The Pastor's Sermon - The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost - 29 July 2012

Sunday's Readings: 2 Kings 6: 42-44

                             Ephesians 3: 14-21

                             John 6: 1-21

Next Sunday is my Sunday-before-I-go-on-holiday Sunday. I am looking forward to it.

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

• It appears that Jesus is being misunderstood again. We all know that this happened quite often and that it still happens today.
• The people who were fed with the loaves and fishes wanted to make Jesus king. They recognized him as ‘...the prophet who is to come into the world.’ In him, they saw that there would be bread for all and that he would be just the sort of king they would wish. Here was a king who could satisfy all their needs and wants. They didn't ask what his teaching was about or what God was telling them through him. They saw bread-for-all.
• This was not the sort of king Jesus wanted to be so he did the only smart thing there was to do; he took off and “withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” He probably realized that there was no way of talking the crowd out of their proposed action. He also realized that the crowd was a fickle beast and the first time he didn't supply the expected meal at the expected time, the crowd would turn on him. He wasn't the king they wanted and this situation wasn't the kingdom he wanted.
• The people on the mountainside confused the sign of the kingdom with the kingdom itself. The abundance of bread is a sign of the reign of God, but it is not the reign of God itself.
• There are many who see things the same way now. There are those who expect good things from God, and not just good things, but riches and wealth, simply because they believe. Those riches and that wealth become signs of God's favour while poverty, sickness, and sadness become sign of God disfavour and even rampant sin.
• Some mistake the Kingdom of God for certain political stances. This, of course, carries with it the others side of the coin – that those sitting on the other side of the aisle must be the kingdom of Satan or at least dupes of the evil one.
• Some see the abundant meal as the property of a certain group, a race, a creed, a theological stance... forgetting, of course, that Jesus didn't have his disciples check the cards or records of the crowd. He simply invited EVERYBODY there to sit down and eat their fill. Maybe we have to admit that this is the kind of banquet we'd like to be invited to, but a banquet where we might find the seating arrangement rather uncomfortable.
• We may need to ask ourselves this: If we had been there, would we have desired the never-ending buffet served up at the hands of the Nazarene? Had we been present, would the bellyful of bread been enough for us? Or would we seek the kingdom of God signified in the meal?
• I'm not asking you to tell me. In truth, I don't know how I'd answer those questions myself. None of us can answer that question for anyone else; we can only answer for ourselves. An honest answer may set us on a renewal of our faith and how we live it out. If we admit that the bread alone would be enough for us, we have the chance to change our ways. If we see what is beyond the bread and the fish, we can be energized to take what we see and make a difference in the world.
• Every time we break bread – and today would have been the perfect day to have Holy Communion, by the way – the call of God is present. We are called to go beyond ourselves and our meal. We are called to feed the hungry around us, whether they are starved for real bread, for the nourishment simple community and fellowship brings, or for the presence of Jesus Christ found in the Word and the Word-made-flesh, in both the sacrament and the community of the church.
• I have to admit there is an embarrassment of riches in the Gospel reading today. There is so much there to meditate on, to mull over, and to hear out. Like “What does the Kingdom of God look like?” or “Why did the apostles boat come to their destination when Jesus stepped from the water to the boat?” or “Look what Jesus can do with a bag lunch! What about what we give and have?”
• All that will have to wait for another day; Many of us have things to do. Still I recommend that you think these things over and share your answers with me -and each other- later.
• But what if we don't trust ourselves? What if we don't know what to think when we think about these things? Don't worry! The Holy Spirit is with each and every one of us and the Spirit may just wake us up one night with an idea or inspiration we never expected.
• Will our little insight and faith be enough? Well, if any of us feel that way, it would be good to remember that a little boy's lunch became enough to feed 5000 once Jesus took it. If he hadn't brought it up to Jesus, everybody would have gone hungry.
• In the hands of Jesus, what looks like a little becomes a lot.

