Proper 12, Year C 2019

Grace Episcopal Church, Galveston
Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
28 July 2019

Our Gospel reading gives us Luke’s version of the Lord’s prayer. It is a bit shorter than the version in Matthew. The longer prayer has some elaboration, perhaps as a result of being used in early Christian worship. (By the way, the Lord’s Prayer we say together at the Eucharist more resembles Matthew’s longer version.) What we have in Luke is probably closer to an oral tradition of Jesus’ sayings, a source available to Luke and Matthew but not, apparently, to Mark where we find no version of this prayer. Even so, Jesus is noted as a person of prayer in all four Gospels. In the context of the Season After Pentecost when the focus is on Christian living, the Gospel reading clearly points us to prayer as a way of life and a source of strength for those who follow Jesus.

We heard today that some of Jesus’ disciples, who had previously followed John the Baptist, recalled that John had talked about prayer. These disciples began to wonder if Jesus would teach them about prayer as well. In a way, of course, Jesus had already been teaching them about prayer. He used what educators know today as one of the most effective instructional techniques in a teacher’s toolkit: the strategy known as modeling. The disciples observed that Jesus took the time to pray even at the height of his public ministry. Sometimes Jesus would remove himself to a deserted place in order to pray, but they knew what he was doing. The disciples came to know that prayer was a priority in his spirituality. Luke tells us, for example, that Jesus spent an entire night in prayer before choosing the twelve he called apostles (Luke 6:12). Eventually, we arrive at the point in today’s Gospel, when the disciples ask Jesus to help them more directly with the practice of prayer.

The subject of prayer could fill books, but I’m going to limit myself to three points that jump off the page for me. First, Jesus models the practice of prayer by addressing his words to one called “Father.” Jesus’ instruction for us to use this term implies that, in prayer, we are speaking as adopted sons and daughters of God. I am reminded of the prologue of John’s Gospel where we find the words: “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”

In addressing this prayer to “Father,” Jesus reminds us, from the start, that we are not praying to someone out there, beyond our time and place, who may or may not hear us...something akin to placing a message in a bottle thrown into the ocean. Instead, our prayer is like a conversation with one near to us. At any point along the journey of faith, and especially in times of stress, God may seem distant to us as we pray. The Christian life holds the promise of growth in faith including our consciousness of God’s presence. Jesus models for us prayer as a way to practice the presence of God even when we’re not feeling it, so to speak. Our Presiding Bishop, The Most Reverend Michael Curry, joyfully preaches that the Christian Life is about the transformative power of God’s Love. Prayer helps open our hearts to this Love, and, as a vehicle for God’s Love, prayer changes our lives in powerful ways.

A second point that arrests my attention is that the Lord’s Prayer itself has different types of prayer within it. Jesus’ begins with what we often call “adoration.” When we say to God, “hallowed be your name” we are not asking for anything. It is a statement intended to praise God, to worship God by ascribing holiness. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus instructs us to begin with praise...to enter into a spirit of worship before moving on to other types of prayer.

We next see that Jesus asks for something. This type of prayer is known as “petition.” I suppose that the first thing “petition” brings to mind is that it asks God to take care of our own needs. But, the way Jesus models it, we are instructed first to ask that God’s will be done before we turn to personal requests. Jesus does this when he prays: “Your kingdom come.” In Jesus of Nazareth, the Kingdom of God was established in power and beginning. But it has not been realized in all of its fullness. The completion of God’s will for our world is rightfully placed at the top of any list of petitions.

Jesus continues his model with prayers for daily bread, for the forgiveness of sins, and for protection from temptation. There are yet other types of prayer, well known and accepted in Christian spirituality, that are not included in this brief model. “Thanksgiving” and “intercession,” for example, are not found here but are found elsewhere in Luke. For example, after Jesus heals ten lepers, the one who returns to Jesus to give thanks is told “Your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19). And, Jesus demonstrates intercession even from the cross when he prays, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (luke 23:34). The Lord’s Prayer is meant to be instructive but not necessarily encyclopedic with regard to the possible kinds of prayer; however, it is arguably the best way to begin and grow a life-changing practice of prayer.

