Be Still and Know that I am God

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae

St. Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 15^th Sunday after Pentecost, 28 Aug. 2016

Proper 17 Year C RCL: Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10–16; Hebrews 13:1–8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7–14

Our scriptures today have so much busy-ness distracting the people Jeremiah addresses, the disobedient people in our Psalm, the social climbers in our Gospel.

This reminds me of the busy-ness in our lives, in this election year, & as a new school year starts.

The people we hear Jeremiah address are so busy chasing worthless things they become worthless. The people go after things which do not profit.

The Jewish Study Bible says, the people “(follow) what can do no good¹”.

There is a difference between going after something & getting so intrigued that one follows. The result is the same: People abandon or neglect relationship with God & lose what is good & worthy of devotion, what really nourishes us. People lose what is Holy.

In our Psalm, God turns the people over to their stubbornness. This is like a wise parent dealing with a rebellious child who has to learn the hard way not to touch that hot stove.

The social climbers in our Gospel scramble for attention at the banquet in the leader's house. The host expects payback. Jesus says: “Don't scramble for attention. Don't invite people who can pay you back.” Jesus gives us insight into God's perspective.

“...(I)n the kingdom, God is the host...who can repay God?”² 

We cannot repay.

We can share God's generosity with our brothers & sisters in the human family.

God's kingdom welcomes “the fringe people: the poor, maimed, lame, & blind.”³

When we are preoccupied with our busy-ness, we are deaf to the cry for help from today's fringe people, the children of God whom God wants us to welcome. Preoccupied with our busy-ness, we are blind to the needs around us, & it's hard to see opportunities to invite people to this banquet.

Preoccupied with our busy-ness, we cripple our relationship with God & find it easy to give lame excuses for not staying in touch with God, who is in all aspects of our lives.
Even if we are physically present in this Holy Place, our minds can be busy so we fail to recognize our encounter with God.

Our lesson from Hebrews tells us God says: “I will NEVER leave you or forsake you.” God does not leave us. We read in Jeremiah & in our Psalm: we leave God. Yet, Hebrews reminds us “...we can say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?'"

Army Reserve veteran Davon Goodwin of Raeford, NC, knows what someone can do, as the Associated Press article in the Aug. 21^st edition of Goldsboro News-Argus tells us:⁴ He has traumatic brain injury from the bomb that hit his unit in Afghanistan 6 years ago. He says: “...getting blown up was a gift,”⁵ & he explains his self-focus changed to focus on others after his injury.

He applies his love of plants & his University of North Carcolina education in biology & botany in farming, which has a healing, relaxing effect on him, the article notes. The farm he works for strives to make organic products affordable for low-income people who live nearby.

When self-focus leads us away from God, know this: God stands ready to welcome us back, so that we can change our focus. God stands ready to welcome the fringe people we bring here to drink with us from the fountain of living water.

God calls us to come & feast on heavenly food. Let God feed you at this Holy Meal with the holy food & drink of new & unending life in Jesus, this foretaste of the heavenly banquet where we do not have to scramble for attention. At this banquet we share God's love. We can let go of our busy-ness & relax in God's embrace & listen to God.

To hear God, we have to take time to be still in God's presence, like students settling down to class work. We have to make time to be still in God's presence, like students settling down to concentrate on homework, as I remember not so long ago having to do in seminary.
Students have to learn how to do these things. We older students of God's may have to learn how to BE still. Psalm 46 admonishes us: “Be still...& know that I am God!”⁶

One of my seminary professors, the Rev. Martin Smith, quotes this portion of Psalm 46 in his book The Word is Very Near You: A Guide to Praying with Scripture. He says:

“We are conditioned to maintain control,

to take charge of situations, to do the

talking. Prayer means surrender & a

readiness to return to a simpler state of

openness & attentiveness to a God whose

'still, small voice' we tend to drown with our restless noisiness.”⁷ It is hard to let go & let God take charge.

It takes practice, like a golfer improving a swing, a musician enhancing skills, a student studying for better grades.

Surrender to God is hard & can take time.

Give yourself the grace of time with God.

God longs to have quiet time with you.

Bibliography

Book of Common Prayer. New York: The Church Hymnal Corp., and The Seabury Press. 1979.

The Book of Occasional Services 2003. New York: Church Publishing. 2004.

Goldsboro News-Argus. “Wounded veteran now works to feed low-income residents”. 21 Aug. 2016.

Harper’s Bible Commentary. Gen. Ed: James L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.

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.

New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. 1973.

Smith, Martin L. The Word is Very Near You: A Guide to Praying with Scripture. New York: Cowley Publications. 1989.

1 Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation. P. 924.

