Monday, June 27, 2016

We Journey Today on Sacred Paths

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St. Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 6th Sunday after Pentecost, 26 June 2016
Proper 8 Year C RCL: 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14; Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20; Galatians 5:1, 13-25; Luke 9:51-62

When we go for a walk,
“we usually find out something about our companion,
& this is true even when we travel alone...”1

Even when we travel alone, we usually find out something about our companion, says Jim Buchanan in Labyrinths for the Spirit.
How many of you have walked a labyrinth? How different has it been each time you've walked? 
Labyrinths come in different designs, such as the simple design you have on a slip of paper in your order of worship & this lap labyrinth's path based on the one in Chartres Cathedral in France.
As we walk with God [or our fingers do the walking], the labyrinth leads us on a winding path to the center & leads us out differently.

[My lap labyrinth came in handy after foot surgery & is helpful when weather prevents walking outdoors or having no time to go to one of our Diocese's labyrinths, such as Church of the Servant's indoor labyrinth at Wilmington, or the outdoor ones at St. Francis by the Sea, Salter Path, & farther away at All Saints at Southern Shores. See online at:

Like a labyrinth, today's scriptures lead us on a winding path. They repeat, circling around themes of pending leadership changes, human conflicts, spiritual issues, guidance of the Holy Spirit, travels from place to place.
Today we walk with Elijah & Elisha to several places & with Jesus & the Disciples as they walk to Jerusalem. Before Elisha travels alone, he & Elijah start their journey at Gilgal, which means “'circle', probably of stones,”2 as one source notes. Think of a circle of stones such as the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral's stone floor, England's well-known Stonehenge & evidence of labyrinths in the Southwest & in Northern Mexico.3
As we journey through our scriptures today, we hear repetitions. Paul says “live by the spirit / live by the spirit”. Elisha says “I will not leave you. / "I will not leave you.” Jesus hears the promise: “I will follow you. I will follow you.”
We hear Elijah & Jesus as they near the time for each to leave life on earth. We hear distraught / distracted disciples, who don't quite get it. Elisha sees the vision assuring him he has received his request, yet he's unsure of his power & tests the waters (literally).4
Like Elisha, James & John are unsure about power, & Jesus rebukes them for wanting to destroy the Samaritans. They don't get it that Jesus' power is different: it is the power of love & peace. They don't get it that the Samaritans are faithful to their belief...5 & hear Holy Scripture differently.
We hear Holy Scripture differently in our day. We live in a different context. As we grow & change on life's journey with God, we see with new eyes, we hear with new ears.
As we read Scripture in community, we see with many eyes & hear with many ears. Holy Scripture is God's Living Word that forms us & lives in us – the church, the Body of Christ that is St. Francis, God's Holy temple (as our collect says).
Author Walter Brueggemann says in The Book That Breathes New Life,6 
 “The (Bible) gives (the community)... the energy & courage for a life of obedience.”7 

To obey, we must receive the command in a way we can understand. We hear in our scriptures about people in different communities, different times & contexts, people like us who know the value of life in community, life in relationship that reflects the image of God.
Elijah relates like a father to Elisha & asks what he can do for him. To us, Elisha sounds greedy: “I want twice as much spirit.”
Actually, he follows biblical principle: this is the inheritance the Bible specifies in Deuteronomy for the eldest son (Deut. 21:17).8
Like Elijah, Paul expresses fatherly concern as he urges the Galatians to live into their God-given worth, the worthiness that comes from Jesus:
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
To love others as yourself means you must love yourself! You must love yourself!
Paul names the fruits of the Spirit, which include love, joy, & peace. In our Gospel we glimpse the world of peace that Jesus embodies. Jesus calls us to stretch ourselves, stretch out our hands & arms in love, joy, peace,
stretch ourselves to trust God's guidance,
to trust each other.

My Beloved Brothers & Sisters, as we stretch ourselves, we must keep the main thing the main thing.

The main thing in the Bible is God,
not us,
as Theologian Karl Barth says in The Word of God and the Word of Man that Brueggemann quotes.9

God's Word lives in us.
God's Living Word is our companion on
this sacred journey of life.



Bibliography
Buchanan, Jim. Labyrinths for the Spirit: How to Create Your Own Labyrinths for Meditation and Enlightenment. London: Gaia Books. 20007.
Brueggemann, Walter. The Book That Breathes New Life: Spiritual Authority and Biblical Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2005.
Harper’s Bible Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.
Harper’s Bible Dictionary. General Ed.: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1985.
Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Holy Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Merriam-Webster. Smartphone Dictionary app. Merriam-Webster Inc. 2012.
Nave, Orville J. Nave's Topical Bible: A Digest of the Holy Scriptures. Nashville: The Southwestern Co. 1962.
New Oxford Anotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1977.
“Old Labyrinth Nazca & North America “. Mid-Atlantic Geomancy. Accessed: 25 June 2016. http://www.geomancy.org/labyrinths/nazca-north-america/index.php.


