Year C
\u00a0Jeremiah 23:23-29
\u00a0Psalm 82
\u00a0Hebrews 11:29-12:2
\u00a0Luke 12:49-56<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s a mental health crisis in this country\u2026\u00a0 not only are there widespread shortages of mental health professionals\u2026\u00a0 like at Pine Rest\u2026\u00a0 but there are people whose emotional landscapes have suffered earthquakes\u2026\u00a0 not only from traumas they’ve experienced\u2026\u00a0 not only because of the pandemic\u2026\u00a0 but from a whole slew of economic\u2026\u00a0 environmental\u2026\u00a0 and social issues\u2026\u00a0 and I commend to you a series that’s available on Apple TV\u2026\u00a0 if you have it\u2026\u00a0 it’s called The Me You Can’t See<\/span>\u2026\u00a0 and it’s produced by Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry\u2026\u00a0 who suffered for years after his mother’s death\u2026\u00a0 because the royal family just simply refused to speak about it\u2026\u00a0 and you can’t just think yourself out of that kind of trauma… because it takes up residence in our physiology\u2026\u00a0 and the series features some people we know\u2026\u00a0 like Oprah herself\u2026\u00a0 and Lady Gaga\u2026\u00a0 and actress Glenn Close\u2026\u00a0 talking candidly about their mental health and how they cope\u2026\u00a0 and others we don’t know\u2026\u00a0 being just as vulnerable\u2026\u00a0 and sharing their own stories\u2026\u00a0 and the series brings out into the open\u2026\u00a0 shines more of a light on the fact\u2026\u00a0 that mental health issues are no more shameful than broken bones\u2026\u00a0 or the common cold\u2026\u00a0 or any kind of cancer\u2026\u00a0 or that they emerge because of some moral failing\u2026\u00a0 my point is\u2026\u00a0 that for some of us\u2026\u00a0 on the surface\u2026\u00a0 and by all appearances\u2026\u00a0 everything may seem to be fine\u2026\u00a0 we may put on a brave face\u2026\u00a0 but under the surface\u2026\u00a0 in the roots of things\u2026\u00a0 we may not get the kind of nourishment we need\u2026\u00a0 we may not get the kind of support we need\u2026\u00a0 to heal\u2026\u00a0 and to flourish qualitatively above the soil\u2026 \u00a0to produce the kind of fruit we desire\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n When that happens in nature\u2026 when there’s simply too much ground cover in a forest\u2026 forest rangers may use what’s called controlled burning\u2026 a tactic which is used to protect\u2026 and refresh\u2026 forests\u2026 it’s a centuries-old practice that burns off the dense\u2026 but shallow-rooted ground cover which builds up over time\u2026 ground cover which could fuel a major forest fire\u2026 it’s a practice which allows indigenous plants and wildlife to thrive\u2026 restoring a more natural and diverse ecosystem\u2026 and when the ground cover has been burned away\u2026 the shallow roots will die off too\u2026 even today’s Prayers of the People refers to this process when we will ask God\u2026 to transform the devastation of floods and fires into fertile ground for new life and growth<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier in Luke’s Gospel (9:51-56)\u2026\u00a0 when Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem\u2026\u00a0 and those in a village of the Samaritans refused to receive him\u2026\u00a0 James and John\u2026\u00a0 aka the Sons of Thunder\u2026\u00a0 asked Jesus if he wanted them to command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them\u2026\u00a0 and Jesus told them No!<\/span>\u2026\u00a0 but in today’s Gospel\u2026\u00a0 Jesus not only says that he<\/span> came to bring fire to the earth\u2026\u00a0 but he wishes it were already kindled\u2026\u00a0 and that there’s a baptism with which he’s to be baptized\u2026\u00a0 and he’s in anguish until it’s all accomplished\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Shea explains that these are not the measured words of someone following a game plan\u2026\u00a0 this is an impassioned outburst\u2026\u00a0 the eruption of Jesus’ heart which reveals what drives him\u2026\u00a0 and as important and powerful as Jesus’ teaching is\u2026\u00a0 it doesn’t have the revelatory power of his death and resurrection\u2026\u00a0 but when the disciples understand the revelation as<\/span> Jesus’ death and resurrection\u2026\u00a0 his fire will pass on to them\u2026\u00a0 and Jesus’ words echo what Jeremiah said in 20:9 when he said\u2026\u00a0 Within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones\u2026\u00a0 I am weary with holding it in…\u00a0 and I cannot!