2 Harper’s Bible Commentary. P. 1033.

3 Ibid.

4 Goldsboro News-Argus. “Wounded veteran now works to feed low-income residents”. P. 12A.

5 Ibid.

6 Book of Common Prayer. P. 650.

7 Smith, Martin L. The Word is Very Near You: A Guide to Praying with Scripture. P.157.

Attending Church Can Keep You Healthy!

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae

St. Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 14^th Sunday after Pentecost, 21 Aug. 2016

Proper 16 Year C RCL: Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1–6; Hebrews 12:18–29; Luke 13:10–17

A 20-year medical study of 76,000 people shows the “possible benefit of going to church [is a] 33% chance of living longer” compared to those who never attended services.¹

Published by the American Medical Association & discussed in the May 16^th edition of The Washington Post, the article about the 20-year medical study says it shows the “possible benefit of going to church...compared to those who never attended services.”²

I encourage you to read the article by Julie Zauzmer at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/05/16/another-possible-benefit-of-going-to-worship-services-a-33-percent-chance-of-living-longer/

Notice the benefit of going to church that we see in our Gospel: suddenly the woman crippled for 18 years can stand straight! She stands & praises God.

Jesus initiates the interaction. By healing her, Jesus sets things right, sets one small thing in the world back to the way God intends it. She says “thank you” in a big way.

I know we remember to ask God for help. How often do we remember to thank God?

How many remember parents teaching you to say “Please” AND “Thank you”? How well did you/or how well do you do what your mother told you/or tells you to do?

Mark is a 10-year-old living in an Atlanta housing project. He does not do what his mother tells him – and that's a good thing! Mark's mom has told him not to dream.³

Mark's story is one Caroline Westerhoff shares in her book, Make All Things New: Stories of Healing, Reconciliation, & Peace.⁴

Mark is among the many children of different age levels with whom Ms. Westerhoff interacts. She goes to the after school program for children from the old, large housing project where Mark lives & then to a private church school.

At both places, she meets the young people in their age/grade levels & asks each group to draw pictures of what the world will look like when they grow up. The youngest children present the most positive expectations. The older the children the bleaker their visions, whether they are children of poverty or children of the affluent school.

With his positive expectations, Mark stands out in both groups.

Although his mother tells him not to, Mark dreams of a better world. Mark says: “(My mother) thinks it's useless. But I think we must dream about other ways of living. If we just refuse to fight & treat all people with love & forgive them when they hurt us, we will have peace.”⁵

These are real words from a real 10-year-old boy living in poverty in Atlanta. Yes, he is “only a boy,” as Jeremiah declares himself to be in our 1^st lesson today. The difference is that Jeremiah is trying to refuse God's call⁶ & Mark is living God's call to change our bad habits – “to pluck up & to pull down” – so that we can “build & plant”.

How many of you see young people as the future of the Church? Why do we say young people are the future? Why do we not see young people ARE the Church now – like you & I are. We ALL are the Church.

Mark is 21^st Century proof of what we read in Jeremiah: God calls people of all ages to do God's work. “God's word is a dynamic & vital force, not a static & symbolic figure...”⁷

The dynamic & vital force of God's word is something Mark understands. He says: “If I were a leader in the world, I would use all my wisdom & with God beside me, convince people to get rid of guns & bombs & stop war & have peace on earth.”⁸

"Mark's insistence on dreaming (has) opened him to God's revelation of truth. (He expresses) faith in...God whose word finally will prevail, even when it cannot be perceived in the brokenness of the present,” as Mrs. Westerhoff says. She goes on to say, & I paraphrase in parts: Too often we “forget or dismiss” the Holy Spirit’s in-breaking – this powerful influence on children & adults. The word of God proclaims that in spite of all the appearances of doom, there is hope – in God.”¹⁰

We hear the in-breaking of the Holy Spirit in the words of hope from young Mark, who keeps himself open to God.

How do you keep open to God's guidance?

Mark grasps what the writer of Hebrews says in our lesson today: “we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken”. How often do we forget this? How often do we forget we have the Holy Spirit to guide us? How readily do we forget that our young people have the Holy Spirit to guide them?

God calls Jeremiah to a special task. God calls us to special work: to BE the Body of Christ. Remember: the body has many parts – old cells & young cells.

Whether old or young, God calls us to BE Jesus' healing hands & confident voice. This can sound scary. Remember God promises: “Do not be afraid...I AM with you.”

God says this to Jeremiah & touches his mouth, putting God's own words into his mouth.

God touches our mouths, including the mouths of young people, at this Holy Table.

With God's grace, as the Body of Christ, we Children of God can do the work God gives us to do like Jeremiah, like young Mark.

