"Born to Shine"

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
December 17, 2023 (8am only)

                                                     3 Advent B

A few weeks ago, I texted my daughter in law to see how things were going.  I knew the kids had been sick with some wretched virus and that their furnace had gone out.  She replied that she felt like she was living in a country music song.  Since I have a fondness for country music, I knew the exact song she needed and sent her a link to the Rodney Atkins song “If you’re going through hell, keep on going.”  That is a great song with a lot of energy that gives you a little pep talk and a lot of motivation to keep on going with words like “Don’t slow down; if you’re scared, don’t show it.  You might get out before the devil even knows you’re there.” 

This morning, I would love to send both Isaiah and John the Baptist a link to the country music song “Be a light.”  The song is upbeat and hopeful.  The refrain is “In a world full of hate, be a light.  Don’t hide in the dark, you were born to shine.  In a world full of hate, be the light.” The verses say things like “In a time of war, be peace” and “In a place that needs change, make a difference.” Both Isaiah and John the Baptist are calling us to be a light and to point to the light and there’s nothing like a good country music song to help deliver that message.  

Isaiah has been sent by God to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.  Isaiah is writing to a people in distress.  The Hebrew people have been released from captivity in Babylon to a different kind of captivity back at home in the Promised Land...a captivity in which they cannot earn a living, their temple is in ruins, they have lost everything of value and there appears to be no hope for a better future.  But Isaiah is not bringing good news just so the people feel better about their dismal situation.  Isaiah is bringing them comfort so that they can do something about their situation.  Isaiah is bringing the people hope so that they can get about the business of restoration.  And when that happens, their descendants will be known among the nations, and their offspring among all people.  All who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.  In other words, Isaiah preaches comfort, so that the people can rise up and rebuild that which was lost, and God’s glory will be seen through out the world.  Isaiah calls the people to be a light.

In the gospel reading, we are told that John came to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.  John is the one sent to point the way toward Jesus.  Unlike last week’s gospel lesson from Mark, where the focus was on John as the one who baptized for the repentance of sins, in this gospel, John’s real mission is to point to Jesus.  When the priests and Levites ask John who he is, John only answers in the negative: he is not the Messiah, not Elijah, not the prophet.  John’s whole identity was to be a light who pointed the people to someone else, who directed the people to the light of the world, the Word made flesh.   

Advent is not just about preparing ourselves for the coming of the Christ child.  Advent is also about preparing the world around us for the coming of the Christ Child.  Neither Isaiah nor John call us this morning to prepare the world by threatening hell-fire and damnation if people do not believe or behave a certain way.  Isaiah calls us to bind up the broken-hearted, comfort those who mourn, to provide a mantle of praise for a faint spirit, so that God’s glory may be displayed.  Isaiah calls us to work to rebuild the ruins and repair the devastation we see around us, so that the world around us will see the work of God.  Isaiah calls us to be a light so that others can see what God is doing in their midst.  Likewise, John calls to use Advent to be a light that testifies to the light of Christ.  In Advent, and all year actually, our work is to be a light that points to the Light in our midst, bringing hope to the world around us. The apostle Paul calls us to rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks in all circumstances so that our lives point to the Word made flesh among us.  Certainly a people that can rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances point to the glory of God.

In the words of the country song, “Don’t hide in the dark, you were born to shine.”  If we heed the call of Isaiah to bring good news to the oppressed, the command of Paul to rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances, and the witness of John to testify to the light, I believe that both our hearts and our world will be better prepared for the arrival of the Christ Child in our midst and we will be a light.

Amen.

"If you're going through hell" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBKybUusyP8

"Be a light" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JcwNJj-pWY

Not "Just in Case"

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
December 10, 2023

2 Advent B 

          As we prepare for Christmas this year, I find myself thinking back to last Christmas and the deep cold and violent winds that came the day before Christmas Eve.  We knew the cold and the winds were coming so I did a bit of baking ahead so I would be ready if we lost the power.  I boiled water all day and kept it in thermal carafes so that if the power did go off, we would have hot water for tea.  That may seem a bit excessive, but you  would not want to be stuck in a house with me where there is no power and no tea.  I was not worried about the refrigerator or freezer if the power went out as the garage would have made a fine refrigerator and there was a vast deep freeze just outside the back door.  I kept all my devices charging all day and bought a battery pack just in case.  I was going to be prepared just in case we lost power the day before Christmas Eve.

          One would think that John the Baptist and I would have a lot in common.  We both value preparedness although I find his food and clothing choices questionable.  This morning we hear the very first words in the gospel according to Mark.  We are told that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness just as the prophet Isaiah foretold, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And we are told that people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem flocked to the wilderness to be baptized in the river Jordan. Something about John the Baptist and his message about preparing for the one who is coming after him caused people to come out in droves to hear what he had to say and act on his words. 

          Perhaps the people were preparing the way I prepare for a storm-just in case the power goes out, just in case John the Baptist is right, just in case someone is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit, we had better be ready. Just in case. 

          But, unlike me, John the Baptist is not doing “just in case.”  This is not a fire drill so that people are prepared just in case catastrophe happens.  This is not the emergency siren going off at noon on the first Saturday of each month so we know what the siren sounds like.  In the reading from Isaiah this morning, we hear the words “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  The glory of the Lord will be revealed.  John the Baptist is preparing the people for what is definitely coming to pass.  One is coming whose sandals John is not worthy to untie, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit, and who, in not many more verses in Mark’s gospel will appear and say “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near.  Repent and believe in the good news.”

          John the Baptist is calling the people and us to a season of preparation not just in case we need to be prepared but because we do  need to be prepared for the inbreaking of God.  John calls us to live as people who really expect God to break into our midst.  But how do we do that, short of heading to the wilderness ourselves to look for someone dressed in camel’s hair and eating locusts to give us instructions?

