For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free: Absalom Jones and Richard Allen (J. Barry Vaughn, Feb. 16, 2014)

Today we commemorate Absalom Jones and Richard Allen. I knew very little about them before I began to prepare for today's service, but now I'm convinced that they are not only saints but American heroes.

 

Born a slave in 1746, Absalom Jones saw his family split up and sold to different parts of the country in 1762. Jones had the good fortune to be sold to a merchant in Philadelphia. That city was becoming a hotbed of abolitionist ideas, thanks to the Quakers who founded it. There he worked in a grocery store by day and by night attended a Quaker school where he learned to read, the Bible being his principal textbook.

 

He was also converted by the preaching of the Methodists and joined a Methodist church where he met another slave, Richard Allen. Jones also met and married a woman named Mary King. Jones was industrious and saved enough money to purchase his wife's freedom in 1770. The fact that he purchased his wife's freedom before his own sounds like an act of extraordinary altruism, but in fact was profoundly practical: If his wife was free, then their children would be free. It took him another six years to save enough money to purchase his own freedom.

 

In 1772, Jones, Allen, and other black worshipers were forbidden from sitting on the main floor of the Methodist church they attended and told that they would be allowed to sit only in the balcony. Understandably, they left the church and founded the Free African Society, a mutual aid society that later became the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas.

 

Richard Allen continued to be a Methodist and was ordained in that denomination, although he later withdrew and founded the first independent black denomination in the U.S. - the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

 

Jones petitioned William White, the Bishop of Pennsylvania, to be ordained and to admit his church as a parish of the diocese. White ordained Jones a deacon in 1795, but he had to wait another nine years before being ordained to the priesthood.

 

In 1793, a malaria epidemic struck Philadelphia, then the national capital. Washington and other government leaders understandably withdrew from the city to avoid infection, but so did many of the city's other white leaders, including physicians and clergy. But Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, and other blacks fearlessly served the sick and dying.

 

It is estimated that 20 times more blacks than whites nursed victims of the epidemic, a fact that was crucial in gaining social acceptance for blacks in Philadelphia.

 

But I don't want to give you a lecture on church history or African American history or U.S. history. I don't want to give you a lecture on any kind of history. In fact, I  don't want to give you a lecture at all. I want to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.

 

I have no idea what it is like to be the object of racial prejudice. I have never experienced it. On the contrary, I am a white, male Southerner. So, I am likely to have been on the wrong side of racial prejudice, and I am certain that I have benefited from my status as a white, male Southerner.

 

I lived in Philadelphia for four years and served a parish there, as well as founding and leading a non-profit organization. My deacon was an African American woman, Elyse Bradt-Ray, who was a native of Philadelphia. At first, Elyse was a little suspicious of me. After I had been called and before I arrived, she referred to me as a "white man from Alabama." But we soon became friends. When both she and I preached sermons on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, I kidded Elyse about referring to me as a "white man from Alabama." She responded, "Well, I meant that as a term of affection!"

 

However, I do know what it is like to experience prejudice and discrimination. A well-known Episcopal priest, someone whose name you might recognize, the author of several books, had an opening on his staff about the time I was ordained. Without any prompting from me a friend of mine in his congregation asked him to consider me for the opening. "Oh, I couldn't hire him," he said. "His lifestyle makes him unacceptable."

 

When the predominantly black St. Phillip's Church in Brooklyn, New York, first petitioned the Diocese of New York to be accepted as a parish, some members of the diocese objected to the presence of blacks in the diocese. They said, "...we question their possession of those qualities which would render their intercourse with members of a church convention useful or agreeable..."

 

"His lifestyle makes him unacceptable..."

 

I only want to make two simple points my sermon today.

 

The first is this: Prejudice and discrimination can have no place among us. Today's second reading is from Paul's letter to the Galatians. Paul wrote, "For freedom Christ has set us free... do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." There were some 5 million slaves in the Roman empire in the first century. About 10-15 percent of the population were slaves. But more than likely a majority of first century Christians were slaves. We know this because the New Testament is written in Greek, which in the first century, was the language of slaves. When Paul wrote, "For freedom Christ has set us free," he was saying that Christian baptism had abolished the distinction between slaves and free persons.  Elsewhere in Galatians Paul wrote, "In Christ there is neither slave nor free, male nor female, Jew or Greek."

 

They were powerful words in the first century and they were powerful in 18th and 19th c. America. They empowered former slaves such as Absalom Jones and Richard Allen to seek and win their freedom. They inspired abolitionists to work for the emancipation of all slaves and the abolition of slavery itself.

 

They are still powerful words. They remind us that distinctions of class, gender, and race cannot separate us, that we must look not at the color of people's skin or the size of their salaries, but instead peer into their hearts. Or as Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "I dream of a day when my four little children will be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character."

 

The second point I want to make is this: I owe a debt of gratitude to that priest who judged me unacceptable because of my lifestyle. I would not for a minute say that everyone who has experienced prejudice and discrimination should be grateful to the person or group that discriminated against them. But being on the receiving end of prejudice and discrimination can make us stronger, better, and wiser people. It can show us what is really important. And it can point us in new directions and make us see the world in a new way.

