Year A
Isaiah 45:21-25
Philippians 2:5-11
Psalm 98
John 12:31-36a<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hurricane Sally hit the gulf coast this week\u2026 and there\u2019s a climate crisis that\u2019s in various stages of acknowledgement or denial\u2026 wildfires are burning out of control up and down the west coast\u2026 institutional and systemic racism has finally come to light\u2026 though some of our country\u2019s leaders deny it\u2019s existence\u2026 there\u2019s a global pandemic that\u2019s killed almost 200,000 Americans\u2026 and there\u2019s no comprehensive national plan to combat it\u2026 it may seem like things are spinning out of control\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on the eve of Rosh Hashanah\u2026 and there\u2019s a Jewish teaching which says that those who die just before the Jewish new year\u2026 are the ones God has held back until the last moment\u2026 because they were tzaddik<\/em>\u2026 Maimonides wrote in the Middle Ages of eight levels of tzedakah\u2026<\/em> the highest of which results in an act that creates a sustainable form of justice\u2026 and not everyone does that\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many years ago\u2026 the Emperor Constantine ordered the construction of a complex of buildings in Jerusalem\u2026 on a scale of imperial magnificence\u2026 to which all would be attracted\u2026 and which all would venerate\u2026 it was the blessed place of our Savior’s resurrection\u2026 the overall supervision of the work… on the site where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher now stands… was entrusted to Constantine\u2019s mother\u2026 the Empress Helena\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Jesus\u2019 time\u2026 the hill of Calvary stood outside the city walls\u2026 but when the Roman city Aelia Capitolina was built\u2026 after the destruction of Jerusalem\u2026 that hill was buried under tons of fill\u2026 but it was during the excavations directed by Helena that a relic\u2026 believed to be a part of the True Cross\u2026 was discovered\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Constantine\u2019s shrine included two primary buildings\u2026 a large basilica that was used for the Liturgy of the Word… and a circular church called\u2026 The Resurrection… used for Eucharist\u2026 and its altar was placed on the site of Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a courtyard which separated the two buildings\u2026 and through which the faithful had to pass on their way from one building to the other\u2026 from Word to Sacrament\u2026 and toward one side of the courtyard\u2026 the top of Calvary\u2019s hill had been exposed\u2026 it was there that the veneration of the cross took place on Good Friday\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dedication of the buildings occurred in the year 335\u2026 on September 14\u2026 the seventh<\/em> month of the Roman calendar\u2026 it was a date that was suggested by the text in 2 Chronicles\u2026 suggested by the account of the dedication of Solomon\u2019s temple in the same city… in the seventh<\/em> month of the Jewish Calendar\u2026 hundreds of years before\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we dedicate a building\u2026 a library for example\u2026 we commit to use it in a particular way\u2026 we enter it with a sense of quiet reverence or respect\u2026 for that for which it stands\u2026 for the values it embodies\u2026 and with an appreciation for the learning which has occurred within it\u2026 But we are also formed by Jesus\u2026 by his words and actions\u2026 by reading\u2026 learning\u2026 and inwardly digesting scripture\u2026 by the Truths contained therein\u2026 we grow from spiritual infants\u2026 to spiritual adolescents\u2026 we climb the ladder of incremental formation\u2026 until earthly ways are replaced with divine ways\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In today\u2019s Gospel Jesus says\u2026 Walk while you have the light\u2026 so that you may become children of light\u2026 if you walk in the darkness\u2026 you do not know where you are going<\/em>\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Matthew\u2019s Gospel 5:15\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 no one\u2026 after lighting a lamp\u2026 puts it under a bushel basket\u2026 but on a lamp stand\u2026 and it gives light to all in the house\u2026 in the same way\u2026 let your light shine before others<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few chapters earlier in John\u2019s Gospel\u2026 in 8:12\u2026 Jesus spoke to them saying\u2026 I am the light of the world\u2026 whoever follows me will never walk in darkness\u2026 but will have the light of life<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the last line of today\u2019s Gospel\u2026 is only the first half of verse 36\u2026 v. 36a we say\u2026 for some reason\u2026 those who compiled today’s lectionary left off 36b\u2026 and it\u2019s interesting\u2026 it\u2019s surprising\u2026 because it says\u2026 after Jesus had said this\u2026 he departed and hid from them<\/em>\u2026 he departed and hid\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Presiding Bp. Katharine Jefferts-Schori wrote\u2026 but this is not a new pattern\u2026 Jesus is alternately there and not there when people are in crisis\u2026 when he stirs up a near-riot in the synagogue in Nazareth and then disappears\u2026 he\u2019s not there when the disciples are trying to row across the stormy sea in the middle of the night\u2026 when the tomb is empty on Easter morning\u2026 and Jesus leaves them on the day our other