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Mark 1:7-8 John the Baptist proclaimed that while he baptized with water\u2026 the One who was coming after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit\u2026 and while both Matthew (3:11) and Luke (3:16) mirror Mark’s mention of the Holy Spirit\u2026 they also reveal that Jesus will baptize with fire\u2026 in the Acts of the Apostles the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the gathering of disciples is symbolized as tongues of fire\u2026 which suggest that it’s their speech which will be the way the fire of the Holy Spirit will spread upon the earth\u2026 so in the deepest sense\u2026 the casting of fire\u2026 means releasing the Spirit\u2026 and the fire that is within Jesus’ bones\u2026 is eager to find the wood of the people of the world\u2026 purifying them\u2026 even as it empowers them\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n But in what may seem like an obscure question\u2026 Jesus asks\u2026 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth<\/em>\u2026 and we want to answer YES\u2026 after all\u2026 as Shea continues\u2026 the song of the angels at Jesus’ birth suggested that his mission was peace (Luke 2:14)\u2026 he made reconciliation and peace the center of his preaching and teaching (Luke 15:11-32, 23:34, 6:27-36)\u2026 at his arrest at Gethsemane\u2026 he stopped the ear-hacking sword of his disciples with the command\u2026 No more of this!<\/em> (Luke 22:51)\u2026 but in this particular question\u2026 the focus isn’t on his teaching\u2026 but on it’s effects\u2026 since some people will accept the teaching and follow him\u2026 and others will reject it and walk away\u2026 and as people decide\u2026 they divide\u2026 and so Jesus’ offer of peace and reconciliation will lead to inevitable division\u2026 why even at his circumcision\u2026 Simeon predicted that he would be a sign of contradiction\u2026 someone who would be opposed\u2026 and it’s in the contradiction and opposition that we find the division\u2026 and in his litany of family schisms\u2026 we may remember his words in Luke 14:26\u2026 Whoever comes to me and does not love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, less than they love me\u2026 cannot be my disciple<\/em>\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n We are all physically\u2026 emotionally\u2026 psychologically\u2026 and spiritually wounded\u2026 we all fall short of God’s will for us\u2026 we are all sinners\u2026 that’s what the Greek word\u2026 hamartia<\/em>\u2026 means\u2026 it’s an archery term that means to miss the mark\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It doesn’t matter whether we’re rich\u2026 middle class\u2026 poor\u2026 Caucasian\u2026 Hispanic\u2026 Latino\u2026 African-American\u2026 lesbian\u2026 gay\u2026 bisexual\u2026 transgender\u2026 underweight\u2026 overweight\u2026 Democrat\u2026 Republican\u2026 Independent\u2026 Jewish\u2026 Christian\u2026 Muslim\u2026 Buddhist\u2026 Hindu\u2026 or whatever label we might think to<\/p>\n\n\n\n use\u2026 try as we might\u2026 we cannot redeem ourselves\u2026 only the light of God in Christ\u2026 by whatever name we call it\u2026 and which transcends any divisions we can imagine\u2026 can do that\u2026 in fact\u2026 my former bishop in the Diocese of Southern Ohio framed it this way when he said that the divisions between us are lies\u2026 and what that means\u2026 is that we are united in ways we cannot imagine\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are things to which we are attached\u2026\u00a0 some things in which some of us are rooted\u2026\u00a0 if you will\u2026\u00a0 ideas\u2026\u00a0 abstractions\u2026\u00a0 hypotheses\u2026\u00a0 notions\u2026\u00a0 