 

I had desperately wanted the power and status I would acquire if I had been given a place on the staff of that priest's church. I had badly wanted his approval and blessing. And frankly, if I had gotten what I wanted, it might have led to success, both professional and financial. But even though I might have gotten what I wanted, I'm not sure I would have gotten what I really needed.

 

Instead of becoming an associate on the staff of a wealthy, suburban church, I went to a small rural church 90 miles away and served there for five years. It was often a difficult and lonely experience, but it deepened me. It forced me to reach down into my heart and soul and develop new skills and find new qualities in myself.  As a result of going to that small, rural parish, I had the opportunity to respond when three small black churches in my town were mysteriously burned to the ground. I brought together my fellow white clergy to respond to those burnings. We raised money. We even received $50,000 from what was then the Presiding Bishop's fund to help rebuild the churches.

 

Absalom Jones and Richard Allen and the black worshipers who were ejected from St. George's Methodist Church in Philadelphia were forced to go in a new direction. Absalom Jones helped found St. Thomas' African Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, a church that has been a beacon of black empowerment for 200 years. Richard Allen helped found the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent black denomination in the United States.

 

In a sermon about Absalom Jones, Canon Harold Lewis wrote that Jones, "seeing the need for blacks to have an economic as well as a spiritual base in the community, he founded, along with Richard Allen, the first black insurance company, and acquired ... real estate. Jones, who earlier had purchased his own freedom, recognized the importance of freedom for all blacks, and through the establishment of the Free African Society, he... effectively aided the emancipation of slaves and the protection of the rights of free blacks."

 

Would Jones have achieved all that if he had continued to worship quietly at St. George's? I don't know.

 

Please don't think I'm saying that prejudice and discrimination are in any sense good things. Not at all. What I'm saying is that God can use them, and we can see the hand of God at work even in the disappointments, disasters, and sorrows that come our way.

 

One more thing about Absalom Jones: He was in many ways a nonviolent warrior for freedom. Jones and other blacks were among the first people to petition the U.S. government to abolish slavery, fifty years before Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation. In 1808, the year that the U.S. Constitution outlawed the slave trade, Jones established the tradition of preaching an annual anti-slavery sermon.

 

In his 1808 sermon, Jones said these words:

 

"The history of the world shows us that the deliverance of the children of Israel from their bondage is not the only instance in which it has pleased God to appear on behalf of oppressed and distressed nations as the deliverer of the innocent, and of those who call upon his name.... The great and blessed event that we celebrate this day is a striking proof that the God of heaven and earth is the same yesterday, and today, and forever... He has heard the prayers that have ascended from the hearts of his people; and as in the case of his ancient and chosen people the Jews, come down to deliver our suffering country-men from the hands of their oppressors.

 

"He came down into the United States, when they declared in the constitution which they framed in 1788, that the trade in our African fellow-men should cease in the year 1808. He came down into the British Parliament, when they passed a law to put an end to the same iniquitous trade in May 1807..."

 

When the brothers of the patriarch Joseph sold him into slavery, they thought that they had seen the last of him. "We shall see what will become of his dreams," they said. But when Joseph became the second most important official in Egypt, there was a famine in the land of his family and his brothers came to him seeking food and he rescued them from starvation. Joseph said to them, "You meant it for evil against me, but God meant it for good." (Gen. 50.20)

 

So let us give thanks for Absalom Jones and Richard Allen. Let us give thanks for all those who endured oppression and remained not only faithful but defiant. "Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
W.E.B. Du Bois once said that "the Episcopal Church had probably done less for black people than any other aggregation of Christians."

 

Reclaiming Evangelism (Rick O'Brien, Feb. 9, 2014)

Father Barry recently asked me if I would work with the parish growth committee in an effort to bring more people into our church.  As the newest member of the staff, this was a great opportunity to do some good and I was quite flattered that he would ask me to do something so worthwhile.  So of course, I told him no.  That’s right, I said no.

He looked at me a bit funny.  I could just hear the thoughts in his head, “Not counting today, how long have you served at Christ Church Father Rick?”  So I hastily added, “But I would be glad to work with the parish evangelism ministry instead”.  Father Barry smiled as he immediately understood what I was saying.

You see, I am not interested in working on parish growth, because putting it in those terms makes it about us and our needs.  Growth implies that we have needs to fill and the way to fill those needs is to bring in people to fill them.  We need more lectors, or more Sunday school teachers; we need more pledges or more young families or more people to engage in pastoral care.  We need, we need, we need.  Growth implies that the focus is on US and OUR Needs. 

Evangelism however, changes the focus entirely.  Instead of thinking about what WE need, evangelism is about what others need and how we can fill THEIR needs.  When I joined the church several decades ago, I can assure you that I never once worried about how I could fill the church’s needs.  I was interested instead in what the church could do for me.  I suspect the same is true for many of you.

Now, about 3 minutes into my sermon, I have already gone into difficult waters and brought up a somewhat taboo subject.  I have a friend who once told me that the quickest way to empty an Episcopal church is to preach about stewardship or evangelism.  And here I am doing just that.  But I don’t buy into his premise.  Yes, I fully understand that we Episcopalians are uncomfortable with the idea of evangelism.  But I think we have been sold a bill of goods and have let others take from us something that is fundamental to our belief system.  I don’t usually title my sermons, but this one is titled “Reclaiming Evangelism”.

