the martyrs today as an acceptable sacrifice.  You prepared me for this; you foretold it to me and have brought it to fulfillment, my truthful God.  Therefore I praise and bless and glorify you through our heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son.  To you and him and the Holy Spirit be glory now and forever.  Amen.

Then the men in charge lighted the pyre.  A huge mass of flames leapt up, but then we saw a miraculous occurrence.  In this furnace the flames bellied out like a wind-filled sail and surrounded the martyr.  There in the midst he resembled, no flesh being roasted, but bread being baked or gold and silver glowing in the fire.  And we smelled a sweet fragrance like the scent of burning incense.

A man named Tertullian, writing in the early second century, once said that “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”  He was so right!  As we imagine ourselves in the martyrs’ shoes, as we wonder about our own faith and imagine more intimate relationship with Christ, the seed of the martyrs’ blood shed so long ago nurtures our faith today.

Sermon for Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22

“Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.” – Gen 8:20

It is appropriate, for a night on which the Liturgical Consultation Group meets, that one of tonight’s texts speaks of worship.  Tonight’s first lesson from Genesis 8 both 1) reminds us of what it is we Christians are doing in the Eucharist , and 2) gives us new imagery for understanding Baptism and its connection to Eucharist.

First, what we Christians are doing in the Eucharist.  Tonight’s text reminds us that, when we Christians celebrate Eucharist, we are giving thanks for God’s having delivered us from the powers of death and given us a new world to inhabit.  This – God’s having delivered us from the powers of death and given us a new world to inhabit – is what Eucharist is all about.  Eucharist is not merely giving thanks to God for creation and all the blessings of this life; nor is Eucharist a celebrating that God has brought us together, and neither is Eucharist merely a sign of God’s bestowing upon us divine favor and blessing.   Eucharist can encompass these things, but what Eucharist is primarily about is found in tonight’s text from Genesis 8: giving thanks to God for delivering us from the powers of death, and giving us a new world to inhabit.

And this brings us to...

…a new image for understanding Baptism and its connection to Eucharist. 
The Fathers of the Church understood the story of Noah and the flood to be a story about baptism:  the flood waters are the waters in which the old self dies; Noah is a Christ-figure who saves souls from certain death; the darkness of the ark is the “tomb” into which we enter with “Christ.” And the “lid” being taken off the ark is the stone being rolled away from the tomb, so that we might exit and enter into new life.  Whatever else Baptism may be – incorporation into a Body, adoption as God’s sons and daughters, a n imparting of grace – baptism is first and foremost a passing over from death to life.  [Just as Noah and his family in the ark passed over death in the tomb of the ark, so do we in the waters of baptism pass over death by being buried with Christ.]

I invite you to meditate on Genesis 8, thinking of the story (as did the Fathers) in terms of Baptism and Eucharist.  Take some time to imagine yourself in the story, what it must have been like to be Noah in the ark – the terror, the worry, the sense of helplessness.  Take time to feel the sense of gratitude when he finally stepped onto dry land.  (His feelings were probably not unlike the bomber crews weeping and kissing the ground after returning from their 25th and final mission over Europe during the Second World War – “Thank you, Lord. We made it!”)   I hope this text might enrich our understanding of what is at stake in Baptism – that we are being saved from the powers of death.  I hope this text might deepen our appreciation of what we are doing here tonight in the Eucharist – kissing the ground and thanking God for our salvation. And I hope that, as we partake of the Eucharist again and again, it may renew our baptism; that is, that the Eucharist may remind us where we once were (in the ark in darkness, in fear, surrounded by imminent destruction), and kindle our gratitude for what God has done for us in Christ.  And I hope, too, that this Eucharist may send us out (like Noah) into the world, this same old world that, because of Jesus Christ, has the possibility of becoming very new.

Sermon for Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Mark 7:

Exult with joy in Christ.  Borne on the wings of your every yearning, receive the gifts of heaven.  For now the saving warmth of the eternal font invites you.  Now your Mother adopts you to make you her child.  You are to be born not by the ordinary rules of childbirth – mothers groaning in pains of labor and bringing you into the miseries of this world, weeping, sullied and wrapped in dirty swaddling clothes – but exulting in joy, children of heaven, children freed from sin, to be bountifully nourished, not in foul-smelling cradles, but at the altar rails in the midst of sweet perfumes. – Zeno of Verona, 4th century.