          This morning we hear the words “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  These are the very opening words of Mark’s gospel and some scholars believe this is the title of the whole work.  On the other hand, I find it interesting that the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ is found in the wilderness.  The voice in the reading from Isaiah cries out “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.”  John the Baptist appears in the wilderness and proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  Either way, preparation is about engaging the wilderness and removing barriers so that all people can see the glory of God revealed.  In our own lives and hearts, what barriers do we need to remove so that we are prepared for the glory of God as revealed in the Christ Child?  From what do we need to turn that separates us from the love of God?  That is repentance.  As followers of Jesus, what barriers do we need to remove so that all people can know the love of God as revealed in the Christ Child?  That is the work of raising valleys and leveling mountains.  If folks steer clear of churches because they are afraid of being judged for their gender orientation or marital status or differing abilities or economic status or politics, or because they have never heard the Good News, how do we remove those barriers? 

          John calls us to prepare with the conviction that the glory of God will be revealed and all people shall see it together.  John calls us to prepare because that for which we prepare matters, both to us and to the world and not just for one day but forever.  John calls us to prepare, not just in case something wondrous might happen in our midst but because something wondrous is about to happen.

                                                                                      Amen.

 

 

Sheep

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
November 26, 2023

Christ the King

          During the pandemic, one of the things I was most proud of was the way we tried to tailor our outreach to those most affected by Covid-19.  We heard from mental health professionals in the parish that mental health needs were skyrocketing due to the isolation of quarantine.  Incidents of domestic violence were also increasing as there was no place to escape from abusers.  So we had an online action and raised over $10,000 for Hope and Healing, the battered women’s shelter in Akron.  For Christmas in July the same year, we supplied Hope and Healing with hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards for their residents.  At Christmas, we heard about the ministry of the Peter Maurin Center, serving people who live under the bridges in Akron and instead of giving money for Christmas flowers, we used that money to support ministry to the unhoused.  We tried to listen to the needs of the community and respond in the ways that we could during a time when doing things in-person was not safe.  Our goal was and is to seek and serve Christ in all people, as we promise in baptism.

          Today is Christ the King Sunday, the day we celebrate the reign of Christ at the end of time.  Christ the King Sunday is also the last Sunday before Advent begins next Sunday.  And while, technically, Christ the King Sunday is not the patronal feast day of churches named Christ Church, as Christ Church Episcopal we would do well to listen to what Jesus says on this day.  Bonus points to anyone who knows what our patronal feast day is…without consulting Google!

Today, we hear Jesus speak the words from which our baptismal promise to seek and serve Christ in all people comes.  At the end of time, the Son of Man will say to the sheep on his right hand “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….I was in prison and you visited me.”  The sheep did not say “Excellent!  That is exactly what we were trying to do.”  The sheep had no idea what Jesus was talking about.  When the goats to Jesus’s left were told that when they did not feed the hungry, or visit those in prison, they did not feed Jesus, they did not say “I’m so sorry….I ran out of time, or I barely had enough for myself, or it just wasn’t convenient that day, or it felt really awkward.”  The goats to Jesus’ left were just as shocked to find that they had neglected to serve Jesus as the sheep to Jesus’ right were to find that they had served Jesus.  Despite the surprise on both sides, the sheep get eternal life and the goats get eternal punishment. 

          Since the sheep had no idea that they were seeking and serving Christ in all people, why did they serve?   Clearly they did not serve in order to win favor with Jesus.  They had no baptismal covenant they were trying to live up to.  What was their motivation?

The idea that people of faith should serve others is hardly something new with Jesus.  Matthew's gospel was written to a largely Jewish audience.  The Hebrew scriptures are full of admonitions to live with mercy and kindness, not just to people of like faith, but to all people.  Over and over again in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we hear the command to show hospitality to foreigners, for the Hebrew people were once strangers in the land of Egypt.  The Hebrew people and the stranger were connected by the common experience of being in a foreign land.  The prophet Micah sums up the Hebrew teaching with the words "What does the Lord require? That you do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God."  In the reading from Ezekiel, we hear God model the very behavior God expects of God's faithful people.  "I will seek the lost and I will bring back the strayed.  I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak."  Acts of mercy and kindness are part of the identity of the Hebrew people because they are the people of the God of mercy and kindness.

The sheep we hear about this morning are doing good works simply because they are living as the people of God they were created to be.  Acts of mercy and kindness were part of the identity of the sheep because they belong to the God of mercy and kindness.  Jesus says in Matthew's gospel "I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it" so for Christians, belonging to God through Christ means living out the same acts of mercy and kindness.  Then, to our surprise, we realize that we have served Jesus.

          This morning we have the privilege of baptizing Simon Andrew Monroe Phillips.  We will promise to seek and serve Christ in all people, to work for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being.  Simon will be sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever with the sign of the cross.  I explain to children that the cross is like having Jesus’ name written on their foreheads.  It means that they belong to God.  Belonging to Christ the King does not mean being people of power, privilege and protection.  Belonging to Christ the King means being people of the shepherd who came to serve, to identify with those on the margins, and to work for justice and peace.  We make 300 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and deliver them to St. Bernard’s in Akron as part of their ministry to unhoused people in Akron.  We make lunches for Open M.  We knit and we collect laundry detergent and yams, and buy gifts for the Giving Tree.  We participate in First Serve.  We are thrilled to be able to do those things together and in-person having known the isolation of quarantine.  Our next challenge is to find ways to actually engage the community, to work at the Food Pantry or distribute the sandwiches at St. Bernards, or serve a meal at Open M, or visit those in a nursing home with no one to visit them.  The reason we do what we do is not to earn anything from God.  All we could ever want from God is given to us in baptism.  Like the sheep, we are called to seek and serve Christ in all people simply because we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever. 