concepts\u2026\u00a0 which don’t serve us or each other well\u2026\u00a0 and that don’t reflect God’s will for us individually and corporately\u2026\u00a0 and these things are like the forest ground cover\u2026\u00a0 their roots are shallow\u2026\u00a0 and when\u2026 in the hymn\u2026 \u00a0How Firm a Foundation<\/span> when God says:\u00a0 When through fiery trials\u2026\u00a0 thy pathway shall lie\u2026 my grace all sufficient\u2026\u00a0 shall be thy supply\u2026\u00a0 the flame shall not hurt thee\u2026\u00a0 I only design\u2026\u00a0 thy dross to consume\u2026\u00a0 and thy gold to refine<\/em>\u2026\u00a0 it’s like Jesus is wanting to set us on fire\u2026\u00a0 so that our ground cover is burned away\u2026\u00a0 and our shallow roots die\u2026\u00a0 so it becomes increasingly difficult to kindle the fires of division\u2026\u00a0 and so that there are more resources available to the deeper rootedness\u2026\u00a0 and broader interconnectedness\u2026\u00a0 we share in Christ\u2026\u00a0 and from which our Being is nourished with forgiveness and grace\u2026\u00a0 and with bread and wine\u2026\u00a0 and so that the Me You Can’t See\u2026\u00a0 becomes the same me\u2026\u00a0 as the Me You Can<\/span> See\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year C\u00a0Jeremiah 23:23-29\u00a0Psalm 82\u00a0Hebrews 11:29-12:2\u00a0Luke 12:49-56 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 There’s a mental health crisis in this country\u2026\u00a0 not only are there widespread shortages of mental health professionals\u2026\u00a0 like at Pine Rest\u2026\u00a0 but there are people whose emotional landscapes have suffered earthquakes\u2026\u00a0 not only from traumas they’ve experienced\u2026\u00a0 not only because of the pandemic\u2026\u00a0 but from a whole slew of economic\u2026\u00a0 environmental\u2026\u00a0 and social issues\u2026\u00a0 and I commend to you a series that’s available on Apple TV\u2026\u00a0 if you have it\u2026\u00a0 it’s called The Me You Can’t See\u2026\u00a0 and it’s produced by Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry\u2026\u00a0 who suffered for years after his mother’s death\u2026\u00a0 because the royal family just simply refused to speak about it\u2026\u00a0 and you can’t just think yourself out of that kind of trauma… because it takes up residence in our physiology\u2026\u00a0 and the series features some people we know\u2026\u00a0 like Oprah herself\u2026\u00a0 and Lady Gaga\u2026\u00a0 and actress Glenn Close\u2026\u00a0 talking candidly about their mental health and how they cope\u2026\u00a0 and others we don’t know\u2026\u00a0 being just as vulnerable\u2026\u00a0 and sharing their own stories\u2026\u00a0 and the series brings out into the open\u2026\u00a0 shines more of a light on the fact\u2026\u00a0 that mental health issues are no more shameful than broken bones\u2026\u00a0 or the common cold\u2026\u00a0 or any kind of cancer\u2026\u00a0 or that they emerge because of some moral failing\u2026\u00a0 my point is\u2026\u00a0 that for some of us\u2026\u00a0 on the surface\u2026\u00a0 and by all appearances\u2026\u00a0 everything may seem to be fine\u2026\u00a0 we may put on a brave face\u2026\u00a0 but under the surface\u2026\u00a0 in the roots of things\u2026\u00a0 we may not get the kind of nourishment we need\u2026\u00a0 we may not get the kind of support we need\u2026\u00a0 to heal\u2026\u00a0 and to flourish qualitatively above the soil\u2026 \u00a0to produce the kind of fruit we desire\u2026 When that happens in nature\u2026 when there’s simply too much ground cover in a forest\u2026 forest rangers may use what’s called controlled burning\u2026 a tactic which is used to protect\u2026 and refresh\u2026 forests\u2026 it’s a centuries-old practice that burns off the dense\u2026 but shallow-rooted ground cover which builds up over time\u2026 ground cover which could fuel a major forest fire\u2026 it’s a practice which allows indigenous plants and wildlife to thrive\u2026 restoring a more natural and diverse ecosystem\u2026 and when the ground cover has been burned away\u2026 the shallow roots will die off too\u2026 even today’s Prayers of the People refers to this process when we will ask God\u2026 to transform the devastation of floods and fires into fertile ground for new life and growth\u2026 Earlier in Luke’s Gospel (9:51-56)\u2026\u00a0 when Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem\u2026\u00a0 and those in a village of the Samaritans refused to receive him\u2026\u00a0 James and John\u2026\u00a0 aka the Sons of Thunder\u2026\u00a0 asked Jesus if he wanted them to command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them\u2026\u00a0 and Jesus told them No!