I say reclaiming evangelism because the word simply means the preaching of the gospel.  That is what we do every day.  By the way we live our lives, by our witness to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, by the acts of compassion that we do in His name, we preach the gospel to the world every single day.  That is what we do, because that is what we are called to do.  At the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus commands us to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded of you”.  This is the great commission, and as Father Barry has been reminding us, we are a great commission church.  Jesus calls all of us to preach his gospel to all nations.  That, my friends, is evangelism.  Jesus calls us to be evangelists because he calls us to preach the gospel and to make disciples.  Even in today’s gospel, Jesus calls us to evangelism.  “You are the light of the world.  Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” 

So why then are we so uncomfortable with the word evangelism?  I think it is because the meaning of the word has been changed.  When we think of evangelism today, we don’t think about dedicated Christians spreading the word of God as we are called to do.  Instead, we think of the person on the street corner yelling at passersby, telling them that they are all doomed to hell for their sins.  We think of the guy with the megaphone yelling about wrath and eternal damnation.  We think of the people who go door to door asking if we have accepted Christ as our personal savior.  These images of intrusive, pushy, and sometimes even hurtful interactions have co-opted the idea of evangelism for some of us. 

That is a sad thing, but we have been somewhat complicit in this ourselves.  By standing in the background and allowing these people to claim title to the word evangelism, we have given tacit approval to their ideas and their methods.  It is time for us to end that.  We need to reclaim the word and the deed.  For evangelism is far too important to be abandoned to the street corner screamers.  As mature Christians, it is our right and our duty to reclaim evangelism.  Not for ourselves, but for God.  Because the message of God is too important to be left to amateurs.

So if we decide to move beyond our discomfort at the world’s clumsy attempts, how then do we reclaim evangelism?  We start by changing our mindset.  That is why I don’t want to be part of the parish growth committee.  Focusing on growth makes it about us.  Evangelism focuses on the needs of others, on their need to hear the gospel and to experience the loving power of God in their lives.  Each of us knows how wondrous it is to have God in our lives.  We draw our strength from God, from the comforting presence of the divine creator, to Jesus who knows our joys and pains, to the Spirit who breathes life into us in all that we do.  How could we NOT want to share that with others?  How could we keep that glorious love to ourselves? 

Focusing on the needs of others then begins with how we welcome people to our church home.  Each of us came here for the first time as a newcomer.  That is a critical part of evangelizing, by making the stranger feel at home.  We are diligent about this at Christ Church, but we can do better.  In March we will be hosting a seminar for ushers and greeters and anyone else who would like to participate in a conversation about welcome and hospitability.  Remember that we are welcoming people not to our house, but to God’s house.  The stakes are incredibly important.

We also need to do something very un-Episcopalian.  We need to talk to other people about our church.  We need to invite our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers to come to church with us.  This will be a challenge to us because talking about our faith is an uncomfortable concept for most of us.  But it is also vital to spreading the good news of Christ to the world.  A friend of a friend tells the story of having been invited to church by a neighbor 8 times before she finally went.  8 times!  That is evangelism.  Oh and by the way, the friend of a friend is now a deacon and serves on the staff of an Episcopal Bishop.  She has said that she wonders sometimes what would have happened if her friend had given up after the 7^th invitation.

Let your light shine before others.  Go and make disciples of all nations.  Go into the world and proclaim the good news.  Our Lord Jesus calls us to be evangelists over and over again.  Let us come together without fear and reclaim that task.  Let us together be evangelists for the gospel.

Transmitting the Blessing (J. Barry Vaughn, Feb. 2, 2014)

Yesterday I went to the Southern Mission District meeting at Grace in the Desert I had a revelation. As I sat in the meeting, something became clear to me: We are an aging church. There were only two or three people in the room younger than me, and I am 58.

 

"Not that there's anything wrong with that!" as they used to say on Seinfeld. But we live in a culture that worships youth. We do everything in our power to delay and even reverse the aging process. We wear youthful clothes, we go to the gym, we even go to the dermatologist. As I approach the 60 year mark in 2 years, I would like to believe that 60 really is the new 40, but folks, the fact is that 60 is just 60 - and no face lifts, skin peels, or tummy tucks will ever change that.

 

The Episcopal Church has generally done a really bad job of reaching out to and including young people. The Episcopal Church does not even publish a Sunday School curriculum for young people. No wonder that we are a church of people in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s!

 

We must do a better job of reaching the young. We must include the young in our worship, our education, and even in our governance. We must listen to the insights of the young and respond to their needs.

 

But now that I have given you my rant of the day, I want to say a few good words for the elderly. We live in a young-obsessed culture, a culture that has little use for the wisdom of those who are rich in days.

 

Sadly, the church is not that different from the world at large.  Every church I've ever been associated with has wanted to attract more young families with children, but the fact is that a church can also grow by attracting people who are 40 and older. We may be a somewhat geriatric church, but we seem to think that the church should be made up mostly of young people. 

 

Today's gospel reading introduces us to two prophets - Simeon and Anna. Luke doesn't tell us how old Simeon is, but he says that Anna was 84 years old, so we can assume that Simeon is about the same age.

 

And there is much to be said for those who are rich in days.