                                                                             Amen.

Risk

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
November 19, 2023

28 Proper A 

          At a conference a number of years ago, I was asked to speak about a risk my congregation had taken.  The options for a topic were fairly infinite as urban ministry just comes with risks.  But the one I chose seemed to most clearly walk the fine line between bold and stupid.  We had the opportunity to purchase two houses at the end of our parking lot.  Acquiring the land next to the church is generally considered a wise move, and Christ Church has done that several times in our history.  Many, many meetings and conversations later, we decided to buy the property.  Each house had three apartments which we turned into low income housing.  The first house was rented to clients at Clark County Mental Health and their rent was paid with Section 8 vouchers.  The second house was loaned to an organization a lot like Family Promise to be transitional housing for folks who needed help getting on their feet.  We hoped the rent from the first house would cover expenses for both and at no point would the income from the rental units ever subsidize the expenses of the church.  We took a risk, invested a good bit of money into the houses, and hoped to provide good, clean low income housing to those who needed it.  To this day, despite all appearances to the contrary, I believe that we made a good and faithful decision.  However, after many years of owning the houses, countless repairs, and an ongoing bug problem that we could not solve, we had to tear down the houses and create a tiny plot of green space where they had once stood.  We took a faithful risk but at the end of the day, we lost. 

          I thought about that little adventure in rental property when I read Jesus’ parable this morning, a parable that has nothing to do with rental housing and everything to do with risk*.  A man going on a journey summons his servants and gives one 5 talents, the other 2 talents, and the third gets 1 talent, each according to that person’s ability.  A talent was a tremendous amount of money-somewhere between 15 and 20 years worth of earnings for the average laborer according to the commentaries.  Two of the servants took the money and traded with it and doubled the investment.  Trading does not come without risk and whatever risk the two servants took paid off.  Both were commended and invited to enter into the joy of the master.  But the third servant was afraid of the master who was apparently known to be a harsh man, although how the servant knew that is a mystery. The third servant buried the talent and returned it to his master taking no risk whatsoever.  And for his lack of effort, he was cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  That seems a little extreme but that is par for the course in Jesus’ parables.

          I do not think Jesus is giving investment advice here, and while many stewardship sermons have been preached on this passage, I have doubts that the passage is actually about money at all.  The line “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away” tells us that this parable has nothing to do with gospel economics in which the rich are poor and the poor are rich.  We are going to have to dig a bit deeper to figure this one out. 

I wonder if the meaning of the parable hinges on the line “so I was afraid.”  Throughout the gospels, the opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear.  The first two servants acted on faith, both faith in their master that they would not be punished if they tried and failed, and faith in their abilities to use what they were given to make more.  They were invited to enter into the joy of the master.  I honestly do not think the master would have been angry with them had they tried and failed just as I do not believe God was angry with us when our rental housing risk failed.  The third servant acted in fear of the master and in fear of the servant’s own abilities.  That servant did not even try and he ended up in outer darkness, that place where there is no joy.

A talent was worth so incredibly much money that I wonder if the talents actually represent something else.  I wonder if the talents might represent the immeasurable love of God.   Some days we may feel like we have been given a full measure and rush out in faith and joy to share or invest that love and grow the Kingdom of God, regardless of what risk might be involved and knowing that we won’t always be successful.  Our efforts are rewarded with joy.  Other days, such as in the midst of war, or deep national division, or racial injustice, or whatever personal challenges we face, we may feel like we have a smaller measure and be tempted to keep that to ourselves, even though the reality is that the love of God is immeasurable and we each have been given God’s love in abundance.  There’s not much joy in hoarding.  However we might be feeling, whatever challenges we face, we are called to act in faith, not fear, and invest God’s love in the world rather than bury God’s love in the ground. 

          The Good News in this disturbing parable is that, as humans, we are loved immeasurably by God, and as humans who follow Jesus, we have not only a call, but a responsibility to step out in faith and make that love known in the world, even and especially when times are hard.  In the midst of war, a country where hate crimes are on the increase, a government that struggles to govern, a community in which there are people who struggle to feed their families, we have a responsibility to invest God’s love in the world.  God loves humankind too much to let us simply bury that love in the ground where it does no one any good just so it can be dug up and returned someday.  We can get hung up on what happened to the poor servant who acted in fear and was cast into outer darkness, or we can be people of great love, taking a risk and stepping out in faith, working to make a difference in the world, so that one day we will hear God say to everyone “Enter into the joy of your master.”

 

* With thanks to Amy Frykholm at https://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2014-09/lasalle-street-church-makes-use-abundance?utm_source=Christian+Century+Newsletter&utm_campaign=444370135b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_SCP_2023-11-13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-31c915c0b7-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

 

         

Waiting

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
November 12, 2023

27 Proper A 

          My mother taught me that the best way to wait is to spend the time preparing.  Sometimes the wait was for something good, like Thanksgiving or Christmas, in which case she started baking a good 6 months ahead of the holiday. Sometimes the plan was for something sad, and we all knew what the plan would be when the time came and how to execute the plan.  Sometimes the wait was for something like a storm….a nor’easter when we lived in New Jersey.  When a south Alabama woman meets 3 feet of snow, there’s going to be a party.    Provisions were stocked, phone calls were made, firewood was acquired, and all were welcome.  We were ready.  Mom did not leave a lot to chance, whatever the occasion.  She was prepared. 