The third, and final, point I wanted to make from our Gospel reading is the call to be persistent in our prayers. Jesus uses the story of the “Friend at Midnight” as a kind of contrast. In this story, there is a friend who comes knocking at the door in the middle of the night because he needs some bread to serve a guest. But you have already barred the door and are in bed with your children. You tell this needy friend that you are not going to help tonight; it’s just too late! But, it doesn’t end there. The friend does not retreat; he keeps knocking. He’s obviously not going away until you give him some bread for his guest...and, thanks to this audacious persistence, you finally, if begrudgingly, get up and give him some bread.

Life shows us that persistence works. We learn that the squeaky wheel gets the oil, the ones who persevere are most likely to achieve their goals; it doesn’t matter how talented you are, if you give up, what you were working on is not happening. Jesus stories usually make a single point, and this one teaches, “If persistence helps you get what you need in this fallen world, then think about how much more your heavenly Father, who loves you as a child, will respond to your being steadfast in prayer.”

We are taught in scripture that God knows our needs before we ask. What we think we need, what we think is best, what we want when we want it, may not be what we need from God’s perspective. Jesus knows what we most need from both the divine and the human perspectives, so he teaches us to ask for the Holy Spirit. Jesus knows that we need the very life of God to dwell in us, to empower us, to give us spiritual wisdom, to inspire us to live one day at a time with the gifts we have been given. In the end, what we need, to live fully, is to know and trust the transformative power of God’s love.

Jesus encourages us to make our petitions known to God and to be persistent in our prayers. I am convinced that prayer changes lives; being persistent in prayer, having some consistency in place and time, trying different types of prayer, being intentional about prayer...thinking beforehand about what and whom we will include, all of these efforts help open us to the transformative power of God’s Love. Of course, let’s not forget about prayers written by others...we do have a Book of Common prayer, after all, that is a treasure trove for our use. I think it safe to say that there is no one right way to pray; perhaps, there are as many ways as there are people. But, when we need a place to start, when words fail us, when we are unsure, know this: Jesus has given a model of prayer that is always there for us. AMEN.

Proper 10, Year C 2019

Grace Episcopal Church, Galveston
1st Lesson: Amos 7:7-17
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
14 July 2019

The Hebrew Bible is full of powerful images… a burning bush, a man in the belly of a fish, a ladder to heaven...just to name a few. In our first reading, God gives Amos one of the most simple yet poignant images of scripture: a plumb line like that used by builders as a vertical reference, but here, used by God to reveal the moral distortion caused by injustice and unchecked greed. Builders know that measurements along the course of a project are essential to success. Sometimes, an error is found and some work must be torn out. It is costly to tear out and do over, but this may be the only way to make the project right.

Per the reading, God measures the northern Kingdom of Israel with a plumb line and finds the nation to be out of alignment. Today’s reading does not identify exactly how Israel had missed the mark, but a full reading of Amos makes this very clear. Elsewhere, Amos bitterly describes the way that those with wealth trample the poor in the dust, taking their land and inhibiting their access to legal recourse. The wealthy build houses of stone with ivory furniture by systematically cheating those with few resources...and even parading their ill-begotten luxuries before God in their places of worship. In the 5th Chapter of Amos, we read God’s strong language of condemnation: “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies,” ...but (instead) “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos proclaims that God has had enough, the divine patience has been exhausted, so to speak, and God is rising up against the Kingdom with the sword. Israel and its King Jeroboam are finished!

Amos’ message does not sit well with Amaziah, the priest of Bethel. Amos called for change while Amaziah espoused the status quo. Amaziah informs Amos that Bethel is the King’s sanctuary and directs the prophet to go back to his home in the south. Go back to your home and preach to the folks in the temple at Jerusalem...you are from Judah, so go pester them with your repulsive message and let them pay your salary. Amos responds to Amaziah by pointing out his independence. He is not a religious professional but, rather, a herder and farmer.

The story of Amos and his confrontation with the Priest of Bethel has something to say in every generation. The message of this story for us, in our own day, is surely how our own households, our own communities, our own nation are measured by God’s plumb line. There is also a warning for us in the way that the priest of Bethel had become a mere agent of a sitting king. The Christian life includes an awareness that the actions of governments are not necessarily aligned with the will of God. Christians should be prepared that faith will sometimes require standing apart from government and perhaps apart from the economic “soup” in which we live in order to make an effective call for change. We should especially be wary whenever religion and secular government appear too close and mutually compromised!