 

Presbyterian pastor David Lewicki says, "...the older folks are often the ones who are the more radical disciples: they were missionaries in far-away places before the age of cell phones and the internet, civil rights pioneers, anti-war activists, soldiers for Christ in the war on poverty, openly gay before that was even an option. In their retirement, they are the soul of our church: they are the ones who keep the prayer list and pore over it and pray over the names on it and the personal tragedies, asking God for mercy upon mercy; they prepare dinners for the family where the young mother is receiving chemo; they sit quietly alongside friends when they have lost their spouse of fifty years; they attend an otherwise sparse daytime funeral for the member who suffered for years with untreated mental illness, and they sit in the pews every Sunday, whether the sermon is good or lousy or somewhere in between." (The Rev. David Lewicki, "Joy comes in the evening")

 

Keep in mind that this story about Simeon and Anna is only found in Luke's gospel. The writer of Luke's gospel was profoundly concerned with the marginalized, the outsiders, the people we push to one side and exclude - the poor, the hungry, the homeless, women, children, and even the elderly.

 

But these people seem to have a special place in God's heart, they are often the ones God chooses to be his messengers. Near the beginning of Luke's gospel, Mary sings, "God has put down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the meek. God has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent away empty."

 

Simeon, and even more Anna, were outsiders. Anna was not just elderly, she was also a widow. She outlived her husband by 74 years. Doubtless, she has outlived all the members of her family.

 

All of us know people like Simeon and Anna. We all know older women and men whose lives have been hard, who have lost parents and siblings, spouses and even children. They have seen wars come and go, they have seen good times and bad. They know what it is like to hunt for weeks and even months for a new job and to wonder when the next pay check will come.

 

Sometimes these challenges embitter them, but sometimes they gain wisdom from them. Sometimes they learn the lesson that it is God who gives the increase, that those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. And that is what Simeon and Anna had learned. They came to the temple, to the place of prayer, day in and day out, praying, longing, waiting for God's great promise. They were living their lives on their tip toes, straining forward so they could be the first to say, "Look! There he is!"

 

And they were not disappointed. When the child Jesus was placed in Simeon's arms, he exclaimed,

 

Now lettest thou thy servant go in peace

for mine eyes have seen thy salvation

Which thou hast prepared : before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles : and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

 

Poet David Steele imagines Simeon pronouncing that blessing over all the babies presented to him:

When I read the blessing

And thought about it,

I began to wish he was right,

About Simeon--and those babies.

And I began thinking about our babies.

And I wished someone,

Some Simeon,

Might hold my grandbabies high--

And yours--

The born ones and the not yet

Proclaiming to them

With great conviction,

"You are the saviors of the World!"

Meaning it so absolutely

That these young ones would live it,

And love it,

And make it happen!

 

And that is one of the reasons that we need our elders, our wise men and women, so that they can transmit the blessing to us and to our children. For in the Bible that is one of the most important functions of the elders - to pronounce the blessing on the next generation.

 

In the Lutheran church the Song of Simeon is often sung following communion. That seems to me to be a wonderful place to sing, "Lord, now let thy servant go in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen thy salvation."

 

We have seen and tasted God's promise. We have held the Christ child. Taking bread and wine, we have kissed him and have celebrated his promise in word and song.

 

We may not get all the way to the promised future ourselves, not in this life, anyway, but we've caught a glimpse of it and that's enough. We can go in peace.

 

But is it really enough? Are we not still called, summoned to a kind of holy discontent with the present state of affairs? Shouldn't there be more?

 

"Having tasted the kingdom's richness, we hunger and thirst for more of it. Having glimpsed it, we yearn to make it real, to call for God to delay no longer, to fulfill the promise, to give us today the bread of tomorrow." (The Rev. John Stendahl, "Holding Promises")

 

That's true, of course, But that is when we should remember Simeon and Anna who held the Christ child in their arms for only a moment,... and that was enough. For most of us, in this life, it may have to be enough just to glimpse the future, to taste God's promise for a few brief seconds now and then. And to say with Simeon

 

Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace

According to thy word

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation

which thou hast prepared in the face of all people

A light to lighten the nations

and the glory of thy people Israel.

 

Amen.

 

The Blessing and Burden of Discipleship (J. Barry Vaughn, Jan. 26, 2014)

Several years ago Robert Redford produced a film based on Norman Maclean's book, A River Runs through it. It's a wonderful, lyrical book about a Presbyterian pastor and his two sons, who live in a small Montana town near the turn of the century of the 20th century. The minister was a somewhat dour, old fashioned Presbyterian from Scotland who took a dim view of other denominations. Maclean says that his father believed that Methodists were Baptists who had learned to read. I would love to know what he thought of Episcopalians!

 

Maclean's father loved fly-fishing with a passion, a passion he handed down to his sons.  The scenery in the film is spectacular, and it opens with scenes of of Montana's wild rivers and mountains.  At the beginning of the movie, Redford, reads from the book on which the film is based, and explains that the minister's sons were led to believe that Jesus had chosen the best fishermen on the Sea of Galilee to be his disciples, and that the best disciples must have been fly fishermen.

 

By now you've probably figured out that I was a pretty bookish kid. However, my family loved to fish, although I suspect that Maclean's father would have taken a dim view of them. Not only were none of us fly fishermen, we were all Baptists, too!