The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost - the Pastor's Sermon - 15 July 2012

(The Text of our congregation's Indoor Picnic service's sermon - late but  present. The pot-luck-picnic was suberb!)

Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him.

• Someone has said that the Good News that the Gospel is about cannot be found in this passage from Mark. The story of the beheading of John the Baptizer is a tawdry and cheap one. Herod the tetrarch is manipulated into executing John because the girl's dance “pleased Herod and his guests” and I don't want to go into what all that could mean. Suffice it to say that John was executed because Herod was weak in all his strength and because John was strong in all his weakness.
• Herod was weak in his strength because he had power, real power in the earthly sense. He could order the death of an enemy on a whim or order that person's release. He could make or break people.
• His weakness shows in a few areas: he doesn't want to go back on his rash oath and he doesn't want to appear anything less than magnanimous in front of his guests. He is grieved by what he has said but he'd lose face if he doesn't grant the girl's request. He also was so pleased by the dance his daughter did that he promised her up to half his kingdom. The subtext is one of lust, even for his daughter. The fact that he would permit his daughter to dance before him and the dignitaries of his kingdom carries the implication that he was shameless in his dealing with his family. Of course, that is already known because of his marriage to his sister-in-law. He receives his just reward later in his life when he styles himself a “king” without the emperor's permission and he and his wife are exiled to what is now France.
• On John's side is the strength in his weakness. He had no authority on earth, yet he spoke the Word of God fearlessly and maybe recklessly. He confronted Herod with nothing but righteousness and the Word of God on his side. That was enough to stir Herod conscience, who was perplexed by John's preaching, yet enjoyed listening to him. Still, all this was not enough to allow John to keep his head in the face of anger, jealousy, pettiness, and the desire of the powerful to be right in all things.
• If we look at it this way, there is no good news here. The Word of God is silenced for a while by the sword of the powerful. This, of course, is not true since Jesus and his disciples are preaching what John preached. Herod even believes that Jesus in John raise to life again.
• In a word, John was executed for being faithful. He spoke the truth to power without regard for the consequences he might face. As we say last week in the person of the prophet Ezekiel and in the mission of the Twelve which can be found in the verses just prior to today's reading. None of them were promised success nor were they charged to succeed, Prophets and disciples are asked to be faithful to their call, which John certainly was... to the shedding of his blood.
• That might be good news in a backward sort of way, but the Gospel story itself tell us that as prophet and apostles and Jesus himself were opposed and faced loss, we should expect to as well. This is NOT a comforting thought, nor is it an easy message to preach.
• We are left with a message that is news in a way. We hear a message that what we believe will be belittled and opposed and rejected.
• We also hear a message that tells us how much the world needs the Gospel. In the person of Herod, we see many of the weakness and sins that still may be found in our present day and in our present place.
• Things may not have changed all that much and a story like this shows us how much the world around us needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It shows us how much we need the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• In this, we can also be aware of the cost of being a disciple. John the Baptizer followed the direction that the Spirit led him and it cost him his life. Jesus did the same thing and we all know that that led to. The apostles were all either martyred or exiled. If we look at so many of the major personalities in the life of the Church throughout the ages, we will always see that there is a price for following Jesus.
• It is very important to understand that discipleship costs and failure is involved. The message of the Gospel is always uncomfortable and will be opposed.
• Those who wish to earn their salvation or make their own salvation, those who wish to make demands on God and who decide they deserve this or that from the Almighty are uncomfortable with the Gospel of grace.
• Those who wish to exclude some other person or some other group from the Kingdom of God because of a reason they hold to themselves are uncomfortable with the Gospel of grace preached to all.
• Those who want an easy road to an eternal reward, a way paved with “cheap grace” with no sign of the Cross are uncomfortable with the Gospel.
• We'll end today with the wise words of the British Christian writer, C.S.Lewis, who wrote eloquently and wrote a lot about our faith. He always realized the challenges and costs of discipleship, and he always realized the value of fidelity to discipleship.
• “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”
  ― C.S. Lewis

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost - The Pastor's Sermon - 22 July 2012

(My apologies for my absence. It has been busy and it has been hot, and I like neither situation.)

"Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."

• I think there are times in everyone's life where the question get to be too much. I have to change to “first person” for a while, for I can only speak for myself about all this.
• The questions can be too much. A young man in Colorado enters a movie theatre and kills 12 people and wounds 38 or more... and I wonder why. I ask where God is found in all this.
• Gunfire erupts at a neighborhood party in Scarborough. A number of people are killed or wounded, and now the pay-back killings begin - the hall-mark of gang activities.... and I wonder why.
• I hear of corruption in the financial world where millions of dollars disappear, seemingly without any accountability... and I wonder why. Why must the poor continually suffer and the less-than-wealthy continue to pick up the cheque.
• I see continued wars and on-going conflicts, with constant and escalating revenge on all sides. I wonder why, in particular when those wars, killings, bombings, and acts of terror are done in the name of God, justice, and liberty.
• I see my treasured beliefs mocked, spit upon, and ridiculed. I hear things I've held dear called worthless, infantile, and delusional. And I wonder why and I even wonder why I hold on to those beliefs.
• I see hungry people, sick people, homeless people, angry people, forgotten people, lost people, frightened people... and I wonder why. And I wonder why I do so little to help. And I wonder why I can do so little to help.
• Then I hear Jesus' words to his apostles: “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”
• These word don't solve my problems, calm my fears, or answer my “why” questions. These words actually do something more for me.
• The apostles finished their two-by-two mission trip, and had returned to tell Jesus how it had gone. It sounds like they came back to a real circus. Mark puts it this way: “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.” On their journey, they had probably been mobbed, jostled, questioned, and watched. Now they return to more of the same, with Jesus as the centre of attention, which would make it even more busy.
• Jesus understands. This is a man who often went into the desert to pray. He understands that there is no way the apostles can recover their balance and energy in the face of a demanding crowd. The only cure is the desert, the deserted place “all by yourselves” where they can see themselves and the things around them as they really are. It may sound selfish at first hearing, but we all know that we be for others if we are not there ourselves. To go aside was necessary for Jesus and the apostles.
• Of course, as we've heard, this was not to be. “As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things…”
• The crowds actually beat him to his retreat, where he saw them as they were, “like sheep without a shepherd”, and out of compassion began to teach them. For some reason – who knows why – the planners of the lectionary skip to the end of the chapter. They skip over Jesus feeding the 5000, praying all night long in the wilderness, and walking across the lake. We will hear these next week and the weeks following. (Listen for them; there's plenty to preach about in those passages.) It is all part of the story which Mark tells in an almost breathless manner, showing Jesus on the move, healing and preaching, although he does not note what exactly Jesus preached about.
• For us, Jesus' invitation to “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” is far more than a recommendation to take a vacation, for there is no vacation from the concerns that burden our hearts.
• What it is is nothing less than an invitation to be with him and share those burdens. We may have to take them up again before too long, but for a time, we can hold them up to him, discuss them with him, find new insight and fresh strength to carry them and to carry on.
• There will be times when the questions are too much and the burden is too heavy. In those days, we can go to a deserted place, which might be a real place in the world or a place in our own hearts, but in going there, remember: “As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
• We may be like those people, looking for a shepherd, maybe without knowing it. But we can remember that in that place and time, Jesus is there in compassion and concern.
• Today's Gospel story is full of motion, activity, sound, and fury, as a poet might say. And through it all, Jesus is the “still point”, the point of calm and power in the midst of so much activity and demand.
• He is still that for us today, no matter what our questions, fears, and needs. He still calls us to “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” but not alone; always with him and our fellow Christians.
• If we need to find it, this is the “Good News” today.