named congregation\u2026 celebrates as Ascension Day\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Katharine wrote\u2026 there\u2019s something very important about Jesus’ absence\u2026 it\u2019s as though he\u2019s reminding his followers\u2026 or training them to cope\u2026 when he\u2019s not physically in their midst\u2026 how are you going to walk in the light when I am no longer walking around with you<\/em>\u2026 one of the ways we do it\u2026 is by seeing and honoring\u2026 the Christ in each other\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n For me\u2026 the Cross is one of those theological conundrums\u2026 something that ought to be finite and final\u2026 but which has become infinite and eternal\u2026 and the scandal of the Cross\u2026 is that it rejects the values of Empire\u2026 and turns them on their heads\u2026 turns them upside down\u2026 the scandal of the cross is God\u2019s YES\u2026 to Empire\u2019s NO\u2026 God says\u2026 is that the best you\u2019ve got\u2026 I\u2019ve got Jesus\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It may feel like our lives are spinning out of control\u2026 just like Hurricane Sally spun destruction along the Gulf Coast\u2026 and while the church is not the building\u2026 we can still seek the support we need from each other the way Jesus sought support from his friends in the Garden of Gethsemane\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what do we do when it feels like Jesus has run off and hidden from us\u2026 we lament\u2026 cry out\u2026 reach out\u2026 we feel all of our feelings\u2026 we distract ourselves from all of our feelings\u2026 we call a friend and pray together\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are waiting\u2026 but these days our waiting may feel less like Advent and more like Good Friday\u2026 and we wonder whether salvation will ever come\u2026 but Easter will come\u2026 and the Tomb will be empty\u2026 Jesus has risen\u2026 and feeds us with himself\u2026 in fact\u2026 this is the only corpus<\/em> I have ever seen\u2026 in which Jesus as the risen Christ\u2026 feeds us with bread and wine\u2026 and always with spiritual communion\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But more than just feeding us\u2026 Jesus saves us from ourselves\u2026 saves us from our small selves\u2026 saves us from being small-minded\u2026 saves us from being judgmental\u2026 saves us from the myopic tunnel vision of our worldviews\u2026 saves us from believing that our opinions are right\u2026 saves us from the tyranny of our personalities\u2026 saves us from the shame of acting like God\u2026 because when we get rid of our false\u2026 egotistical\u2026 self-righteous selves\u2026 we have room for righteousness\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Constantine thought that everyone would be attracted to\u2026 and venerate\u2026 the imperial magnificence which he had built\u2026 but when the forces of darkness are driven out\u2026 when things seem like they\u2019re spinning out of control\u2026 then our vision will be drawn not to works like those\u2026 but to Jesus lifted up\u2026 and we will pass from Word to Sacrament\u2026 and we will not regard being loved by God as something to be exploited\u2026 but empty ourselves\u2026 then God will exalt us too\u2026 and we will take on the mind that was in Christ Jesus\u2026 and it\u2019s from that place\u2026 from that vantage point\u2026 from that style of functioning\u2026 that we will see ourselves as we truly are\u2026 and the world as it truly is\u2026 and God will replace our divisive hearts of stone\u2026 with unitive hearts of flesh\u2026 and we will have become\u2026 tzaddik<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Isaiah 45:21-25 Philippians 2:5-11 Psalm 98 John 12:31-36a May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026 Hurricane Sally hit the gulf coast this week\u2026 and there\u2019s a climate crisis that\u2019s in various stages of acknowledgement or denial\u2026 wildfires are burning out of control up and down the west coast\u2026 institutional and systemic racism has finally come to light\u2026 though some of our country\u2019s leaders deny it\u2019s existence\u2026 there\u2019s a global pandemic that\u2019s killed almost 200,000 Americans\u2026 and there\u2019s no comprehensive national plan to combat it\u2026 it may seem like things are spinning out of control\u2026 And Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on the eve of Rosh Hashanah\u2026 and there\u2019s a Jewish teaching which says that those who die just before the Jewish new year\u2026 are the ones God has held back until the last moment\u2026 because they were tzaddik\u2026 Maimonides wrote in the Middle Ages of eight levels of tzedakah\u2026 the highest of which results in an act that creates a sustainable form of justice\u2026 and not everyone does that\u2026 Many years ago\u2026 the Emperor Constantine ordered the construction of a complex of buildings in Jerusalem\u2026 on a scale of imperial magnificence\u2026 to which all would be attracted\u2026 and which all would venerate\u2026 it was the blessed place of our Savior’s resurrection\u2026 the overall supervision of the work… on the site where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher now stands… was entrusted to Constantine\u2019s mother\u2026 the Empress Helena\u2026 In Jesus\u2019 time\u2026 the hill of Calvary stood outside the city walls\u2026 but when the Roman city Aelia Capitolina was built\u2026 after the destruction of Jerusalem\u2026 that hill was buried under tons of fill\u2026 but it was during the excavations