Stay open to God's guidance.

Learn openness & trust in God's guidance from Mark, this child, who is “only a boy,”

living in poverty, living in hope.

Bibliography

The Book of Occasional Services 2003. New York: Church Publishing. 2004.

Harper’s Bible Commentary. Gen. Ed: James L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.

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.

New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. 1973.

Westerhoff, Caroline A. Make All Things New: Stories of Healing, Reconciliation, & Peace. Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing. 2006.

Zauzmer, Julie. “Another possible benefit of going to church: A 33 percent chance of living longer”. The Washington Post. May 16, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/05/16/another-possible-benefit-of-going-to-worship-services-a-33-percent-chance-of-living-longer/ Accessed: 20 Aug. 2016.

1 Zauzmer, Julie. “Another possible benefit of going to church: A 33 percent chance of living longer”. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/05/16/another-possible-benefit-of-going-to-worship-services-a-33-percent-chance-of-living-longer/

2 Ibid.

3 Westerhoff, Caroline A. Make All Things New: Stories of Healing, Reconciliation, & Peace. P. 102.

4 Ibid. Pp. 95-103.

5 Ibid.

6 Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation. P. 921.

7 New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition. P. 908.

8 Ibid. Westerhoff. P. 102.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

How Do We Confront the Status Quo?

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae

St. Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 13^th Sunday after Pentecost, 14 Aug. 2016

Proper 15 Year C RCL: Isaiah 5:1–7, Psalm 80:1–2, 8–18, Hebrews 11:29–12:2; Luke 12:49–56

How many of you have taken or taught an online class? What was that like? [The idea intimidates me & lures me from my comfort zone. So I am thankful I have not experienced this....yet!]

How many of you have read The Wall Street Journal article about Georgia Tech's Jill Watson, one of 9 teaching assistants – or TAs – working with an online class of 300 graduate students?¹ 
Like the 8 other TAs, Jill helps answer some of the 10,000 routine questions they get during a semester, reminds students [some in other countries] of project due dates, & posts questions to stimulate online conversations.
Sometimes Jill responds to messages with “Yep!” or “We'd love to”.
At least one student wanted to nominate Jill as outstanding TA but didn't. Why? What surprised him to drop that idea?

He learned Jill is a computer programmed to answer routine questions. He & other graduate students in the artificial intelligence course thought they were getting answers from a human!

Today’s Gospel is like this surprise:

We don’t expect Jesus [who says “Blessed are the peacemakers”] to tell us he comes to bring division not peace! This jarring contradiction, spoken by the Prince of Peace, reminds us: Jesus is a realist, who confronts the status quo. Realities can be different from our expectations.

The Prince of Peace sees clearly. Jesus sees the possibilities AND the realities. The Prince of Peace does divide intimate relationships. As one Bible commentator says: today's Gospel “…is a frightening description of the diverse results of Jesus’ ministry…division, not peace will be the result;…families will be split.”²

With our technology, we are blessed with many ways to keep relationships going. When we can’t be physically in the same place, we can phone, text, post on Facebook & Skype to participate in events far away. [A seminary housemate Skyped on computer each evening to be with her husband & their 2 children in another state, including to celebrate their son's 3^rd birthday.]

Beloved Brothers & Sisters, you are wise enough to know we can turn these blessings into curses. We can over-use them, let them withdraw us from personal relationship & face to face interaction.

This dⁱs_to^r_ts their very purpose.

We hear distorted purpose in our scriptures from Isaiah, the Letter to the Hebrews & in Jesus' harsh language in our Gospel, telling us families will be divided, split into factions as we confront the status quo.

Sometimes we ourselves feel “split,” divided by our inner struggle for a deeper trust in God as we hold tightly to our comfort zone. We have to commit. AND we have to live with contradiction. We read this in our Gospel. We read this in Isaiah, who consistently preaches to “trust in God.”³

Today’s reading in Isaiah, which is called “a poem of rebuke,”⁴ God’s “frustrated love song,”⁵ tells us God sees the possibilities AND the realities.

We fall short of God's expectations

& God continues to love us!

As Christians, we embrace the contradiction of [as author Esther de Waal says in Living with Contradiction..., and I paraphrase in parts]

“...God who becomes a man;

a victor who rides on a donkey...;

a savior...executed as a common criminal;

...God who promises

'in losing my life I shall find it.'”⁶

Contradiction shakes our comfort zone. How broad is our comfort zone when we hear the lesson from Hebrews commend the faith of Rahab? – that foreign prostitute!⁷ Hebrews commends Rahab as an example of how to live by faith. You may recall Matthew’s Gospel says Rahab is Jesus’ ancestor!⁸

This foreigner, this prostitute is a member of our family! As God’s adopted children, as Jesus’ brothers & sisters, you & I have Rahab in our family lineage.