Fortunately for Americans, standing up for a more just society, is also a way of being patriotic at the same time. The Founding Fathers envisioned the separation of Church and State in order to preserve religious freedom for all. As I understand it, our democracy works best when there are organizations, such as the Church, that can speak with a voice independent of our government.  One recent example is a joint communique from the bishops of 6 Episcopal Dioceses in Texas.  It is a call to action for more humane conditions at the border.

We ignore at our own peril the ways of injustice and unchecked greed in our land. Should we ignore the separation of children from their parents at the border? Should we ignore the price-gouging of insulin and other medications? Should we ignore the abuse of our planet without regard for our children and grandchildren? Should we ignore when a wealthy and well-connected person gets preferential treatment from the courts? In every generation, the Church has a choice...will we be more like Amaziah, an agent of the State and the status quo? Or, will we be more like Amos, a speaker of Truth even when the Truth is inconvenient, unsettling, and unwelcome?

Our Gospel reading is the familiar Parable of the Good Samaritan. The context is the question, “Who is my neighbor?” The one who poses the question is a devout Jew who is doing his best to do the right thing. He wants to do what God requires...he seeks to love his neighbor as himself. “Just tell me who my neighbor is,” he asks. Jesus does not answer the question but instead tells a story about a person who acted like a neighbor.

Jesus guides this man (and us) away from the idea that some people are neighbor while others are not. For Jesus neighbor is not defined by who the person is, where he is from, or how well-connected she is. It is whomever we encounter who is in need...even if that person is different from us. Perhaps, Jesus is recommending we focus more on being neighborly than on defining our neighbor.

Here’s an analogy that has been on my mind lately: I’m thinking about when I was first learning to drive on city streets in Baton Rouge. I was in a “driver’s ed” class sponsored by my school and remember feeling uneasy the first time I got behind the wheel. The hardest part was keeping the car centered in the lane. My first strategy was to find some mark on the hood, an ornament or a crease line, and then figure out where that feature needed to appear in relation to the curb. (Sort of like spot bowling.) This required constant monitoring, but I found that I could keep the wheels off the curb this way...most of the time, at least. I soon outgrew this strategy, and orienting the car became “second nature” with no need to think about it.

I’m suggesting that the need to define neighbor is like needing to monitor a reference point on the hood to keep your car on the road. This is like having to justify yourself by monitoring your performance according to God’s law. It is cumbersome and prone to error. But, in Christ, we have been set free from the law by the transformative power of God’s love. I don’t know how it happened, but at some point, my body learned to keep the car on the road without having to constantly think about it. In the same way, let us aspire to be neighborly as a kind of “second nature.”

Jesus tells the religious lawyer to go and be a neighbor like the Samaritan in the story. Whether it’s loving neighbor or driving a car, practicing a skill helps to change us. I imagine most of us in life are somewhere in between needing a reference point and loving freely those whom God sends our way. Truth be told, the plumb line held up to my own life shows me out of alignment...and chances are it does for you too. That’s what it means to be a redeemed sinner.

The great Season after Pentecost is all about the Christian life. Today we are reminded that we are out of alignment with God’s Law, but more importantly that Jesus encourages us to drive on anyway. There is grace in our trying, and the promise that God’s love will change us. We do not need to obsess on how we miss the mark of any external measure. God promises that Love dwells with us and that this Love changes us from the inside out. AMEN.

Trinity Sunday, Year C 2019

Welcoming Jonah to the Christian Family.

Trinity Episcopal Church, Galveston
Epistle: Romans 5:1-5
16 June 2019

A realtor was driving out in the countryside looking for some property when he noticed a chicken. This bird was running alongside the car and it got his attention because it was keeping pace. Just then, the chicken accelerated moving on ahead of him...and it appeared like the chicken had three legs. It turned a corner and up a gravel driveway disappearing between a farmhouse and a barn. The realtor turned the corner himself and pulled in the driveway. He rolled down his window to speak to a farmer who surely had seen this. “Did you see a chicken running by here just now?” “Yep,” said the farmer. “Pardon me, but it looked like it had three legs. Did you notice that too?” The farmer replied, “Well, yes, that’s how I breed them. You see, the wife and I love drumsticks, but when Jr. came along, we were always fighting over ‘em. I figured that raising three-legged chickens would solve that problem for us.” “I can’t help but ask, said the realtor… how do the drumsticks taste?” “Well,” the farmer replied, “I can’t rightly say because we haven’t been able to catch one yet!”