          Jesus’ parable this morning appears to be about being prepared.  Known as the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids, I think this is probably my least favorite of all of Jesus’ parables.  Here’s the problem.  The 10 bridesmaids are waiting for the bridegroom.  Five have oil for their lamps and five do not.  Why would anyone have a lamp with no oil? That would be like having a flashlight but no batteries.  So, they are not called the five foolish bridesmaids for nothing.  But when the 5 foolish bridesmaids realize they need oil, the 5 wise bridesmaids refuse to share.  So much for any theology of abundance much less simple sharing.  So at midnight, in the first century, the 5 bridesmaids go off to buy oil from the dealers.  I am not sure you could do that at midnight in Hudson, Ohio in 2023.  Of course, the bridegroom comes while they are away and the 5 wise bridesmaids go into the wedding banquet and the door is shut.  When the other 5 get back from their shopping trip, the bridegroom refuses to let them in.  So much for gospel hospitality.  At the end of the parable, Jesus tells his followers “Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the hour nor the day.”  But all 10 bridesmaids got drowsy waiting for the bridegroom and fell asleep.  So, sleep must not be the real problem.  What is the point in this parable of the foolish, the selfish, and the inhospitable? 

          Finding the point is tricky since this parable of the Kingdom of Heaven does not match up with the Jesus we know from the rest of the gospel.  In just a few more verses, Jesus will tell his followers that when they give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, care for the sick, and clothe the naked, they do those things for him.  Likewise, when Jesus’ followers refuse to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, visit those in prison, they refuse to do those things for him.  So, when the so-called wise bridesmaids refused to  share with the so-called foolish bridesmaids doesn’t that mean they refused to share with Jesus?  And in another parable earlier in the gospel, the workers in the vineyard who show up at the end of the day get the same pay as those who worked a whole day in the scorching sun.  So, coming in late does not seem to be an issue in gospel hospitality.  And Jesus, who the bridegroom represents in the parable, spent his life including those from all the margins of society and serving others to the point of laying down his life.  This bridegroom does not seem the least bit concerned about others.  And in the parable, the foolish bridesmaids get what they deserve, while the gospel is about the unearned, lavish love of God.  So what are we to make of this parable?

          Let’s start with some perspective.  The reading from first Thessalonians reminds us of the hope and expectation with which the earliest Christians awaited Jesus’ return.  They anticipated that Jesus would return at any moment, and they were worried about what would happen to those who died before Jesus returned.  About 20 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Paul writes to assure the Thessalonians that when Jesus returns, he will gather up the faithful, first those who had already died and then those who were alive.  By the time Matthew’s gospel was written in the late first century, the faithful still believed in Jesus’ immediate return but they were growing weary of waiting, wondering where Jesus was and whether they had gotten the wrong message or missed Jesus’ return altogether.  And certainly now, two millennia later, the idea of Jesus’ return can grow thin so we can resonate with the late first century faithful.  Our parable this morning clearly has something to do with waiting.  But what?

          What if the bridesmaids with oil had shared their oil with the other five?  How might the simple act of sharing have changed the story?  Had the wise ones believed in abundance and valued inclusion, the foolish bridesmaids would not have gone off to purchase oil.  They would have been present when the bridegroom finally arrived, and all 10 bridesmaids would have gone into the wedding banquet together.  No one would have had a full lamp of oil, but my hunch is that there would have been more than enough oil to get everyone into the wedding banquet and a great abundance of wedding joy to share. 

I wonder if the message of Jesus’ parable, with its admonition at the end to keep awake because we know neither the hour nor the day, is simply an admonition to make sure we are actually watching for Jesus while we wait, however long we wait.  We watch for Jesus by seeking and serving Christ in all people, as we promise in baptism, so that when the time finally arrives, we all go into the wedding banquet together.  Waiting is hard.  But waiting does not need to divide.  There is room for all and plenty of joy to go around.  Had the 5 bridesmaids with oil simply shared, rather than being the parable of the foolish, the selfish, and the inhospitable, the parable would be a parable of abundance and inclusion, which sounds a lot more like Jesus.

                                                                   Amen.  

Reality

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
November 5, 2023

All Saints Sunday 

          My dad was something of an amateur photographer and he kept meticulous photo albums.  Those photo albums chronicle all of our birthdays, family events, trips, holidays, and even childhood illnesses like chickpox.  Those are some very flattering photos!  When he died and we cleaned out the house, we discovered that he had kept every photo he ever took.  Every.  Single.  Photo.  I wonder if that was Dad’s way of feeling connected to those who had gone before him.  The photos certainly help me feel connected with those who, in the words of the prayer book, I love but see no longer.  My siblings and I can go back in time and remember people who shaped our lives when we were children and young adults, feel their love, and hope that we have lived up to their expectations.  In their eyes, we could do little wrong and whatever we did do wrong was quickly forgiven.  In their love, we experienced something of God’s love, and I believe that in our times together we got a small taste of the kingdom of God. 

          All Saints Sunday feels a bit like looking through a giant photo album.  On this day we remember those who have gone before us and left a mark on our lives.  We remember those throughout history who have called us to be our very best selves.  We sing some of the greatest hymns of the church.  We light candles and hear the names of our loved ones spoken aloud as a reminder that those who have gone before join us when we pray.  On All Saints’ Sunday, we experience the communion of saints in our song, in our prayers, in the candles and flowers, and in our memories and we get a small taste of the kingdom of God.

