Remembering The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 19 January 2020

John 1:29-42        John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Reflection        Rather than reflect on the gospel I want to join our entire country recognizing an ordinary Holy man.  In his now famous and final Sunday sermon preached at the National Cathedral on March 31, 1968 I believe The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words are as relevant today as they were fifty two years ago. “Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God.”

As it is with prophets throughout the ages, King’s words pierce the veneer of culture and call all citizens to right action. King confronts us, “On some positions, cowardice asks the question: Is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question: Is it politic? Vanity asks the question: Is it popular? Conscience asks the question: Is it right?” Now hear King’s call to action, “There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.” King was an ordinary Holy man calling on each and every one of us to be ordinary Holy men and Holy women (and forgive King his lack of gender neutral language) living for what is right. 

Prophets are ordinary people who dare to speak when others are silent. Prophets are people like you and me who choose to stand on the ground of our relationship with God even when it is not expedient, politic or popular because prophets are ordinary people who live by our conscience and choose to reveal God’s love every hour of every day, even, and perhaps especially, when it makes us uncomfortable.

Are prophets perfect? No. History has a scathing way of slicing and dicing a prophet’s character. And, that is actually good news because, prophets are ordinary people like you and me, imperfect people who have taken to heart and fashioned their lives as best they are able on the words of that Jewish prophet Jesus whom we hear praying, “Not my will, your will be done.” Somehow prophets know, and have always known, that God is present and active in the world today, something that we affirm at the beginning of our worship every single Sunday.

The presider acclaims, “God is with you.”   The people respond, “And also with you.”

Are these empty words? Do we mean them? It we do that means each one of us stands with God, derives our blessings from God, finds our courage in God, and acts deliberately to be a co-worker with God. 

It takes humility, courage and audacity to claim our identity as ordinary Holy people. Humility to admit that all that we are and all that we have is pure gift. Courage to put our faith in God with us, enabling us to be more than we can imagine. Audacity to not only hope but to act deliberately to call out the evils we witness and extend the blessings we enjoy. 

The world is crying out for us to  be co-workers with God and claim our place with ordinary Holy women and men like Martin Luther King, Jr. Shall we choose to live by our conscience?

Hebrew Testament Text for Sunday 20 October 2019

Jeremiah 31:27-34        The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say: "The parents have eaten sour grapes,and the children's teeth are set on edge."But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Reflection       Speaking through the prophet Jeremiah we hear what is arguably the most amazing promise (or covenant) of all time; God’s promise to humanity  “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord.”  

This is the new covenant, the new promise. God’ law is written on our hearts - on everyone’s heart, from the least to the greatest. 

What does it mean that God’s law is written on our hearts? I believe it means if we listen, really listen to our conscience we know when we are thinking or doing rightly and when we are not. Here is the thing, when we are tuned in or listening to God’s law even when circumstances are less than perfect ( which is most of the time), we feel peace, we are at ease, neither second guessing ourselves nor pointing our fingers at others. 

God’s law is the Christ written large within us. Paul puts it this way, “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2.20) Christ is the incarnate revelation of God’s love, once in the flesh of Jesus now in the flesh of all people, “from the least of them to the greatest.” This is the great equalizer. It does not matter our position, our power, our wealth. Our race, religion or politics are irrelevant because God’s law of love revealed in Jesus and meant for all people comes with no conditions (no hidden small print).

The first covenant God made with the people consists of a set of rules intending to direct the peoples’ obedience to external authority. This is essentially how we begin to teach our children, using simple rules, the ten commandments. But, to grow into their full humanity we must also provide for the transformation of  their consciousness. I believe that is what it means to cultivate "the seeds of humans."  Through the process of spiritual formation, we nurture the seed of God's love that is planted in our hearts.  All we have to do is turn around and listen.  

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Christian Testament Text for Sunday 10 April 2016

Acts 9:1-20

Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God.”

Reflection         I have no idea if Pope Francis ever had a road to Damascus experience. But I believe on Friday morning the Roman Catholic Church was knocked off its proverbial horse when the Vatican released Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation — “Amoris Laetitia,” or “The Joy of Love” in which he “urges church leaders to serve as nurturing pastors, not as rigid enforcers of doctrine.” In a game changing proclamation the bishop of Rome called for the Roman Church “to be more welcoming and less judgmental, and he seemingly signaled a pastoral path for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive holy communion.” Francis does not stop there. He “calls for priests to welcome single parents, gay people and unmarried straight couples who are living together.” Even though he maintained the singularity of heterosexual marriage, the bishop of Rome writes, “A pastor cannot feel that it is enough to simply apply moral laws to those living in ‘irregular’ situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives.” He continues, “I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion.” (Read - there are those who want the black and white certainly of unbending rules and regulations) “But, I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness… We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them..”*

Which brings us to an earlier world changing moment. “Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” For the rigorist Saul there is no room for confusion. If you dare to break or even question the religious or political status quo, you are to be apprehended and exported.  That is, until something inexplicable happens. The lights go on and Saul hears the Lord ask him, “Why do you persecute me?” Could this have been the birth of Saul’s inner voice of conscience? Could it have been the seed of goodness “which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness?” 

Saul and Pope Francis are both affiliates of religions traditionally bound by principles and rules laid down by authorities as incontrovertibly true. And it appears both Saul and Pope Francis have personal experience that disputes the legalistic boundaries of their religions. Both Saul and Pope Francis’ actions indicate, we are not people of the dogma. We are not people of the doctrine. We are people of The Way. The Way  is the way of encountering God deeply, truly and personally. 

All that we experience is in and of, with and through God. Every moment we breathe in relationship with God. Everything we think and feel, say and do is in relationship with God, the goodness “which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness.” The thing is, as with Saul, we cannot wrap our minds around it. Our encounter with the Divine is too much to apprehend. We cannot see it until those who have gone before us help us open our eyes and remember how God is acting in our lives. Which is what I believe Pope Francis is doing in the world today. Like Ananias, Pope Francis is answering God’s call to lay his healing hands upon the peoples of this world, to open our eyes and remember our baptism as sisters and brothers of One, Holy Family of God.

 *http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/08/world/europe/pope-francis-statement-on-family.html accessed April 8, 2016.                      

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