If a Rahab of today walks into this holy place to worship, if she comes to our Parish Supper or Christmas in the Forest what kind of welcome will we give her?
If her pimp walks into this holy place what kind of welcome will we give him?

Can we be like the priest & his wife I know who welcomed the pimp to their son Dave's funeral? Dave played guitar in a hard rock band. So when he dies young from a birth defect, all sorts & conditions of people come to his funeral along with the faithful members of the church where his father is rector.

Many who come don’t know the parish rules, don’t know the dress code. The pimp doesn’t know the time & arrives late. The only place to sit is the front row.

He walks down the center aisle [his clothes screaming his profession] and sits with the family, beside the priest’s wife.

This grieving mother is an heiress, a woman of refinement, a woman generous in hospitality, generous in sharing Jesus’ love & welcome. These grieving parents welcome this pimp as a friend of their dead son.

Can we do likewise?

Jesus calls us to live in lively imagination! It takes lively imagination to see a pimp as the beloved child of God that he is. [God wants the pimp to be reconciled to God & be part of God's family just as Rahab the prostitute is part of God's family – our family.]

Jesus calls us to shake off the paralysis we have of staying with the comfortable status quo. Jesus does not bring peace for us at St. Francis to live comfortably with the way things are.
Jesus brings us division between doubt & faith⁹ – between fearful living with the way things are & bold action living in new ways into God’s vision for us.

When we see winds & know they bring rain from one direction & heat from another but fail to see the spiritual crisis around us¹⁰, we fail to live by faith.

Rahab the prostitute lives by faith & works for God’s vision not to keep her world the way it is so that she doesn’t have to change.

Jesus has to change the world on the hard wood of the cross. Jesus – the Son of God – is under stress! This baptism Jesus undergoes purifies God’s creation.

Jesus takes on this stress for you & me, for the pimp & the prostitute.

In this sanctuary we must remember the church as sanctuary, the place where people are safe, where we welcome strangers. That’s hospitality. That’s justice. That’s peace that divides us from people paralyzed by doubt so that we are people running by faith this race we run with Jesus.

Rahab & Dave & now also Dave’s parents are part of the great cloud of witnesses around us: the fans in a stadium cheering us to persevere as we run the race:¹¹

Cheering us to keep the faith,

to persevere through dangers,

to press on &
not stop in the comfort of how things are.

Cheering us to strive for the justice God envisions:

a new creation,
a greater reality.

Cheering us to look out our big doors,
past our alarm system &
beyond this beautiful setting
& our beautiful natural setting outside
to confront the status quo
on streets not far from us.

Please open your Prayer Book to page 833 and join me in praying #62. A Prayer attributed to St. Francis [our Patron Saint]:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

Bibliography

The Book of Common Prayer. New York: Church Publishing, Inc. 1986.

Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament. New York: Doubleday. 1997.

De Waal, Esther. Living with Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality. Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing. 1997.

Dios Habla Hoy: La Biblia. Nueva York: Sociedad Biblica Americana. 1983.

Harper’s Bible Commentary. Gen. Ed: James L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.

Harper’s Bible Dictionary. Gen. Ed: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1985. p. 851

Higgs, Liz Curtis. Bad Girls of the Bible: and What We Can Learn from Them. Chapter 7. Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press. 1999.

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.

Korn, Melissa. “There's a Reason the Teaching Assistant Seems Robotic”. The Wall Street Journal. May 7-8, 2016. Vol CCLXVII No. 107. New York. P. 1A, 8A.

New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. 1973.

New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha Holy Bible. New York: Oxford UniversityPress. 1977.

Poitier-Young, Anathea. Old Testaments Prophets class notes. The School of Theology, The University of the South Advanced Degrees Program. Summer 2010.

1 Korn, Melissa. “There's a Reason the Teaching Assistant Seems Robotic”. The Wall Street Journal. May 7-8, 2016.

Pp. 1A, 8A.

2 Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament. P. 247.

3 Note: Poitier-Young, Anathea. Old Testaments Prophets class notes. The School of Theology, The University of the South Advanced Degrees Program. Summer 2010.

4 Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. P. 792.

5 Ibid. Poitier-Young.

6 De Waal, Esther. Living with Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality. P.24.

7 Ibid. Jewish Study Bible. P. 466.

8 Ibid.

9 Harper’s Bible Commentary. Gen. Ed.: James L. Mays. P. 1031.

10 New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition. P. 1030.

11 Ibid. Harper’s Bible Commentary. P. 1270.