          But our celebration of All Saints’ is about so much more than looking back to get a taste of the Kingdom of God, as powerful as that taste may be.  Our All Saints’ scripture readings call us forward, into being our very best selves and making the coming Kingdom of God a more present reality now.  The reading from Revelation gives us a vision of the Kingdom of God in which people from all tribes and peoples and languages will be one multitude despite their differences.  The passage points us to the day when there will be no more hunger or thirst, or any scorching heat, and God will wipe away the tear from every eye.  The reading from 1 John reminds us that what we are now, even as children of God, is not all that we will ever be.  What we will be has not yet been revealed and is even more than we already are as children of God, which is hard to imagine.  And the gospel reading from Matthew tells us that those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, are merciful, pure in heart, are peacemakers, or are persecuted for righteousness sake are blessed.  That does not mean that they are happy.  They are blessed because something of the Kingdom of God shines through them.

          What I believe we experience in the beatitudes are people who know their dependence on God and others.  Those who mourn rely on God and others to be comforted.  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled-by God and other people.  Peacemakers rely on God and others in their quest for peace. They cannot do that work alone.  And on and on.  In the Kingdom of God there are no lone rangers.

          On this particular All Saints’ Day, with the world in turmoil, a contentious election day ahead of us on Tuesday, in the aftermath of yet another mass shooting, we gather, not just to remember, but to ground ourselves so that we can do gospel work in the present.  All Saints’ calls us to ground ourselves in three things.  First, as the body of Christ, and as the human race, we are one body despite our differences.  The one multitude in the reading from Revelation has people from all tribes, people, languages, which means all political parties, theological persuasions, faiths, colors, gender orientation and anything else we let divide us.  When we recognize that we are one body, we realize that what we do affects everyone else, and their hurt or suffering affects us.  Secondly, All Saints’ calls us into being our very best selves.  As Christians who identify as Episcopalians, we are our best selves when we keep the promises we make in our baptismal covenant which we will renew in just a few minutes as we baptize Wyatt Dodson.  We will renew our promise to seek and serve Christ in all people, to work for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being.  1 John tells us that we are God’s children now and that what we will be has not yet been revealed, which is beyond our imaginations.  We are called to be those people.  And thirdly, All Saints’ and the beatitudes call us to remember our dependence on God and each other.  There is nothing we are called to do alone.

On this All Saints Sunday, dwell in the memories.  Feel the love.  Remember the stories.  Then embrace the challenge.  There are hungry people to feed, homeless people to shelter, Jewish and Islamic brothers and sisters to protect, justice and peace to work for, and divisions to heal.    The saints of God point us to a reality rooted in peace and justice, love and life, and call us forward to work for that reality.  But we can only get there together.  An old African proverb says “Alone we can go faster, but together we can go further.”  When there is a long way to go, when a lot of healing needs to happen, and there is a lot of work that needs to be done, we at Christ Church know we need to go together.  The saints of God call us forward to be our very best selves and to work as one body across our differences to make the coming Kingdom of God a more present reality now.    

                                                          Amen.

Love God

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
October 29, 2023

25 Proper A 

          When our sons were young, Don and I found that noon was a great time for a date.  Lunch is less expensive than dinner, and the boys were in school.  We often went to a small, locally owned restaurant aptly named “Strange Brew.”  The tag line was “where strange is normal.”  The restaurant served only vegan food.  Their concern was for animal rights rather than human health as we could see the staff in the back smoking while they cooked.  This was that long ago!  And to top off the self-proclaimed strangeness of the restaurant, the building had formerly been a butcher shop.

          I am not a vegan.  I have no desire to be a vegan and could not play one on TV if I tried.  But Don has long enjoyed experimenting with vegan cuisine.  Don loved Strange Brew and I love Don, so I ate vegan food.  Plus I do love supporting local, independent restaurants.  Amazingly enough, I found that I actually liked some of the things on the menu.  While the veggie burger could certainly have used a dash of mayo and a slice of cheese, it was pretty tasty.  The hot chai tea with soymilk was quite good, and the peanut butter chocolate shake was amazing.  I came to look forward to going there until the restaurant closed many years ago.  But I would never have set foot in the place had it not been for Don.

          This morning, when we hear the Pharisees ask Jesus “Teacher, which commandment is the greatest,” we know how Jesus will answer.  Jesus will say “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  Then Jesus will add “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus is not creating something new here.   Jesus is quoting the Shema, the summary of the law, from Deuteronomy 6 which says “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”  Many Jews recite this verse in the morning and at night each and every day.  But why does Jesus add the second part about loving your neighbor as yourself?

          One reason is because together, the two greatest commandments sum up the 10 commandments which Moses received from God on Mt. Sinai.  The first four commandments tell us how to love God.  Have no other Gods, do not take the Lord’s name in vain, do not have any idols, and keep holy the Sabbath Day.  The next 6 commandments tell us how to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Do not covet, commit murder or adultery, steal, or bear false witness, and honor your mother and father.  To make it easy for us to remember, Jesus simply tells us to love God and love our neighbor.  In the Diocese of Ohio, our tagline is love God, love your neighbor, change the world. 

          Earlier in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus said “I have come not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.”  With the summary of the law, Jesus not only simplifies things for us, but also takes the commandments to a new level.  For Jesus, what it means to love God is to love all that God created.*  In the book of Genesis, with which Jesus would have been familiar as a good first century Jew, we are told the story of creation.  After each creation event, God looks at what God has created and declares it “good.”  At the end of the story, after God has created human beings in God’s image, God looked at everything God had created and declares all of creation to be very good. 

          I believe that when Jesus adds the second greatest commandment to the first and tells us that “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” Jesus is using the second commandment, at least in part, to explain the first.  If we are not acting with love toward our neighbor, then we are not loving God.  If we are not loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, we cannot see our neighbor as God sees our neighbor.  And our neighbor is all that God created.