I chose to begin with this joke to arrest your attention and because it seemed to fit in with the theme of three-ness that is on our plate for today. (It also honors the memory of my father, W.A. Dearman, Jr., who loved to joke about chickens.) This is Trinity Sunday which is the patronal feast, so to speak, of this parish. On this day, preachers all over the world are faced with the task of explaining how one God is described in three persons. It doesn’t seem quite to make sense, and perhaps that is the whole point. It was Augustine who said, “If you think you understand, it’s not God.” My homiletical task is to describe the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. ...but make no mistake, we will not be getting our minds around the divine mystery Who has no beginning and no end.

That three things can be one thing is not unheard of in our experience. Since, my grandson, Jonah, is being Baptized today, and since it happens to be Father’s Day, let’s take some bit of example from Jonah, the 5-month-old. He doesn’t cry much, but when he does it is typically for one of three reasons. I don’t think his cries are audibly different, but depending on the context, he wails as a response to three things. 1) when he is hungry, 2) when he needs to be changed, and 3) when he is fighting sleep. There is but one cry but three different contexts.

A central concept for Judeo-Christianity is that our God is one...our ancestors in faith came to believe that there is only one God Who matters, only one God Who has a claim on us. And this is the God Who intervened in the course of human history to rescue the Hebrew slaves from oppression and bondage in Egypt. As Christians we confess to have been redeemed from the slavery of sin by this same God Who again entered into history only this time en-fleshed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Looking at the concept of redemption can illustrate how this One God can be understood as a Trinity of persons. It’s something like three ways that God has of being God. Our reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans underscores the Trinity by showing the triadic structure of Christian redemption. First, the source of our redemption is the Father by Whose will we were created, while, secondly, the redemptive act on the Cross was made by the Son. Thirdly, people of every age, including our own, experience being redeemed by the power of the Cross because we are guided by the Holy Spirit. Inspired by the third person of the Trinity, the redemptive act comes alive for us as it has come to have a fresh meaning from one generation to the next..

One way to visualize the Trinity is to consider three different church interiors. I think of God the Father, when I imagine this parish back in time when the altar was against the wall. Celebrating Holy Communion meant that everyone, including the priest, all faced the same direction in worship. The emphasis was on God Who is beyond the here and now, beyond the veil of time and space, and before Whom we are not worthy to stand. I think of God the Son when I consider a sanctuary, like this one today, where the altar is pulled away from the wall. The emphasis here is on God in our midst, on God Who is incarnate, on God whenever God is revealed to human beings whether in a burning bush, in the creation itself, and most perfectly in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Finally, I think of God the Holy Spirit, when I visualize the kind of sanctuary that has no piece of substantial furniture as a focal point. Sometimes, there is a speaker’s stand, but it is often de-emphasized, made of a transparent plexi-glass material. At any given point, worship might be led from anywhere as people gathered feel moved to pray or speak. The emphasis is on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer.

I am most comfortable in an Episcopal Church like this one; it’s a lot like the one in Baton Rouge, where I grew up. The emphasis is on incarnation but also on mystery. The Book of Common Prayer provides comfort like an old friend. At the same time, I recognize that our brothers and sisters across the street might find this sanctuary to be way too dark and somber. The point is: it takes all of us to worship God. The truth is: it takes a world of different traditions, with different styles, furniture, and music in order to worship the Triune God.

Baptism is not about being Episcopalian, or Catholic, or Baptist or any other specific religious branch. It is about being welcomed into the family of God, that great cloud of witnesses whose number God only knows. His physical family is represented today in this congregation by his parents and by sponsors, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles and others who have loved him from before he was born. His physical family represents a variety of Christian traditions. As Jonah grows in many ways, may he also find the religious diversity of his family to be a strength, a living illustration that it takes all of us to worship the One and Triune God. AMEN.

Easter II, Year C

Welcoming Blake to the
Christian Family!

Grace Episcopal Church, Galveston
Gospel: John 20:19-31
April 28, 2019

It’s the 2nd Sunday of Easter. Typically on this Sunday a church is not as full as it was on Easter Day. There is less ceremony, fewer family members visiting, no hunting for eggs, or flowering of the cross. Perhaps, because of this comparison to Easter Day, previous generations nicknamed this day “Low Sunday.” But, today, God willing, we will witness the Baptism of a child. We will hear his parents and sponsors pledge to raise the child as a Christian, and the people of this congregation will also pledge to do their part in nurturing his Faith. Soon, we will welcome the newest member in all of Christendom. Today, promises to be anything but “Low Sunday.”