 

My sermon today is rather old fashioned. It used to be said that every sermon should have three points. Well, this sermon has exactly three points: First, becoming a Christian is like acquiring a skill. Second, becoming a Christian requires us not only to invest ourselves, but to invest our financial resources. And third and last, becoming a Christian is not something we do just for our own amusement or well-being; it is something we do for the well-being of others.

 

Today's reading from Matthew's gospel tells us that as Jesus "walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen." Let's just stop there for a moment, and think about that statement: Jesus "saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen."

 

Jesus' disciples did not fish for sport but to make a living.  It was hard, back-breaking work.  It involved rising early, before the sun was up; mending nets; lots of luck; the risk of drowning on the unpredictable Sea of Galilee; excellent boat-handling skills.

 

Fishing is a skill. What skills do you have? What did it take to acquire them? It takes at least three things to acquire a skill: time, discipline, and a good teacher.

 

Most of you know that I am an amateur pianist. I'll never play as well as Horowitz or Rubenstein, but I'm probably a better than average amateur pianist. Someone estimated that it takes 10,000 hours to acquire competency in a skill such as playing the piano. I don't know if I've put 10,000 hours into it, but I've put a lot of hours into practicing the piano. It also takes discipline. To become a good musician on any instrument you have to practice. Practicing and playing are different things. I could sit at the piano for hours and hours playing hymns and popular songs, but I'd never advance beyond a certain level. If you want to become a better pianist, you have to learn to play more difficult music. You have to learn to play scales in all the major and minor keys, and so on. And finally you have to have a good teacher. I was fortunate in having several excellent teachers. You will have a chance to meet one of my piano teachers, Ophra Yerushalmi, when she comes to Christ Church on Feb. 14 to present her documentary film about the pianist and composer Franz Liszt. Here endeth the paid advertising!

 

Christianity is both a gift and a skill. It is a gift because none of us can become a Christian by ourselves. It is something God gives us, something God does for us, because it is not something we can do for ourselves.

 

But it is also a skill we must acquire. Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, "Follow me." Those are the words of a teacher. A teacher is one who invites us to follow her, to follow her into the adventure of learning.

 

I hope that you have had some great teachers. I treasure the experiences I have had with great teachers. But the best teachers are those who don't just impart information, but who show us by their lives a new way to live our lives. And that is what Jesus did for the disciples and does for us.

 

By his life, Jesus showed us how to live compassionately. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

 

Jesus showed us what it is like to have a relationship with God: "When you pray say, 'Our Father...'"

 

Jesus showed us the meaning of justice and righteousness: "Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.... blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."

 

Above all Jesus showed us that death can be the portal to life abundant and everlasting.

 

So, we have a great teacher, but do we have the other things that are necessary to acquire the skill of being a Christian? Do we have the time and discipline that it will take? Well, that is a question that each one of us will have to answer for ourselves.

 

But I promise you that if you commit yourself to learn from Jesus, if you commit the time and discipline that it will take, then you will indeed learn how to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus.

 

Another way to look at acquiring a skill (and especially acquiring the skill of being a Christian) is that it requires an investment, an investment of ourselves, our time and energy.

 

Today is the day of our annual meeting. Today you will hear about the budget for 2014. As you know, Christ Church has had deficit budgets for several years. Today we will present a budget that comes very close to being balanced. The vestry and staff have worked very hard to be responsible stewards of the money you give to this church.

 

But I'd like you to think about your contributions to Christ Church in light of today's gospel reading. Becoming a Christian requires us to invest ourselves in the process. Can we invest ourselves without also investing our money? I don't think so.

 

We live in a world that tells us that our self-worth, our very identity, is to a large extent determined by the amount of money that we make. We cannot say that we will commit our time and our energy to being a Christian without also making a serious investment of our financial resources.

 

At the beginning of this sermon, I quoted Jesus invitation to Peter and Andrew: "Follow me." But I deliberately omitted the famous words that follow that invitation: "And I will make you fishers of people." Jesus invited Peter and Andrew to follow him not only so that he could teach them, but so that they could become something: fishers of people.

 

We become Christians not just for our own benefit but for the benefit of others, indeed, for the benefit of the whole world.

 

Jesus invited us to follow him so that we could help him fish for people. We are meant to cast a great net out into the world so that we can bring others to Christ.

 

That is fairly un-Episcopalian language. When many of us hear language like that, it reminds of the churches in which we grew, churches that often told us that the only way to God was the Christian way, that only Christians could be "saved" or "go to heaven."

 

Frankly, I don't believe that. I believe that God has sons and daughters in all of the world's religions. I don't for a minute believe that heaven will include only Episcopalians. In fact, I'm pretty sure that there will be a lot of Baptists in heaven who will be quite surprised to find Episcopalians sitting next to them!

 

But I still believe that Jesus wants us to fish for people, that he wants us to cast a great net out into the world and bring people to him. I believe he wants us to do that because we live in a world full of people who are sick and need healing; we live in a world full of people who are broken and need mending; we live in a world full of people who are hungry and need to be nourished. And I firmly believe that Jesus can heal the sick and mend the broken and nourish the hungry.