When I hear this quote from Bishop Zeno, a North African (?) who was deeply influenced by the catechumenate as practiced by Ambrose of Milan in the 4th century, I cannot help but think of Mark’s gospel   Mark’s gospel begins with the “saving warmth of the eternal font;” that is, along the warm, Middle Eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee.  There is Jesus calling the disciples, right there on the waters.  Simon and Andrew wade in from the warm shallows, where they have been casting their nets into the sea, James and John from the boats where they have been mending their nets, and they follow Jesus.  Through the early chapters of Mark, Jesus and the disciples are in and out of Capernaum, on the coast of the Sea of Galilee.  They frequently return to the water to fish, or to put Jesus out a little ways to preach, or to row across to the other side to the country of the Gadarenes, or to make their way down the coast to Genessaret or Bethsaida.  And in Mark’s gospel, Jesus’ home is in Capernaum, right there on the coast.  Jesus and the disciples are continually returning to it (as in today’s gospel).  Can you imagine Jesus’ home, how welcoming and warm it must have been, perhaps right on the Sea with a view of the water, the smell of the sea wafting through the windows, the waves quietly lapping against the shore as Jesus went to sleep at night.

The gospel of Mark begins very warmly, in and around the water…    “The saving warmth of the eternal font invites you,” the “Mother adopts you to make you her child.” 

This excerpt from Zeno reveals Zeno’s desire that his catechumens “take the plunge” and be baptized – many prolonged the catechumenate for years, because they knew that being a Christian necessitated a lifestyle change.  But this excerpt does not tell the whole story of what baptism is like.  Yes, being a baptized Christian is ultimately joyful, we are children of heaven, children freed from sin… beautifully nourished… at the altar rails in the midst of sweet perfumes.”  But, as Zeno’s reluctant catechumens knew all too well, being a Christian is a difficult path to walk.  Our journey to Christ, though ultimately joyful, will be filled with great challenge, with times of darkness, and with times of fear and despair, as we encounter the great “otherness” that is God. 

Mark’s gospel better than any other captures this “otherness” of God as felt by the disciples.  Notice how many times Mark’s disciples do not understand (as in today’s lesson) or are afraid (recall the storm at sea, with Jesus asleep in the stern).  And recall how Marks’ gospel is the only gospel in which the resurrection is cause, not of, joy or peace, but of fear and amazement:  “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

Mark’s gospel keeps before us that alternating between the “warmth of the eternal font” and the cold reality of Jesus’ inviting us to take up our cross – which Jesus does three times in Mark! – is a sign that we are on the way to resurrection.  Yes, being a disciple is casting nets and rowing boats in the warm, Middle Eastern waters of the Sea of Galilee, and being chosen and called by Jesus; and it is also experiencing storm-tossed waters, being confused and in the dark, not understanding our master’s teachings, and hearing him call us to take up our cross.  To dwell in only one end of the spectrum or the other – either only in the warmth, or only in the cold – is to try to walk with only one of our “feet.”  Both these feet – the warm waters of Galilee and the cold tomb of Good Friday – are needed, if we would experience Easter Sunday.

Are you experiencing both of these poles in your life?  If so, you can take comfort that you are on the way.  If not, it is a sign that something is missing, and I encourage you to open yourself to a fellow Christian, and open your heart to the Lord in prayer.  I am glad to be available, should you wish for help.

I will leave you with a Collect for Baptism from the Book of Common Prayer, a Collect that speaks of both the “warmth” and the “cold:”

Almighty God, by our baptism into the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, you turn us from the old life of sin:  Grant that we being reborn to new life in him, may live in righteousness and holiness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Sermon for Sunday, February 6, 2011
Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany
Matthew 5:13-20

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets;
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” – Matt 5:17

What? 
Jesus has come, not to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill?  Didn’t Jesus read Paul in Galatians, how Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law? How could Jesus say that he has not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill?  What does Jesus mean?  And what does it matter for us?

What does Jesus mean?
What Jesus means when he says he has come to fulfill the law and the prophets? 

• What Jesus does not mean:
• Does not mean, in regards to the law, “You don’t need to pay any attention to the law.  That was then; this is now.”  Jesus makes this clear when he says that “until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law.”  (Though how we might pay attention to the law, we’ll get to that momentarily.)
• Does not mean that, “Oops.  My mistake.  The law was too hard.  You can forget about it.”  Indeed, Jesus tells us that “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” 
• What Jesus does mean:
• “All of the Hebrew scriptures – the law and the prophets – are gathered up into me.  If you want to know what all these scriptures mean, look at me.”
• “If you want to know who God is, look at me.  If you want to know who we were created to be, look at me.  If you want to know the kind of relationship that is possible between God and humanity, look at me.”
• Everything that the Hebrew scriptures are intended to convey is come together in Jesus Christ.