The Gospel reading gives another hint that this is more than “Low Sunday.” I had déjà vu while preparing this sermon….not just because I’ve been preaching for 32 years...but I preached on this same Gospel in this pulpit on this Sunday last year! A check of the Lectionary shows that the same reading from the Gospel According to John is appointed every year for the Second Sunday of Easter. This reading has multiple themes but the primary focus is on the nature of Faith. Believing is so central to who we are as Christians that it bears repeating year after year! It’s a big deal, and it doesn’t sound anything like a “Low Sunday” to me.

In this Gospel, we hear the story of two Resurrection appearances. The first appearance was on Sunday evening, likely the first evening meal after Jesus had risen from the dead. The disciples were afraid and for good reason. Their teacher had been been identified as a threat to Roman authority and brutally killed. Perhaps, the authorities would come after them next….it was best for them to keep a low profile. We get a hint of this in the significant detail that the door was locked. The locked door not only conveys the disciples’ fear but also the power of Jesus’ Resurrection. Despite the doors, locks, and, most of all, despite death itself, Jesus came and stood among them; he spoke a greeting of peace and conferred on them the Holy Spirit to empower them to rise above their fears and to do God’s work.

The first appearance in this Gospel serves to set up the second appearance one week later. The problem with the first instance was that one of the original twelve (other than Judas) was missing. Thomas was not present for Jesus first appearance, and when Thomas eventually heard about it, he was incredulous. Can’t we just imagine what was going through his mind? “These people have lost their minds; they have left their senses; their eyes have played tricks on them.” Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

The two stories together give the answer to a real problem of Faith experienced in the early Christian community. In the post-apostolic Church, the community after the Apostles, after those who were around for the resurrection appearances, after that big group who, according to Paul, witnessed Jesus ascend into heaven, and after the time of Paul to whom Jesus also appeared...in this post-apostolic community, how is it that people are expected to believe? How do the ones who did not benefit from seeing the Resurrected Jesus with their own eyes...how do these people come to have Faith in Jesus?

Through the Lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer, the Episcopal Church gives us the opportunity to ponder the answer to this question every time the 2nd Sunday in Easter comes around. The spotlight on Thomas’ experience is a reminder that even seeing the Resurrected Jesus is no guarantee of Faith. The disciples in that upper room all saw with their eyes, but they still had to make a “leap of faith” to accept that their teacher and friend was also their Lord and God.

The Gospel According to John tells the story of Jesus appearing to his disciples to establish a first wave of witnesses who would subsequently establish the pattern of one generation witnessing to the next. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God from those who came before us.

The story of how Thomas comes to believe yields at least three things we can say about Faith:

1. To have Faith means to trust. This is the way Faith is used almost exclusively in the scriptures, and it is what Jesus meant when he encouraged Thomas to believe. There may be times when you will hear faith used to describe a set of things to believe. In this sense, the Episcopal “faith” might include such things as the apostolic succession of bishops and the basis of religious authority being scripture, tradition, and reason...but these are just two in a list of things to which we might subscribe. When Jesus speaks to Thomas, he is not talking about things on a list...he is talking about trust, he is inviting Thomas to bet his life on God.
2. Faith is not the same as certainty. If a person is certain, he or she does not need to trust, because he or she already “knows.” Faith requires vulnerability and there is no vulnerability in certainty….there is no “leap of faith,” no mystery. Instead of certainty, Jesus invites us to be open to him, with hearts inspired by the reading of scripture, formed by participation in worship and selfless actions, and guided by careful thinking as well as thoughtful discussions with fellow Christians. Certainty distorts religion. Many forms of extremism are about choosing certainty over Faith. Certainty takes dogma and beats other people over the head with it...or worse...and you find this in religions all over the planet. The suicide bombers in Sri Lanka last week were so certain in their contempt that they were driven to commit atrocities. But, Faith as trust means having an open heart, trusting that God is with us even if we remain reverently unsure about some of the details. Trust in this way also means accepting the possibility that God has spoken to others who worship differently than us and who subscribe to different things than we do. Trust never leads to contempt. Our world surely needs less certainty and more Trust, don’t you think?
3. And finally, we do not create Faith. It is a gift that comes to us from beyond us. In John’s theology, we don’t make ourselves believe...we come to believe when the story of Jesus and the traditions of the Church are passed down to us. Because faith is a gift it is not coercive. People are free to harden their hearts to the Good News. We were created, after all, with the ability to choose. Of all things, God made us with the ability to take God’s invitation to Faith under advisement. In the end, God has shown us in Jesus that we are called to take our place in a family, to join others around a table, so to speak. Jesus even used the term “friends” to describe those who follow him. True friends are not forced or bribed to be loyal; friendship is only so when it is given freely.