 

So I invite you this morning to follow Jesus, to commit yourself to the great adventure of learning how to be a Christian; to commit your finances as well as your time and energy; and above all I invite you on behalf of Jesus to help us cast a great net out into the world and bring to Jesus all those fish, of every size and shape and color and language who are looking for the healing and mending and nourishing that Jesus promises those who follow him.

A Tall Tale (J. Barry Vaughn, Jan. 12, 2014 at 7.45 am)

“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.’ “ (Mark 1.9-11)

 

Several years ago Alabama novelist Winston Groom wrote a novel entitled Big Fish that was later turned into a movie by the same name. I want to give a personal two thumbs up to both the book and the movie. Big Fish is the story of a father and a son that begins and ends at a river.  The father, Edward Bloom, is larger than life.  On the day of his son William’s birth he catches the biggest catfish in Alabama’s Blue River.  The catfish is so big that… well, it’s so big that it furnishes the material for stories that Edward tells for the rest of his life, including the night of William’s engagement party when he makes himself the center of attention rather than his son and his son’s fiancée. 

            William comes to believe that his father’s life has just been one big fish story, and when Edward lies dying, William becomes determined to know what his father was “really like.”  But whenever William asks his father a question– about his childhood in tiny Ashland, Alabama; his college days; how he met his wife, William’s mother; how he got his start in business – his father responds with another tall tale. 

            In a sense, the gospels are also the story of a father and a son that begins at a river.  The gospels tell us that Jesus went down to the river along with the crowds drawn by the preaching of John the Baptist.  And at the river, something happened.  Something happened that sounds a bit like one of Edward Bloom’s tall tales.  Some say that the Holy Spirit took the form of a dove and descended upon Jesus and that a heavenly voice spoke, saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” 

            The Bible might be regarded as a tall tale, and indeed some scholars look at it that way.  Water into wine?  A handful of loaves and fish multiplied to feed five thousand?  Sight restored to the blind?  The lame leaping and walking?  The dead raised?  Impossible, they say.  The products of naïve, unsophisticated and primitive people, or else willful distortions of the truth. 

            Perhaps they are right.  What would we have seen and heard if we had been present at the baptism of Jesus?  Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record that there was a dove that descended upon Jesus and a heavenly voice that announced that he was God’s Son, the beloved one. 

            What if we had been there and had seen and heard nothing?  What if years later someone told us this story of the Spirit taking the form of a dove and God’s voice resounding like thunder?  Would we be like the son in Big Fish?  Would we dismiss the impossible story and say, “No, tell me what REALLY happened?”  Or would we understand that sometimes a tall tale conveys the truth more effectively than the who, what, when, and where of a so-called factual account. 

            A scene in the novel Big Fish but not in the movie tells of the day that people heard that Edward Bloom was dying and began to gather in front of his house.  First just a few and then more and more until dozens of people were in the front yard – treading on the shrubbery, trampling on the monkey grass.  Finally, William’s mother tells him to ask them all to leave.  As they leave, one man says to William, “We all have stories, just as you do.  Ways in which he touched us, helped us, gave us jobs, lent us money, sold it to us wholesale.  Lots of stories, big and small.  They all add up.  Over a lifetime it all adds up.  That’s why we’re here, William.  We’re a part of him, of who he is, just as he is a part of us.” 

            Like the friends of Edward who gathered on the lawn when he was dying, we, too, have stories to tell about One who helped us.  “Ways in which he touched us… Over a lifetime it all adds up… We’re a part of him, of who he is, just as he is a part of us.”  We have been incorporated into a story that sounds an awful lot like a tall tale.  A father blessed his son and sent him out on a great quest.  He had adventure after adventure along the way:  the angels sang at his birth; mighty kings brought rich gifts to him; a wicked ruler tried to slay him; at his word plain water became rich wine; his touch brought sight to the blind and raised the dead to life again; although he was a simple man the wise and learned marveled at his words.  He undertook great trials and surpassed all expectations.  Finally, a close friend betrayed him; he was given a mock trial and executed.  But then the greatest marvel of all happened.  He outwitted even death itself.  And he returned to the father, having completed the quest, and his father and all his household rejoiced once again over the beloved Son with whom he was well pleased.

            In a sense, our stories, too, are about a Father and a Son and they begin at a river, or at least they begin with water.  As children or as adults we were brought to the water, and just as the Spirit descended upon Jesus, so the Spirit descended upon us.  And just as the Father announced that Jesus was his beloved Son with whom he was well pleased, so the Father announced that we were his beloved daughter or son and that he was well-pleased with us, too.  Does that sound like a tall tale to you?  Is it easier to believe that your parents dressed you in a christening gown that had been handed down from great, great, great, great Aunt So-and-so and brought you to church where a doddery old man held you over a stone basin, mumbled a few words, and splashed water on your head?  So be it, but personally, I prefer the Bible’s tall tale and believe that there’s more truth in it than in a “just the facts, ma’am” account of what happened. 

            The Bible’s tall tale is our story.  You are the Father’s beloved daughter or son; he loves you and is well-pleased with you.  And he has sent you out to have marvelous adventures and accomplish great tasks:  to love your enemies, to return good for evil, to bring wholeness to the sick, to stand up and speak out for those ignored and despised by others – the poor, hungry, and homeless.  And at the end of the quest you will have such stories to tell.  “You’re not going to believe this, but let me tell you about the time…”

 

What Harry Potter can teach us about baptism? (J. Barry Vaughn, Jan. 12, 2014 at 10.45 am)

Anthony, I hope you like the Harry Potter books and movies, because I want to talk to you about how Harry Potter can help us understand baptism.

