My Kingdom is Not of This World ..

Text:  John 18:33-37

Jesus said:  For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.

There is a saying in corporate and political circles that “Perception is Reality.”  Very often, to what extent how you and your actions are perceived are more important than your actual motives or actions.  Perception becomes more important than truth and influences how much or little power or influence you are able to wield.  The power structures of the world are often tied to how much political capital is gained and spent as much as financial capital.

Power can be seductive.  It seems to be one of the keys to success and happiness, but as we know everyone who attains power of some kind learns its limits.  The President of the United States is arguably the most powerful person in the world, but even he is limited by Congress.  Bringing things down to a more mundane level, consider how much power and control parents are able to exert over their children, or bosses to employees.  And sadly, power itself has a corrupting nature.

In this past Sunday’s Gospel reading for Christ the King Sunday, we see the classic scene of Jesus before Pilate as given to us in the Gospel of John.  Pilate is the governor of this corner of the Roman Empire and represents the most powerful insitution on the planet at the time.  He would have access to mass amounts of wealth and could call on his political and social connections if necessary by virtue of his office.  When a supposed rabble-rouser and blasphemer is brought before him by the local religious authorities (who just happen to be getting ready for their single most important festival and tensions were already high in the city of Jerusalem),  they immediately begin pressuring him to do away with the troublemaker.

Pilate is representative of a person or an institution who is faced with a critical decision, but is pressured to move in a direction that all of his instincts tell him, “Don’t go there.”  He begins the scene in an apparent position of power but as things progress, we see he is really getting himself boxed into a corner.  Pilate’s world is shown for what it is, an illusion.  For all the trappings of his office, in this particular situation at least, he actually has no control of the situation and try as he might, can only play out his part in history.

Pilate asks if Jesus is a king when they are alone, and Jesus response is rather typical as he seems more interested in what others say about him, and more importantly how the question “Who do you say that I am?”  gets answered.  Eventually, Jesus indirectly admits his kingship, but he also is clear that he operates on a totally different level than what Pilate is used to.  In the end, Jesus is the one in the real position of power because his power does not derive from the world’s fallen system of illusion, domination, violence and exploitation.

Pilate asks “What is truth?”  As in today’s world, Pilate  operates in realm where perception is reality, a carefully maintained web of illusion.  When faced with one whose says that he doesn’t play those games and his entire mission is to reveal truth, he also reveals that he is a threat not only to the religious authorities, but to Pilate himself and the world’s entire way of doing business.

The truth can be threatening when your life is based on illusion and you find yourself standing face to face with one who says he is  “The Way, the Truth and the Life,” and the source of this power is God’s love. It is a love that gives literally gives life as with the case of Jairus’ daughter and that of his friend, Lazarus.  It is a love that heals the sick and cast out demons and changes hearts and minds.

For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify of the truth. May we always hear the voice of Jesus, our King, and be continuously transformed by the way , the truth and the life and that is the incarnate love of God.

Amen.

A New Way of Living: Integrity Eucharist, NYC

If anyone is interested, below is the sermon I preached at the Integrity Eucharist in NYC yesterday … After a brief word of welcome, I dived right in …

Text:  Mark 9:30-37; James 3:16 – 4:8

Anyone who has been following the news will note there is quite a rather large power struggle going on within our society.  A sizeable portion of our nation laments that the country they grew up in is not the country they’re living in today.  On many levels, they’re right. The United States today is certainly not the United States from 50s or 60s, or even 70s 80s or 90s!  Change is inevitable as history marches on.  Speaking of change, another sizeable portion of the country is saying that the change they supposedly voted for almost a year ago is not happening.  Depending on how certain bills get through Congress, they could be proven right as well. What these two sides have in common is that, rightly so or wrongly so, they are giving each other a large dose of bad press in no small part because we live in a world of instant communication, tweets, blog posts and a 24 hour news cycle. We live in a world where civil discourse has been thrown out the window, where anything can be said and anything goes.  It seems that any chance of intelligent discussion has been discarded in favor of sound bites, talking points, and over-the-top rhetoric.