So you see, today is anything but a “Low Sunday.” Our theme is the nature of Faith itself, a message our world so desperately needs to hear. And now, we move to the sacrament of Baptism where in Faith we will witness a child being connected forever to something greater than himself. And, we will, with his family and sponsors, promise to pass on the story of Jesus and the traditions of the Church, so that this little one might in time come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing he might have life in Jesus name. AMEN.

Lent II, Year C 2019

St. Thomas the Apostle, Nassau Bay
Old Testament: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Gospel: Luke 13:31-35
March 17, 2019

Jesus identifies as a prophet, one who in Biblical tradition was called by God to speak truth to power, to put forth God’s word “all the way to the top” so to speak.  Jerusalem was the location of the Temple, it was the seat of religious authority for the Jews.  For a Jew, it was all the way to the top.  As Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry, at the end he is compelled to journey toward Jerusalem to speak truth to power.  

In today’s Gospel reading, we get some foreshadowing of the fate that awaits Jesus in the ancient Judean capital.  But before that, we see the difficulty he faced just on the journey to get there.  Some Pharisees came to Jesus in the guise of being helpful….but we know their real motivation is to keep Jesus out of Jerusalem if possible.  I would not put it past Caiaphas to have sent these folks to scare Jesus into changing his mind, to stray from his course, and hopefully, to go into hiding.  “Jesus, you are vulnerable here….save yourself by staying small and keeping a low profile.”  The religious leadership in Jerusalem had enough headaches just running interference between the “run-of-the-mill” zealots and the Romans.  The last thing they wanted was to deal with this popular teacher whom many thought to be God’s long-awaited chosen leader.   Recent history had already shown the Romans would not hesitate to unleash violent force to put down a riot or anything that smelled of insurrection.  Go and tell Jesus that Herod is in town and wants to kill him….perhaps that will be enough to keep Jesus away at least until after the Passover Festival.

We hear this reading on the 2nd Sunday in Lent well on the way in our Liturgical journey through the season.  The Gospel reading may point us to ask in what way are we being compelled, driven by the Spirit to speak the truth where it may not be welcome, where it might be misunderstood and turned against us, where it will not be appreciated.  What barriers may stand in the way of our saying the right thing, what scripts do we play in our minds to discourage us from speaking the truth where it is so desperately needed.

The world is once again reeling from the news of a mass killing of civilians. Forty-nine people were killed in shootings at two mosques in central Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday.  The terrorist attack appeared to have been carried out by a 28 year-old man hellbent on furthering a white supremacist ideology.  
It is hard to fathom how a person could be so evil as to plan the mass murder of other human beings.  I used to think that the underlying motive for terrorism like this must be hate.  We sometimes hear the term “hate” crimes to describe attacks at places of worship, for example.  Hurtful words and Internet memes as well are often called forms of “hate” speech.  But here’s the deal.  I don’t think the term “hate” is the most accurate term for this .  Instead, I think the word “contempt” is probably closer to the truth.  

My work as an educator would from time to time involve educational counseling with students who were being disciplined for bullying behavior.  Bullying involves repeated acts of meanness by someone often with the support of bystanders.   One thing I learned in this work is that students who persist in bullying are not angry at their victims...instead, they view their victims as somehow undeserving of an equal place in the community.  The victims were beneath them in status.  Sometimes a student who bullied another tried to blame the problem on the victim.  “He annoys me constantly,” or “She’s always in my way.”  (Sometimes parents were part of the problem and supported the excuses.)  But this kind of anger was a facade; the real issue was a distorted version of reality in which the victim is viewed as a legitimate target for scorn. 

Contempt is nothing new in human history.  Jesus was surely well aware of the contempt he would face in Jerusalem, both from the religious elite and from the Roman authorities...he was under no allusions that these forces would have any respect for his teachings or even for his life.