 

There are several connections between Harry Potter and baptism.

 

First, Harry was raised by people who had no idea what a powerful wizard he was. Now, you are better off than Harry because your family and friends know just how special you are. But baptism is when we – your friends and family – let the whole world know what a rare, wonderful, unique, and strong individual you are.

 

Baptism reveals both your past and your future. Baptism says that God loved and knew you before you were even born and will continue to love you for century after century until there are no more centuries to count.

 

Now the second similarity between the HP books and your baptism is a little scary but you’re a brave young man I know that you can handle it. When HP discovers who he really is, then he comes into conflict with He Who Must Not Be Named – Lord Voldemort.

 

At the very beginning of the baptism service you promise to turn away from evil and put your faith and trust in Jesus.  In other words, there is darkness in the world and you will have to choose between the light and the darkness.

 

There are people who will hurt others and there are even people who may hurt you for no reason. Today you become part of God’s great struggle to overcome evil with good, darkness with light.

 

Third, do you remember the last book and movie in the Harry Potter series? When Harry sees his parents' graves, he reads this verse from First Corinthians 15.26: "The last enemy to be destroyed is death." .  In baptism you are freed from death, the death of brokenness and alienation to which all human beings are subject.  You are freed from death and given the opportunity to participate in God's own life.  Your powers of imagination and creativity are freed from limits and given boundless scope.  You are born again to the possibility of bearing God's light too all around you.

 

Fourth, when HP discovered what a great wizard he was, he went off to attend Hogwarts’ School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and he began to have the most marvelous adventures. In baptism you have set out on a life long adventure, a quest. You will meet strange beasts and make life long friends. The prayer that ends the baptism service asks God to give you the gift of joy and wonder. There will be defeats along the way but if you keep on to the very end, you will find joy unspeakable and full of wonder.

 

I know that Christ Church doesn't look much like Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For one thing, you don't have to board a magical train at Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station to get here. But in a sense, this church is a lot like Hogwarts. Harry went to Hogwarts to learn to work magic. In this church, it is our job to teach you how to work miracles. In baptism, you are entering a world of signs and wonders.  You are becoming an  inhersitor of the Christian faith that celebrates a God for whom therse are no limits, a God who works miracles, a God who asks us to work miracles, too:  miracles such as overcoming hatred with love, defeating anger with forgiveness, and rising from death to life abundant and everlasting.

 

When HP went to Hogwarts for the first time, Hagrid the giant took him to buy three things: a robe, a broom, and a magic wand.

 

Today I have four things to give you. Now, understand: none of these things is magic. The HP stories are just stories. There is no magic of the kind that we read about in the HP books. But there is grace and mercy and love in the world and in you and these things are powerful. The things that I am going to give you point you in the direction of God’s power and the power that God has given you.

 

First, here is a certificate of baptism. In the Episcopal Church we like to talk a lot about lay ministry, that is, the kind of ministry that God calls all of us to do, whether we are ordained or not. But we make a big mistake. When someone is ordained to the priesthood, we give them a great big certificate that they usually frame and hang on their wall. But when someone is baptized, we usually just give them a little postcard that they stick in their prayer book and never look at again.

 

So today I'm giving you a big certificate that says "We receive you into the household of faith. Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with his in his eternal priesthood." The most important ordination that anyone receives is the ordination that we all receive in baptism. In baptism you are ordained into Christ's eternal priesthood.

 

Second, here is some of the water with which you were baptized. Water is very important.  Without it we would die. All of us get thirsty, but we also become spiritually thirsty. One day soon you will know what that means. You will have moments when you long for meaning and purpose, when life seems dry and pointless. When that happens this water is to help you remember that you were baptized. You are a part of Christ who promised those who follow him that they would have a spring of living water in their hearts forever.

 

Third, we are giving you a t shirt. You've probably seen t shirts that say things like, "My dad went to Las Vegas and al I got was this lousy t shirt." Well, this is not that kind of t shirt. It's not a souvenir.

 

In the early church, people who were baptized were clothed in a white garment that they wore for the 50 days following their baptism. It signified the new life that they had received in baptism. This t shirt represents that white garment.

 

In baptism, you receive a new name, or more accurately several new names. You are still Anthony Michael Perna, but now you are also a child of God, an inheritor of God’s kingdom, a member of the Body of Christ and above all you are a Christian. Some of your new names are on this t-shirt. Wearing it will help you remember who you are.

 

The back of it also includes the name, address, and phone number of Christ Church. Never pass up an opportunity for free advertising.

 

Fourthly, we are giving you a candle to remind you of the light of Christ burning brightly in your heart.

 

And fifthly, we are giving you a cross. The cross is one of the most powerful symbols of the Christian faith. It reminds us of God's power to bring life and light out of darkness and death. Most Christian churches have crosses inside and outside. The cross shows us the way to our home, the church.  Wherever God’s people are gathered is your home and we are your family.

There’s a story about a little boy who became lost in a big city. He was very frightened but a policeman found him and drove him around until he spotted his family’s house. Suddenly, the boy said, “Let me out here.” The policeman said, “Is this your home?” the boy said, “No, but it’s my church and I can find my way home from here.”