Why does this matter for us?
Practically speaking, that Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets, means at least two things:

• First, and perhaps most obviously, we need not follow the 613 commands of the law, which is not really possible.  (Though we are called to follow Jesus Christ, which is possible only by his grace.)
• Second – and most importantly – that Jesus does not abolish the law and prophets but fulfills them has the potential to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ.
• And I’m going to tell you how this deepens our relationship with Jesus Christ, but first, let me digress with a story:
• Story – NY Times.  Son, “Why are these pictures not in color?”   The OT is what adds the color to our NT pictures. Yes, they’re meaningful in B&W.  But they sure do look great in color!  Or consider the difference between regular definition TV and high-def.  How much more depth, clarity and contrast!  You see so much more of the game!
• It is the same with the scriptures.  Because the law and prophets have not been abolished but are fulfilled in Jesus, because all of these scriptures are really about Jesus – we have a vast treasure trove of scriptures, three times the size of the New Testament, that can help give depth, clarity and contrast to our picture of who Jesus is.
• Much like going to the Holy Land is like a “fifth gospel” that makes all the stories of Jesus come together in a new light, so do the scriptures of the OT enrich our understanding of who Jesus is and our relationship with him.
• Examples:
• Leviticus, a dry a dull book about priestly sacrifice?  On one level, perhaps.  On another level, read it alongside John’s gospel, especially his passion account.  The claims John is making about Jesus – that he is at once the sacrifice and the priest who takes away our sins, that in him everybody, no matter how badly you’ve messed up, has the opportunity to be welcomed back – now can be seen in full color.
• Joseph narratives.  On one level, a great story.  On another level, this is an early iteration of the “Paschal pattern” that we see fully developed in Jesus’ death and resurrection.   For all practical purposes, Joseph “dies” when his brothers sell him to Egypt.  Joseph comes back to life when his brothers visit Egypt.  By saving his family from famine, Joseph – like Jesus – becomes the salvation of his people.  To read the passion narratives alongside Joseph brings Jesus into higher relief.
• Look at David or Jonah, other “paschal pattern” characters, whose lives pre-figure Christ.  Consider the prophets Elijah and Elisha, how they miraculously fed hungry people, how they controlled the weather, how they were “destined for the rising and falling of many in Israel,” just like Jesus.
• The law and the prophets – all the Hebrew scriptures – are fulfilled in Jesus Christ; Jesus embodies everything that God is telling his people in the Hebrew scriptures.  In Christ, all these scriptures are gathered up, and not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, is lost. 

If you’d like to delve into this treasure trove of riches that can help bring Jesus Christ to life in even deeper ways, I have two ways to suggest.

• The Whole Bible Experience.  We are currently mid-way through the Old Testament, and you’re welcome to join us now.  Alternately, consider joining us when we begin again, in early summer. Those who have been through would be glad to tell you how much they learned and how their faith has grown as a result of reading.
• The Daily Office lectionary.  It is a classic Anglican spiritual discipline to say the Daily Office, that is, to pray daily morning and evening prayer.  The lectionary to do so is in the back of the Prayer Book.  I would be glad to email you or print out for you some helpful suggestions for getting started. 

Augustine once said that all of the Old Testament scriptures are encapsulated in the Eucharist.  Isn’t that a beautiful image?  All of the stories of Genesis, the creation, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; all the stories of Exodus, Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and standing before God at Sinai; all of the stories and sayings of the prophets, their promises of restoration – all of the Hebrew scriptures are gathered up into these symbols of bread and wine that we are about to receive. When you come forward to receive the sacrament, keep in mind that we are not merely receiving bread and wine; we are receiving all the law and the prophets fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  We are taking into us the creation and the exodus, the stories of Joseph and David and Jonah, of Esther and Ruth; we are taking into us the promises of the prophets, the beauty of the Psalter, the rebuilding of Jerusalem – we are taking it all in and, bit by bit, making these stories our own, making Jesus Christ our own.   I leave you with advice from the Apostle Paul written to the Colossians:  Let this word dwell in you richly, so that, in whatever we do, we may give thanks to God the Father through Christ, and may live lives worthy of our calling to follow him.

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