          Just in case the Pharisees are wondering who this Jesus is to challenge them and make us think even so harder about how to love God, Jesus asks “What do you think of the Messiah?”  Whose son is he?”  The Pharisees answer “the Son of David.”  The gospel of Matthew begins with the very words “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” So, the Pharisees are correct.  But Jesus points out that in Psalm 110, David calls the Messiah “Lord.” How can the Messiah be both the Son of David and the Lord?  Those who questioned him were unable to answer.  Jesus has come not just to fulfill the law and the prophets, but to fulfill history.  The Messiah is in the historic line of David, yes, and the Messiah is also the Son of God, transcending history.*  These are Jesus’ credentials for challenging us and showing us how to love God.

          Loving someone else challenges us to love the things, the places, the restaurants, and the people they love.  Sometimes we find that we actually do love those new experiences.  Loving God challenges us to love all that God loves, which is everyone and everything.  God saw all that God made and declared creation good.  Obviously, our goodness does not mean that everything we do is good and we are not to pretend otherwise.  But Jesus showed us how to love God with our heart, soul, and mind by loving God’s goodness in all things, especially people, with a faith that includes, unites, serves, and loves.   This morning, Jesus tells us that we cannot love God without loving what God loves.  That love is not easy and is sometimes downright difficult, but love God and love your neighbor will change the world one small step at a time.

                                                                             Amen.

 

 

*Feasting on the Word, Year A, vol. 4, page 214.

 

Faith, Hope, and Love

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
October 22, 2023

24 Proper A 

          One of my favorite scripture passages, if not my most favorite, is found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 43.  “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” I love this passage for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I rather like my name.  My name connects me with my great-grandmother and my cousin and godmother for whom I am named.  I can still hear the sound of my grandparents speaking my name and the love in their voices decades after their deaths.  And while Charlotte is now a rather popular name, when I was in school no one else was named Charlotte so there was not one single time when there was another Charlotte in my class, girl scout troop, choir or anything else.  So the idea that God has called me by name, that I belong to God, and that no challenge shall consume me has long been a source of strength and comfort to me.

          I think of the passage from Isaiah when I hear God say to Moses this morning “I know you by name” and promise that God’s presence will go with Moses, even though neither Moses nor anyone else is allowed to see God’s face.  Moses belongs to God and God’s presence will never abandon him.  God and Moses have been through a lot together as they have brought the people out of Egypt and through the wilderness.  There have been manna and quail, and uprisings, and water and the 10 commandments, and the golden calf.  Either one would have been justified in giving up on the other at various points in the journey.  But God’s promise is that Moses belongs to God and God will never let go.

          In the gospel, the Pharisees are out to trap Jesus.  First they butter him up with a few disingenuous compliments.  “We know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality.”  Oh, please.  Insert Jesus’ eye roll.  Then, “So what do you think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?”  Clearly this is a trap for if Jesus says “no” then he is an enemy of the state and if Jesus says “yes,” he is an enemy of his own people who regard Rome as a threat to their existence.  So Jesus says “Show me the coin used for the tax” and they show him a coin which bears the image of the emperor.  “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.”  This so totally confuses Jesus’s challengers that they shake their heads in amazement and leave.

          While on the surface, Jesus may have cleared up the issue of what belongs to whom, a small scratch below the surface causes us to dig deeper.  If the image born on the coin indicates to whom the coin belongs, then how do we know what belongs to God?  Where do we find the image of God?  Scripture is clear on the answer.  The first chapter of the book of Genesis tells us that we humans are made in the image of God.  According to Jesus’ logic, which I would prefer not to challenge, that means that we humans belong to God.  All the humans.  Every single human.  So while the coin belongs to the realm of the emperor, humans belong to God.

          In the letter to the Thessalonians, we hear something of what the image of God looks like as lived in the lives of the early Christians.  Paul commends the church in Thessalonica for their work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfastness of hope in Jesus.  We are reminded that our identity as people made in the image of God who follow Jesus calls us to a life of faith, hope, and love and that our actions, like Paul’s actions and those of the Thessalonians, speak about that faith, hope, and love to the world around us.

          The world seems very dark these days, with violence, fear, darkness and death seeming to have the upper hand.  The situation in the Middle East is explosive.   Congress has no clear path forward and is paralyzed.  Ukraine and Russia are still at war and tensions are simmering around the globe.  There is no obvious way forward on so many fronts.  We don’t always know what to say or how to pray, and I believe God’s heart is broken as God’s beloved humans destroy each other.  This morning we are called to remember that every human being bears the likeness of God.  We all belong to God, who calls us each by name, and God has promised never to abandon us.  As followers of Jesus, we, like the Thessalonians, are called to lives of faith, hope and love in the midst of despair, hatred and death.  Our lives are called to proclaim to the world that darkness and death will never have the final say.  The place to start and perhaps the greatest act of faith, hope, and love, is to see the face of God in the face of those with whom we have little else in common and act accordingly. 

                                                                   Amen. 

Story

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
October 8, 2023

22 Proper A 

          Sometimes a very few words tell an entire story.  In our family, those words would be “birthday cake.”  In our family the words “birthday cake” mean a very specific triple chocolate/peanut butter confection that weighs about 5 pounds.  I know the exact weight because UPS has delivered them all over the eastern part of the US since 2005 when our first born left for college.  Now we have grandchildren so four more cakes are delivered or sent every year.  Just last weekend, Don and I took one to Cincinnati for Sabrina’s first birthday.  But more than just a tradition, as delicious as that tradition may be, getting the birthday cake is about identity.  You know you are part of the family when you get a birthday cake mailed to you, wherever you are, so our daughters-in-law knew they were part of the family long before they were married or even engaged to our sons.  They remember their first birthday cake.  The cake is a rite of passage and getting a birthday cake means that you are beloved and accepted as a member of the family. 