\u2026\u00a0 but in today’s Gospel\u2026\u00a0 Jesus not only says that he came to bring fire to the earth\u2026\u00a0 but he wishes it were already kindled\u2026\u00a0 and that there’s a baptism with which he’s to be baptized\u2026\u00a0 and he’s in anguish until it’s all accomplished\u2026 John Shea explains that these are not the measured words of someone following a game plan\u2026\u00a0 this is an impassioned outburst\u2026\u00a0 the eruption of Jesus’ heart which reveals what drives him\u2026\u00a0 and as important and powerful as Jesus’ teaching is\u2026\u00a0 it doesn’t have the revelatory power of his death and resurrection\u2026\u00a0 but when the disciples understand the revelation as Jesus’ death and resurrection\u2026\u00a0 his fire will pass on to them\u2026\u00a0 and Jesus’ words echo what Jeremiah said in 20:9 when he said\u2026\u00a0 Within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones\u2026\u00a0 I am weary with holding it in…\u00a0 and I cannot! In Mark 1:7-8 John the Baptist proclaimed that while he baptized with water\u2026 the One who was coming after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit\u2026 and while both Matthew (3:11) and Luke (3:16) mirror Mark’s mention of the Holy Spirit\u2026 they also reveal that Jesus will baptize with fire\u2026 in the Acts of the Apostles the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the gathering of disciples is symbolized as tongues of fire\u2026 which suggest that it’s their speech which will be the way the fire of the Holy Spirit will spread upon the earth\u2026 so in the deepest sense\u2026 the casting of fire\u2026 means releasing the Spirit\u2026 and the fire that is within Jesus’ bones\u2026 is eager to find the wood of the people of the world\u2026 purifying them\u2026 even as it empowers them\u2026 But in what may seem like an obscure question\u2026 Jesus asks\u2026 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth\u2026 and we want to answer YES\u2026 after all\u2026 as Shea continues\u2026 the song of the angels at Jesus’ birth suggested that his mission was peace (Luke 2:14)\u2026 he made reconciliation and peace the center of his preaching and teaching (Luke 15:11-32, 23:34, 6:27-36)\u2026 at his arrest at Gethsemane\u2026 he stopped the ear-hacking sword of his disciples with the command\u2026 No more of this! (Luke 22:51)\u2026 but in this particular question\u2026 the focus isn’t on his teaching\u2026 but on it’s effects\u2026 since some people will accept the teaching and follow him\u2026 and others will reject it and walk away\u2026 and as people decide\u2026 they divide\u2026 and so Jesus’ offer of peace and reconciliation will lead to inevitable division\u2026 why even at his circumcision\u2026 Simeon predicted that he would be a sign of contradiction\u2026 someone who would be opposed\u2026 and it’s in the contradiction and opposition that we find the division\u2026 and in his litany of family schisms\u2026 we may remember his words in Luke 14:26\u2026 Whoever comes to me and does not love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, less than they love me\u2026 cannot be my disciple\u2026 We are all physically\u2026 emotionally\u2026 psychologically\u2026 and spiritually wounded\u2026 we all fall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,170,95],"class_list":["post-1749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons","tag-holy-spirit","tag-mental-health-crisis","tag-transformation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1750,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions\/1750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}