1 Buchanan, Jim. Labyrinths for the Spirit: How to Create Your Own Labyrinths for Meditation and Enlightenment.
    Contents page, quotation from Clark, Thomas. Distance and Proximity.
2 Harper’s Bible Dictionary. General Ed.: Paul J. Achtemeier. P. 348.
4 Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. P. 728.
5 New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. P. 1259.
6 Brueggemann, Walter. The Book That Breathes New Life: Spiritual Authority and Biblical Theology. P. 15.
7 Ibid.
8 Jewish Study Bible. P. 728.

9 Ibid. Brueggemann. Book That Breathes. P. 18.
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Sunday, June 19, 2016

Do We Fear & Flee from God's Living Word?

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St. Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC
5th Sunday after Pentecost, 19 June 2016
Proper 7 Year C RCL: 1 Kings 19: 1-4, (5-7), 8-15a; Psalm 42 and 43; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39

Fear possesses Elijah as he flees to the wilderness.
Demons possess the man among the tombs.
Both live isolated from family, friends,
& their communities.

What does this mean? Read on!
Each man could say the repeated verses [6 & 14] in our Psalm: “Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul?
And why are you so disquieted within me?”
It takes God's intervention for each to be able to say (later) the other repeated verses [7 & 15]:
“Put your trust in God;
for I will yet give thanks to him,
who is the help of my countenance, & my God.”
Both men are made in the image of God. You & I are made in God's image. They – we – are made for community. The Holy Trinity shows us how to live in holy community / holy relationship. Yet, like Elijah & the demoniac in our Gospel, we experience times of brokenness, times of isolation.
We can take comfort when we read scriptures like today's that show people who are scared, isolated, who have a heap of trouble, whose lives are a mess for whatever reason. These are ordinary people.
Yes, Elijah is a big famous, zealous prophet, who speaks truth to power & is responsible for the slaughter of 450 prophets of Ba'-al1 – that's Jezebel's God. He slaughters Jezebel's home team. Jezebel is out for revenge.
Big famous Elijah is human like us. He's scared & running for his life. He wants to die – just not at Jezebel's hands! He wants God to end his life. God would kill him mercifully. Jezebel will make him suffer.
As one Bible commentator says about this lesson: “This same prophet who boldly (confronts) kings is now (at) his lowest point...(This) man of God is still a mere man....(O)nly when the prophet is in this weak state (can) he...hear God in the stillness (& not in)...wind, earthquake & (fire)...God is there”2 in the stillness.
You may recall the pyrotechnics & water battle in Chapter 18 during Elijah's face off with the prophets of Ba'-al. Elijah has been God's man to show God's power in spectacular ways. Now, God's interaction shifts to subtlety. As Bible professor & commentator Jon Levenson says, “Elijah must learn to heed the almost imperceptible signal within & not to rely on...(God's) dramatic intervention...”3
As another Bible commentator says, “We see the prophet in his humanity like never before...(in) extreme fear, severe depression...4 At this low point, God asks: 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He says: 'I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, & killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, & they are seeking my life, to take it away.'"
God has Elijah experience great wind, earthquake & fire – natural elements with which Elijah has demonstrated God's power, yet these elements do not hold God's spirit5. After the fire comes “a sound of sheer silence”.
In awe, Elijah wraps his face in his mantle, goes out of the cave where he's hiding, stands at the entrance & hears a voice repeat God's question: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Again Elijah answers as he did before, using the exact words when he was in despair.
Elijah gives the same answer after he hears God in the stillness because his tough situation is the same. What has changed is Elijah. Now he knows God is with him6. He can go forward.
Like Elijah, the man in our Gospel can go forward after his encounter with Jesus. Before this he is like Elijah: running scared in the wilderness of the tombs – alone, isolated. This man is possessed by a Legion of demons.
Perhaps we hear the name Legion differently than do Jesus' followers, who are well acquainted with the many men of the Roman Legion who occupy their land. They know what it feels like to be possessed by a Legion, to be controlled by invaders so strong that no matter what you do – chains & shackles of a peace treaty, taxes & bribes – won't stop them, won't free you from the Legions' control. Only God's power can do that.
God's grace can free us. God can free us no matter what “Legion” oppresses or possesses us:
abuse, physical & mental illnesses, finances, unemployment, alcohol, drugs, broken relationships.7
God's power, God's grace, can renew & restore us to fuller life, to renewed relationship through Jesus, God's Living Word.
Do we want to be free? Do we want this new, fuller life God offers us? Living in new ways is scary. Look at how the people react when they see the man in his right mind, renewed, clothed: Fear seizes them! Why? Why do they ask Jesus to leave? Go away! Jesus, Go Away!
Jesus honors their request. Jesus will leave you alone if you ask. And he's likely to send someone you will listen to who is less scary. Jesus doesn't give up on us. He gives us work to do. He lovingly tells the man who had been demon-possessed to return to his people & share the Good News. His people are in the depths of fear where is it is hard to hear God. The fearful can hear their healed brother.
​​Sometimes we have to get to a really low point before we can hear God. Sometimes all the human efforts – like chaining & shackling the demoniac – do not  free us. Healing, wholeness, freedom come from Jesus' strong, loving voice – whose ever voice Jesus uses. Often Jesus speaks through us.
However God speaks through you, however God speaks to you, know this: God loves you.
No exceptions!
All are welcome into God's love.
Here is a spelling test8 for some of the attributes we can develop to hear God & to be the voice that speaks' God's love to our Brothers & Sisters:

Helpful Engaging Ready Attentive Forgiving Teacher
[Helpers, can you arrange them to spell a special word for today?]

Yes: FATHER!

God our attentive Father in Heaven,

God the Son Jesus, who forgives us,

God the Holy Spirit, who teaches us all things,

God the Holy Trinity is our Helpful, Engaging, Ready, Attentive,
Forgiving, Teacher, who entrusts us & guides us in God's work of reconciling all people to God.


Bibliography
Boadt, Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction. New York: Paulist Press. 1984.
“Give Me an F”. http://www.sermons4kids.com/givemeanF.html Accessed: 16 June 2016.
Harper’s Bible Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.
Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Holy Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Levenson, Jon D. Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible. Minneapolis: A Seabury Book. Winston Press. 1985.
Matthews, Victor H. Social World of the Hebrew Prophets. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. Inc. 2001.
Nam, Roger. “Commentary on 1 Kings 19:1-4[5-7]8-15a”. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1719.
New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger.
Rogness, Michael. “Commentary on Luke 8:26-39”. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1719.


1 New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. P. 446.
2 Nam, Roger. “Commentary on 1 Kings 19: 1-4, (5-7), 8-15a”. The Working Preacher. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1719.
3 Levenson, Jon D. Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible. P. 90.
4 Ibid. Nam.
5 Matthews, Victor H. Social World of the Hebrew Prophets. P. 57.
6 Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. P. 717.
7 Idea from: If we define “demons” as those forces which have captured us and prevented us from becoming what God intends us to be, we are as surrounded by -- yes, possessed by -- as many demons as those whom Jesus encountered. Our demons can be of many kinds: mental illnesses, schizophrenia, paranoia, addictions, obsessions, destructive habits, and so on.” Rogness, Michael. “Commentary on Luke 8:26-39.” http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1719.

8 Idea adapted from “Give Me an F”. http://www.sermons4kids.com/givemeanF.html Accessed: 16 June 2016.
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Sunday, June 12, 2016

Boldly Proclaim Love, Minister Justice with Compassion

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St. Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 4th Sunday after Pentecost, 12 June 2016
Proper 6 Year C RCL: 1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a; Psalm 5:1-8; Galatians 2:15-21; Luke 7:36-8:3

What a special encounter we hear in our Gospel as the weeping woman's emotions overflow, as Jesus responds in love, comes to her defense & offers new perspective to his less than gracious host.

The woman ministers to Jesus, bathing his feet & anointing him. Jesus ministers to this aching child of God, assuring her all is well & she can go in peace.......I wonder if her actions inspire Jesus to wash the disciples' feet.......I wonder if this beautiful encounter comes into his mind at the last supper.
It's the kind of moment we might want to hold onto. Let’s stay in this life-giving moment. Look at the love she expresses.....OK that was lovely.
Now look at death-wielding, blood thirsty Jezebel!
What a contrast. What a mix of characters!
What a metaphor of life.
What a call to action.

God calls us to action. Jesus shows us: life is a mix & God entrusts you & me to do something positive about this mix.
God entrusts you & me to speak up & thwart the plans of the Jezebels & the ungracious hosts we encounter.
Our Collect today tells us: we are to proclaim God’s truth boldly AND minister God’s justice with compassion.