directed by Helena that a relic\u2026 believed to be a part of the True Cross\u2026 was discovered\u2026 Constantine\u2019s shrine included two primary buildings\u2026 a large basilica that was used for the Liturgy of the Word… and a circular church called\u2026 The Resurrection… used for Eucharist\u2026 and its altar was placed on the site of Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb\u2026 There was a courtyard which separated the two buildings\u2026 and through which the faithful had to pass on their way from one building to the other\u2026 from Word to Sacrament\u2026 and toward one side of the courtyard\u2026 the top of Calvary\u2019s hill had been exposed\u2026 it was there that the veneration of the cross took place on Good Friday\u2026 The dedication of the buildings occurred in the year 335\u2026 on September 14\u2026 the seventh month of the Roman calendar\u2026 it was a date that was suggested by the text in 2 Chronicles\u2026 suggested by the account of the dedication of Solomon\u2019s temple in the same city… in the seventh month of the Jewish Calendar\u2026 hundreds of years before\u2026 When we dedicate a building\u2026 a library for example\u2026 we commit to use it in a particular way\u2026 we enter it with a sense of quiet reverence or respect\u2026 for that for which it stands\u2026 for the values it embodies\u2026 and with an appreciation for the learning which has occurred within it\u2026 We are formed by our family of origin\u2026 by our culture and society\u2026 by the entertainment and the food we ingest\u2026 perhaps even by our community of faith\u2026 and when we dedicate ourselves\u2026 we commit our lives to a particular cause\u2026 to particular principles\u2026 to particular standards\u2026 we may not always live up to them\u2026 but we make public professions of our intent\u2026 we may even make vows\u2026 we become accountable\u2026 But we are also formed by Jesus\u2026 by his words and actions\u2026 by reading\u2026 learning\u2026 and inwardly digesting scripture\u2026 by the Truths contained therein\u2026 we grow from spiritual infants\u2026 to spiritual adolescents\u2026 we climb the ladder of incremental formation\u2026 until earthly ways are replaced with divine ways\u2026 In today\u2019s Gospel Jesus says\u2026 Walk while you have the light\u2026 so that you may become children of light\u2026 if you walk in the darkness\u2026 you do not know where you are going\u2026 In Matthew\u2019s Gospel 5:15\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 no one\u2026 after lighting a lamp\u2026 puts it under a bushel basket\u2026 but on a lamp stand\u2026 and it gives light to all in the house\u2026 in the same way\u2026 let your light shine before others\u2026 A few chapters earlier in John\u2019s Gospel\u2026 in 8:12\u2026 Jesus spoke to them saying\u2026 I am the light of the world\u2026 whoever follows me will never walk in darkness\u2026 but will have the light of life\u2026 But the last line of today\u2019s Gospel\u2026 is only the first half of verse 36\u2026 v. 36a we say\u2026 for some reason\u2026 those who compiled today’s lectionary left off 36b\u2026 and it\u2019s interesting\u2026 it\u2019s surprising\u2026 because it says\u2026 after Jesus had said this\u2026 he departed and hid from them\u2026 he departed and hid\u2026 Former Presiding Bp. Katharine Jefferts-Schori wrote\u2026 but this is not a new pattern\u2026 Jesus is alternately there and not there when people are in crisis\u2026 when he stirs up a near-riot in the synagogue in Nazareth and then disappears\u2026 he\u2019s not there when the disciples are trying to row across the stormy sea in the middle of the night\u2026 when the tomb is empty on Easter morning\u2026 and Jesus leaves them on the day our other named congregation\u2026 celebrates as Ascension Day\u2026 And Katharine wrote\u2026 there\u2019s something very important about Jesus’ absence\u2026 it\u2019s as though he\u2019s reminding his followers\u2026 or training them to cope\u2026 when he\u2019s not physically in their midst\u2026 how are you going to walk in the light when I am no longer walking around with you\u2026 one of the ways we do it\u2026 is by seeing and honoring\u2026 the Christ in each other\u2026 For me\u2026 the Cross is one of those theological conundrums\u2026 something that ought to be finite and final\u2026 but which has become infinite and eternal\u2026 and the scandal of the Cross\u2026 is that it rejects the values of Empire\u2026 and turns them on their heads\u2026 turns them upside down\u2026 the scandal of the cross is God\u2019s YES\u2026 to Empire\u2019s NO\u2026 God says\u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":977,"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":[],"class_list":["post-941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/JesusSaves-e1602437151488.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","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=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":978,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions\/978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
We are formed by our family of origin\u2026 by our culture and society\u2026 by the entertainment and the food we ingest\u2026 perhaps even by our community of faith\u2026 and when we dedicate ourselves\u2026 we commit our lives to a particular cause\u2026 to particular principles\u2026 to particular standards\u2026 we may not always live up to them\u2026 but we make public professions of our intent\u2026 we may even make vows\u2026 we become accountable\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n