 Anthony, whenever you feel lost and alone, look for the cross. It will help you find your way to the church, and we will help you find your way back home.

The Stars We Follow (J. Barry Vaughn, Jan. 5, 2014)

In Matthew's gospel we are told that the magi visited the infant Jesus, bringing with them gifts for the wondrous child - gold and frankincense and myrrh.

 

Scarcely any figures in scripture are more mysterious than the magi. Matthew says that they were from the East but does not say what country. Were they from Persia, Arabia, or India or somewhere else? We don't know.

 

Furthermore, scripture does not even tell us how many magi visited the infant Jesus. There were three gifts, so we assume that there were three magi, but really we do not know.

 

Sometimes we say that they were kings, but there is absolutely no support for that. To be sure the gifts were valuable, the kinds of things that only kings could afford, but apart from the value of the gifts, we have no reason to believe that they were kings.

 

Finally, we do not even know that they were men. We call them "magi," the plural of magus. A magus was a member of the priestly caste of ancient Persia. We assume that they were men, and of course, women rarely traveled in the ancient world. But the fact is that we cannot know with certainty that the magi who traveled to see the infant Jesus did not include women.

 

Many of you have heard me say this, but it bears repeating. I am convinced from the text of Matthew's gospel that at least some of the magi were women. Listen again to the very first thing that the magi say when they arrive in Jerusalem: "Where is he who is born King of the Jews?" IN other words, they asked for directions! Now I ask you, do men EVER ask for directions?

 

I like the fact that we know very little about the magi. It allows me to exercise my imagination. In my mind's eye I see them poring over the ancient texts of Persia, India, and Israel. Night by night, I see them studying the movements of the stars.

 

The magi lived in a time when religion, science, and magic were much the same thing. They did not make the distinctions between these things that they do.

 

One of the things that impresses me about the magi is that they sought truth not only from their own religion and culture but also from others. It is plain that they had studied not only their own religious texts but also those of Israel. They knew that Jerusalem was the site of the temple and also the political capital. They knew that the Hebrew scriptures identified Jerusalem as both a holy and a royal city.

 

But they also sought truth in nature, in what today we would call science. They studied the movements of the stars. Today we would call this astrology, but the fact is that the people of ancient cultures such as Persia and India had remarkably detailed and accurate star charts.

 

There is are several  important lessons in this for us today:

 

First, we too often listen only to the texts and voices of our own culture and assume that wisdom can be found only there. Christians listen only to their Bible, Jews to theirs, Muslims to theirs, and so on. Now make no mistake: We are right to listen first and primarily to our own texts. God promises to speak to us from the pages of the Bible. We can be sure that when we study the Bible faithfully, with open minds and hearts, we will find guidance. But there is no reason to think that there is no wisdom in the traditions of other faiths.

 

The most important thing that I learned from my interfaith clergy group in Birmingham is that wisdom can be found just about everywhere. I believe that I have become a better Christian by becoming well acquainted with Judaism. I spent a year working with a piano teacher who was a Buddhist and we began every lesson by meditating together. I don't think that made me any less of a Christian. On the contrary, I believe that it deepened my faith.

 

The second thing I want to point out is that the magi studied not only written texts, they also studied the stars. Another way to say that is to say that they not only studied the written word of God, they also studied God's book of nature. Too often in our day and time science and religion are enemies. That impoverishes both of them, and the fault is on both sides. Religious leaders are educated almost exclusively in the humanities. Scientists are probably more likely to be well read in the humanities, as well as science, but there is little conversation between the two disciplines.

 

That was not the case in the ancient world, because the ancients did not make the distinctions that we do today.

 

I read a troubling article yesterday that said that more and more religious people, especially if they are also political conservatives, are coming to reject the idea of evolution. And more and more scientists are becoming skeptical of and hostile toward religion.

 

This is very dangerous. I believe that God speaks with one voice, but speaks in different languages. God speaks to us through the Bible but God also speaks in the book of nature. And if we would really understand God, we need to listen to what God is saying both through the Bible and through nature.

 

I have one more point to make: God also spoke to the magi through a dream. Listen again to the last sentence of the gospel reading: "...having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road."

 

"...having been warned in a dream..." Has God ever spoken to you in a dream? God has spoken to me in a dream. I believe that God has spoken to most of us, maybe all of us, in dreams, but how many of us listened and paid attention? We live in a world that does not encourage us to hear the voice of God in dreams. That is the stuff of people who set themselves up as psychic readers and visionaries, people we look down upon as fakers and charlatans. And most of the time, we are right to do that. But that does not mean that God does not have something to say to us in dreams.

 

But the magi were indeed wise men (and maybe wise women, too). They listened for and heard the voice of God in sacred texts, in the book of nature, and in dreams. We need to be just as wise and just as attentive.

 

Today is the first Sunday of a new year. It is a time for new year's goals and resolutions. Today we are asking you to participate in a long range planning process for this church. I want to encourage you to be as wise as the magi: to dream great dreams, dreams as high as the stars. I want to encourage you to find that tiny but intensely bright point of light that will guide us through the darkness that is all around us until we come, like the magi, to the place to which God is leading us. Will you join me in this great adventure?