What is new and unique in human history is what God has done in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  In life, Jesus taught with parables….stories and images that had staying power and caused us to think.  In the Gospel reading, Jesus uses such an image.  He compares God to a hen with a brood of chicks.  What does God want?  God wants to gather the chicks under wing to protect them, if only they are willing.  In the parabolic image, the way God has of being God is to gather, to assemble people together, to bring people into a family.  But only if they are willing.  Adoption into the family of God is an invitation to accept God’s nurture and favor.  

In his death, Jesus laid down his life to pay the price for our ignorance, for our lack of trust.  He paid the price for the way we betray God, one another, and even for the way we betray ourselves by giving-in to our basest instincts.  Jesus showed us that God’s desire is to gather people together under wing...people from every nation and tradition, a new family whose exact makeup is a mystery known only to God.

In his Resurrection, Jesus gives us hope.  Human life is grounded in hope, is it not?  Life is easier to live when we hope for good things in the future.  At different times in our lives, we hope for success, we hope for happiness and peace, and we extend that hope to those we love and even to strangers.  In the face of tragedy, we mourn but keep our hope for a world that is better, a world with solutions to disease, poverty, and hunger.  A world without violence fueled by contempt.  Hope sustains our lives in the worst of times because with it we can hold in our imagination the possibility of change for the better.  Those who face a grave challenge in life know that hope is required….it’s not optional like something you can take or leave.

In our reading from Genesis, we learn that Abram is tempted by despair.  God had promised that he would be the founder of a great people who would become a blessing to all nations.  And as it has turned out, Abram is getting along in years and has no children of his own.  It seems as though what he had signed-on for was not happening.  Into the midst of this low-point, God re-affirms the promise first by showing Abram the night sky and comparing the stars to how numerous his family will eventually be.  Then, in the next story God gives Abram a dream in which a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between cut pieces of animals….this unusual dream portrayed a kind of ancient contract ceremony.  So, this was also a reaffirmation of God’s promise with a kind-of signed contract, as it were.

We learn from this story that Abram is inspired by these mysterious visions and dreams.  He could have ignored them or attributed them to something he ate...but instead, his faith in God’s promise was rekindled.  What God gave him was hope that his life was on course; hope that his calling was true; hope that his life was connected to something larger than himself...hope that life has meaning and purpose.

The first time I rode the subway in New York, I was rather cautious.  All of my life I had heard negative things about the subway there.  As the time came for me to board, I was imagining pickpockets, thieves, and half-crazed addicts just looking to do harm.  I found a seat and clutched my computer case for dear life and looked downward to avoid any eye contact.  All I wanted was to make it alive to my conference destination about 6 or 7 stops to the North.  At the very next stop, I noticed a boy of about 10 years of age, enter the subway car by himself.  He looked to be on his way to school with his books and homework. This all looked to be the regular routine for him as he exited on one of the stops before mine. This unaccompanied minor was a sign for me.  He instantly put my fears to rest.  He put a light on my own dysfunctional thinking about New York.  I laughed inside with a bit of embarrassment at how a grown man could be afraid of something that was just everyday routine to a child.  I was a bit more relaxed for the remainder of the ride and reminded that signs of hope can be seen even where we least expect them.

Now, many years later, the biggest sign of hope for me has to be my new grandson, Jonah.  I think his great grandfather, Craig Morgan, said it best when holding Jonah for the first time he proclaimed,” When you look at this baby, you know there is a God who loves us.”  

The scriptures are full of signs meant to give us hope: the stars of the sky, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, a hen gathering her brood under wing.  Perhaps, today’s lessons invite us to reclaim the place of hope in our lives.  This is especially challenging when we see how human beings can hold each other in contempt and how this leads to violence.  As people of the cross, we have a vision of a better world...a world made different by the transformative power of God’s love.  We hope that the Kingdom of God, established in power and beginning when Jesus came among us, will one day be known in all its fullness.  One day all the earth will see Jesus and say, “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.”  Until that day, we live in the between time, a time when we need hope to see God’s love at work changing the world.  May hope allow us to live our lives with meaning and purpose.  In hope may we love our neighbors as ourselves, may we see all people as God’s creatures, worthy of love and connection, all invited to gather under God’s wing for protection.  May hope allow us to speak truth to power, to call bullying when we see it, to recognize contempt, and do our best to stand apart from it with acts of kindness for its victims.  All God’s children have a place in the choir. May hope allow us in some small way this week to make our world a little safer for all God’s children.  AMEN.