The Bible’s Greek word for compassion means more than feelings. It “means to let one’s innards embrace the feeling or situation of another.”1 Author Walter Brueggemann says:
“Jesus enters into (our) hurt and...(embodies) it.”2

We see in today’s Gospel Jesus ministers justice with compassion & proclaims truth boldly.
Bold isn’t necessarily loud.

We see in our scriptures what happens when people fail to speak up:
People are marginalized like the woman who anoints Jesus.
People die, like Naboth, who is not marginalized from society.
He is a leader & is seated at the head of the assembly to preside at3 this meeting Jezebel arranges. This is how his community addresses a serious problem.4

Naboth knows the law, which is why he refuses to sell his vineyard to King Ahab. The law says: “ancestral property must remain in the family....”5

Like Naboth, Jezebel knows the law & that it specifies 2 witnesses & death by stoning6 for the charge she creates for the 2 scoundrels to bring against Naboth at the community meeting.

No one else at this meeting speaks up.
Not one person asks one question that might prevent Naboth’s death.

Good people’s silence results in Naboth’s death & the deaths of his whole family, as we learn in 2nd Kings 9:26.7  This means there is no heir for his property. The king gets it. An innocent man dies so pouty old Ahab can get what he wants.

The silent people at this meeting are like silent people in our world.
Not challenging the sin of separation, not challenging those misusing power continues in many ways.

We see in scripture how Jesus challenges separation in his day. He meets with, speaks to, interacts with marginalized people. The woman who anoints him is one. She is like today’s marginalized people – the homeless, the transient, & other outcasts8.

Our Gospel’s last paragraph emphasizes Jesus’ bold actions as he crosses the cultural divide of his day when he interacts with this woman & other women who are not his kin. Proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom, he travels with the 12 disciples AND women...
Author & contemporary prophet Walter Brueggemann says in The Prophetic Imagination (& I paraphrase in parts):
“Jesus’ association in public with women who (are) not his kin (is) a scandalous breech of decorum & a challenge to the gender boundaries of the first century.”9
Brueggemann says, quoting Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza (& I paraphrase parts):
“Jesus’ proclamation of God’s reign & the attendant healing, eating, & community-building (is) not to be (a male-only) enterprise...”10

Healing, sharing meals, & community-building are work Jesus entrusts to us.

Separation of people is not new. Only people can remove our self-imposed barriers.
As we do this, we fulfill God’s will for us to proclaim God’s truth boldly & minister justice with compassion.

We must speak against divisions that maintain us-and-them categories among our brothers & sisters....brothers & sisters for whom Jesus dies on that cross.
Our words can tear down our self-imposed divisions in the human family.

We must do this for Jesus’ sake. How we do this is not always clear. Its results we trust to God.
Doing nothing is not an option for us Christians. Doing nothing is to live with fear.

Doing something is to live generously,11 like we see Jesus do,
like we see the woman do as she anoints Jesus.

Living generously, we embody the abundant life God promises.
Living generously, we can proclaim boldly & minister justice compassionately.



Bibliography
Bacon, Ed. 8 Habits of Love: Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind. New York: Grand Central Life & Style. Hatchette Book Group 2012.
Boadt, Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction. New York: Paulist Press. 1984.
Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd Ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2001.
Chittister, Joan. The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life. www.bluebridgebooks.com: (United Tribes Media Inc.) BlueBridge. 2011.
De Waal, Esther. Living with Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality. Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing. 1989.
Harper’s Bible Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.
Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Holy Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Levenson, Jon D. Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible. Minneapolis: A Seabury Book. Winston Press. 1985.
Matthews, Victor H. Social World of the Hebrew Prophets. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. Inc. 2001.
Moore, Thomas. Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. 1992.
New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1977.
Saint Benedict’s Prayer Book for Beginners. York: Ampleforth Abbey Press. 1993.
Westerhoff, Caroline A. Make All Things New: Stories of Healing, Reconciliation, & Peace. Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing. 2006.
Whitley, Katerina Katsarka. Seeing for Ourselves: Biblical Women Who Met Jesus. Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing. 2001.


1 Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd Ed. P. 89.
2 Ibid.
3 New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. P. 449-450.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid. P. 449.
6 Harper’s Bible Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. P. 321.
7 Matthews, Victor H. Social World of the Hebrew Prophets. P. 58.
8 Westerhoff, Caroline A. Make All Things New: Stories of Healing, Reconciliation, & Peace. Chapter 4. Pp. 31-40.
9 Brueggemann. Prophetic Imagination. P. 86.
10 Brueggemann. Prophetic Imagination. P. 86.

11 Note: My concept of generosity is influenced by Ed Bacon’s 8 Habits of Love: Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind.
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