The disciples get quite a bit of bad press in the Gospels.  They are shown saying inappropriate things, shooing people away from Jesus, and constantly misunderstand what Jesus is trying to tell them.  Sometimes we can see quite a bit of ourselves in the disciples.  Much too often for our liking, we can be rather slow to get the point of what Jesus is talking about or what he is doing.  The Good News, however is that if we read through to the end of the Gospels, we learn the disciples are restored, redeemed and reclaimed following the Resurrection of Christ.  Reading further into the book of Acts, we witness the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all sorts of different cultures and tribes and nations.  So then, we shouldn’t lose hope as we look at what is going on in the world.  Consider the place of African Americans, who once were required to sit in balconies during church services so as to be out of site of their white masters.  Consider the place of women, who only gained access to the discernment process and the sacrament of Holy Orders within our lifetime, and could not even vote a century ago.   And now, consider the place of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Christians and the road we are on today.  Slowly but steadily, the Church has expanded its embrace to include everyone who Jesus has already included.  It is a long road, and at times it is a hard road.  Quite frankly, I’m sure many of us have just wanted to give up and get off the road altogether!  But in the end, just like the disciples, we all get caught up in the radical welcome of grace and peace that comes of living in relationship with God.  This is a precious gift, and one that is given freely.  But, like many things worth having, it is a gift that, while it is given freely, does not come cheaply.

When God Speaks Deliverance

Death, they say, is a part of life.  Humanity since the beginning has marked death with some kind of ritual for the remains of loved ones, friends or even pets. There may be a funeral and burial,  cremation, or send the remains out to sea.  Great care is taken to respect the wishes of the departed and those they have left behind.   Much art has even been created exploring death.  Death fascinates us because it will touch us all many times in our lives before it finally pulls us into its embrace. Even after the bodies are buried and the ashes scattered, we still return to cemetaries and memorials to remember our loved ones or perhaps even to somehow commune with them or spend a few moments of peace in our grief.

About 2,000 years ago,  a woman by the name of Mary Magdalene went to a tomb where a loved one was buried a few days before.  She had thought to pay her own respects to the body and spend some time in grief.  Her dear friend, Jesus of Nazareth had recently been framed by the religious authorities of her own people and handed over for torture and execution at the hands of the Romans occupying their home.  When she gets to the tomb, however, she is totally shocked by what she finds.

The tomb is empty.

The Resurrection is a daunting thing to talk about for the most experienced of preachers.  How can you distill the importance of the central event in our faith into about 20 minutes or less (or for readers of this blog, 1200 words or less!)  Many people these days show up to services for only Christmas and Easter, so the challenge is even more daunting to try and reach those who haven’t been to church in a while or even for the first time.  Our 6:00pm service at Easter is full of such folks and at times they seem to look up into the pulpit and dare the preacher to say something that moves them.

Some people, in trying to “prove” the validity of our faith point to an empty tomb as if that is supposed to give comfort that yes, Jesus really is alive and well.  For Mary Magdalene, one of the first witnesses of the Resurrection, her impressions of the empty tomb do not become an occasion for revelation and faith…..

Palm Sunday

Below is a paraphrase of a sermon delivered yesterday in  my parish.  I am going from memory, so apologies if i missed something or get something wrong … Once I get a transcript if there are any errors i’ll correct them …

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Consider a couple of stories ..

In one of Aesop’s fables, a group of mice wanted to keep watch on a cat.  One of the wise mice came up with an idea to put a bell around the cat’s neck so as to give clear warning when it was near.  The problem was that no one could figure out how to bell the cat without causing the death of one of their own.

There were two basketball teams, one from a Christian school in Texas and one for children with learning disabilities.  The Christian school slaughtered the other team, 100 – 0.  As the game progressed, the Christian school’s (called the Covenant School) enthusiasm for winning kept on getting stronger and stronger until when they reached 100, they went absolutely wild.  For days, local papers kept criticizing the poor sportsmanship of the Covenant School.

In both instances, the mice and the school for children with learning disabilities were perpetually on the defense against forces that were beyond their control.  We can call the cat “death” and the Covenant School’s advantage (not to mention their behaviour), “sin.”  Without having a good offensive strategy, neither the mice nor the children’s school stood a chance.  And so it is with our own subjection to the powers of Sin and Death.

Unsentimental, Unfair Inclusive Grace

Text:  Matthew 20: 1-16

Grace is one of those funny things in Christian jargon.  It has been described as “God’s unmerited favour,” or “God’s mercy poured out to those who don’t deserve it.”  This goes against our human nature, for we want people to be rewarded or punished based on their merits, contributions and character.  In other words, we humans don’t really “get” Grace.  After all, isn’t it a right, good and joyful thing to be rewarded because of the great things we do or how wonderful we are?  Should the wicked be punished for the horrible things and atrocities that are committed?  That’s the funny thing about Grace.  By our own standards, no matter how high or equitable they might seem, Grace just isn’t fair.

It is simply inclusive.