          In the reading from Exodus, we hear a whole story in just a few more words than “birthday cake.”  When God gives the people the 10 commandments, God begins by saying “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”  In those few words, God tells the whole story of the people’s deliverance from exile, from the call of Moses, through the plaques, to the Passover and the deliverance at the Red Sea.  That story is the foundational story for the Israelite people.  Over and over again in scripture, that story is told with the same few words.

          The 10 commandments are not just a set of laws to be obeyed to keep God happy.  The 10 commandments are a matter of identity and a gift to show the people how they are to live in freedom.  The people are to live in relationship with God by having no other gods, nor idols, nor making wrong use of God’s name, and by setting apart one day as sabbath.  The people are to live in relationship with each other by honoring their parents, neither murdering nor committing adultery, nor stealing, bearing false witness, or coveting.  Because the Israelites wanted to make all of life pleasing to God in gratitude for the great gift of freedom, they dedicated themselves to figuring out exactly how to keep the 10 commandments in every aspect of their lives.  This was not a burden, but an act of gratitude and joy for the people.

          The beginning words of Jesus’ parable this morning tell another story.  When Jesus says “There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower,” the original Jewish audience would have immediately remembered a passage from the prophet Isaiah that begins “Let me sing for my beloved a love song concerning his vineyard.  My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.  He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines.  He built a watchtower in the midst of it and hewed out a wine vat in it.”  How could the religious leaders hearing Jesus’ parable not think of this beautiful passage from Isaiah?  But when Isaiah’s vineyard yields wild grapes, God is furious and destroys the vineyard, drawing a parallel between the vineyard and the destruction of Israel by the Assyrians in the 8^th century BC.  So no wonder when Jesus asks what the landowner will do to the wicked tenants in the parable, those listening said “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”  That makes perfect sense given the destruction in the book of Isaiah.

          Both the prophet Isaiah and Jesus tell a love song.  The love song in Isaiah does not end well for the people due to their disobedience and their failure to live as people who were delivered from bondage in Egypt, carried through the wilderness, and set in the promised land.  Ultimately, after much destruction and 150 or so years, the people will be restored to the land having learned much while in exile about how to be God’s people.  The love song in Jesus’ parable of the vineyard ends differently. The landowner takes the one whom the tenants rejected and turns it into a new cornerstone.  God takes the death of the son and turns it into resurrection life, takes hatred and turns it into love.

          How do we, as 21^st century Christians, live our lives in gratitude for the great love of God given to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus?  We can easily think that Jesus’ parable is about someone else, those who rejected Jesus during his earthly life, that it is a parable only for those who wanted to arrest Jesus but feared the crowds.  But both this parable and the reading from Exodus call us to lives of gratitude for God’s abundant and lifegiving love, gratitude that is expressed not just with our lips but with the actions of our lives, actions that show our identity as people of God, and actions that care for all that God has given us.  At Christ Church, today is all about gratitude as we gather at this table to give thanks to God and receive the bread and wine of thanksgiving, which is what the word Eucharist means.  Later this morning/then we will gather around tables in the Parish Hall or Upper Room and share platters of pancakes as we have conversation about how we live our lives and use our resources as people of gratitude.  How do we care for our part of God’s vast vineyard?  Our lives of gratitude and thanksgiving will use very few words and a lot of action to tell the story of all that God has done for us.

                                                                   Amen.

 

Doing

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
October 1, 2023

21 Proper A

          In 2015, Don and I were both deputies to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Neither of us had been to Utah before and we were unsure what to expect, other than that it would be very hot there in July.  We are both from Arkansas, so we know hot.  The days at General Convention start at dawn and end late, but I managed to get up early and walk most mornings.  What I remember most about those walks, in addition to the breathtaking scenery, is the scorching sun and the intense dry heat.  We knew hot and humid.  We did not know scorching and dry.  If I didn’t get out by 6am, the heat was prohibitive.  But the bizarre thing was that, despite the heat, I would walk 3 miles or so and never break a sweat.  Or at least that’s the way it seemed.  The reality was that the sun was so hot and the heat was so dry, that sweat immediately evaporated.  The risk of dehydration was very real given the hot, dry heat and there were large jugs of cool water in the lobby of every building.  I learned quickly to drink all the water I could hold. 

          I think about the dry heat and scorching sun in Salt Lake City when I hear the concern of the people in the reading from Exodus this morning.  They are in the hot, dry desert and there are no jugs of cool water anywhere to be found.  The total lack of  water is a recipe for disaster and the people are right to complain to Moses “Why did you bring us out of Egypt?  To kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?”  The people are frantic and panicking, which is understandable even if God did just assuage their hunger with manna and quail in last week’s reading.  Now God will assuage their thirst with water that comes from a rock.  I cannot begin to imagine what the desperately thirsty people must have felt when water poured from the rock.  This is yet another miracle in the desert that demonstrates God’s love and watch care over God’s people.  In the wilderness, the people are learning what it means to be in relationship with God and to trust God in the most extreme of circumstances.

          In Jesus’ parable this morning, we hear about a father’s relationship with his two sons.  When asked to go work in the vineyard, one son says he will go, but he does not.  The other says he will not go, but he does.  Jesus asks “Which of the two did the will of his father?”  The response from the religious leaders is the first son because the first son actually does the work.  And on a certain level that is correct.  The first son did the will of the father.

The writer of Matthew’s gospel is very concerned about doing the will of God.  In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”  And in the same gospel, when Jesus is told that his mother and brothers are outside waiting to speak with him, he points to his disciples and says “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”  Clearly, doing the will of God is important to Jesus.

          And yet, when the religious leaders respond that the first son is the one who actually did the will of the Father, Jesus’ response is “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of heaven ahead of you.”  Does that sound like “right answer?”  Just before Jesus tells this parable, Jesus asked a trick question of the religious authorities.  Jesus asked “Did the baptism of John come from heaven or was it of human origin?”  Now Jesus asks another trick question.  “Which son did the will of the father?”  The answer to this either/or question is neither.  The will of the father is neither to say “yes” and do “no,” nor is it to say “no” and do “yes.”   The will of any parent is that words and actions match and that the child can be trusted.  That is the will of the Father in Jesus’ parable.  Trust is the foundation of relationships.  Good works are important but the good works that come from the depths of a good relationship are what really matter. 

          The passage from Philippians calls us into a relationship with God from which good works will naturally flow.  Among other things Paul says “Let each of you look, not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  Let the same mind be in your that was in Christ Jesus.”  Then Paul goes on to describe the relationship between Christ and God, one in which Christ humbled himself to do the will of God.  Paul ends by saying “For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for God’s good pleasure.”   That does not sound like either of the sons in Jesus’ parable!

          The Hebrew people spent a very long time experiencing all the challenges of the hot dry wilderness, learning to live in relationship with God.  They learned to trust that God would provide, to follow where God led, and to obey what God asked.  They did this because of the relationship God established with them before God ever led them out of Egypt.  Jesus’ parable reminds us that our relationship with God is primary and the good things we do flow from that relationship.  Doing is important.  But doing is not all that matters. What matters is the doing that flows from a relationship with God which we can trust God and God can trust us, or, in Paul’s words, a relationship that enables us to will and to work for God’s good pleasure.           

                                                        Amen.

Generosity

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
September 25, 2023

20 Proper A 

          At Christ Church, we had a unique challenge in 2020.  Sure, we had the same challenges as everyone else.  We were all trying to figure out how to do ministry, offer meaningful worship, and take care of each other in the new world we found ourselves in.  You might think that our unique challenge was the total renovation of the Parish Hall that took place in the midst of the pandemic, but in some ways that was less of a challenge than it would have been with all of our various ministries and community groups meeting here.  No, our unique challenge was that our commercial coffee maker was repossessed by the coffee company.  I think we are the only church on the planet to claim that honor.  The coffee maker was a loaner based on our purchasing a certain amount of coffee, which we had just done when we had to shut down.  With no one in the building, we didn’t need to make, much less buy coffee, so the company came and repossessed our coffee maker.  No amount of complaining to the company made any difference whatsoever.  The company was not interested in a reasonable argument for this was unfair or why we needed that particular coffee maker.  In the midst of everything else going on, this was very small potatoes.  But it seemed ridiculous, unfair and like very poor customer relations.  But I can claim to be the rector of the church that had her coffee maker repossessed.

          I am reminded of this unfair and ludicrous, if trivial, situation with the coffee maker when I read all of the complaints of unfairness in our readings from Exodus and Matthew this morning.  The word “complain” occurs 7 times in the passage from Exodus.  The people complain that they are starving in the wilderness and wish for the days in Egypt when they had their fill of bread.  Apparently their complaining works, or God agrees that their situation is unfair, as God provides manna and quail for the people to eat in the wilderness.  That satisfies the people more or less until chapter 17, when we will hear next week that the people are convinced that they will die of thirst.  And again, their complaining pays off as God provides them with water.  Would God have let the people starve had they not complained?  Who knows, but complaining to God does seems to work better than complaining to the coffee maker company!

          In the reading from Matthew, we hear about a landowner who pays each worker a full day’s wage whether that person worked a full day, or a partial day, or just an hour, which hardly seems like fair labor practices or like a good use of the landowner’s money.  The landowner makes a strategic mistake when he instructs his manager to call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.  Those who worked all day see those who worked an hour getting the same pay they do, and they call “unfair”.  If the manager had just paid those who worked all day first, those workers would have left with their pay and the whole ugly situation could have been avoided. No amount of complaining will change the landowner’s mind and get him to give those who worked longer more or those who worked a shorter day less.  Nor does the landowner rethink his decision to pay those who worked only one hour first and make those who worked all day watch.  Clearly the landowner went to the same school of negotiation as the coffee maker company!

          If these two passages are about complaining and whether complaining to God works or not, then we are left with a draw.  But what if, rather than being a case for or against complaining, these stories are actually about the abundant generosity of God, despite annoying human behavior.  In Exodus, when the people complain that they have been brought out into the wilderness to be killed with hunger, God tells Moses that God will rain bread from heaven.  What a lovely image!  And when the people continue their complaining, God tells Moses that at twilight the people shall eat meat, and in the morning they will have their fill of bread.  And God says “Then they shall know that I am the Lord your God.”   God’s very identity is revealed in God’s abundant generosity, which is a lesson the people will have to learn over and over again in the wilderness.

          Likewise, Jesus’ parable is not about complaining or about fairness, but about God’s generosity.  God’s generosity is unconcerned about human concepts of fairness.  The landowner gave what he promised to those who worked a full day.  They were not treated unjustly.  And had they been paid first  and sent on their way, they would have learned nothing of God’s abundance.  But they learned about God’s abundance when God also gave a full day’s wage to those who hardly worked at all.  The parable is not about fair employment practices, but about God’s identity being revealed through God’s abundant generosity. 

          In the reading from Philippians, Paul commands us to “live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”  When our lives as God’s people are defined by the generosity of  God, we can, in Paul’s words “strive side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel” unconcerned with whether one person has received a greater share of God’s abundance that we have and very concerned that each person receives what he or she needs.  Jesus calls us to let God’s identity be revealed to the world through our lives of abundant generosity.                                                                Amen