Sermon Transcript: March 11, 2012 The Third Sunday in Lent Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22
From this morning’s Psalm, “Let the words of mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.” I speak to you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Typically, on the Third Sunday in Lent, we begin our services here with the Penitential Rite which involves hearing each of the Ten Commandments (or “The Decalogue” as they are commonly called). And after each commandment is read aloud, the congregation responds, “Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law” (BCP p 317-18). And so, we planned on beginning this week’s service with the Decalogue. But, as I proofed the service leaflet and then, read over our Old Testament lesson, I kind of felt like Sophia from The Golden Girls asking, “Is it my stroke, or did we hear this already?” Hearing the Ten Commandments once is often difficult enough, let alone twice. After all, as one of my Seminary colleagues said, “None of us like to be told how to live.”
Many think of the Commandments as a whole lot of “Thou shalt not’s” when, in reality, they come down to two simple phrases that are powerful and yet, very difficult to live: We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves. Every “no” statement offered in these commandments make sense to people who are grounded in the love of God and love of neighbor. If our whole being is focused on loving God and neighbor, then we will be honest at all times; we will not steal; we will respect the dignity of every human being; and we will honor God with our substance, especially our time; because we understand and embrace that loving God and loving all that God has created is our highest calling as God’s people.
Yet, we often use these commandments to advance our own agenda especially when, like we hear from all sorts of politicians these days, we want to tell someone else how to live. And yet, that is not the heart of the commandments. They are about love and love is what unites us as a people and unites us with God. That’s why the Psalmist proclaims that God’s laws rejoice the heart: they are not a burden, but rather, they are the way to an abundant and happy life. Imagine what this world would be like if everyone committed their whole being to loving God and loving their neighbor. Imagine what the Church would be like if every Christian loved God and their neighbor as much as they loved themselves.
Sermon Transcript: February 19, 2012 The Last Sunday after the Epiphany The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: 2 Kings 2:1-12; Psalm 50:1-6; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9
From Mark’s Gospel, “Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.’” I speak to you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I think that one of the marvelous things about Holy Scripture is its telling of how God chooses ordinary, everyday people just like you and me to carry forth God’s message and light in this world.
Our Old Testament reading from 2ndKings tells how Elisha received a double blessing from Elijah and carried on God’s mission of reconciliation to the people of Israel. Elisha had no special training nor did he possess any of the skills we would think necessary for a prophet to hold or required of anyone to be successful in ministry. Like the Prophet Moses before him and his master Elijah, Elisha was an unlikely candidate for ministry: he spoke poorly and was a non-descript person. And yet, we learn from this particular reading that he was totally dedicated and committed to his master and that was all God needed to carry his message and light in this world.
Our gospel lesson this morning tells the story of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ. Present with Jesus were Peter, James and John. We know Peter all too well as someone who was often brash; who jumped to conclusions; was quick to speak and slow to think. Mark tells us that once again Peter has put his foot in his mouth. He says, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.” He should have stopped there, but that wouldn’t be typical of Peter. He just had to say more. Peter blurts out, “Let us build three dwellings (or shrines)” to commemorate this occasion and in speaking these words, he misses the whole point of the Transfiguration. I think that what I like about Peter is that I can see myself in him: We tend to think that when confronted with an act of God, a miracle, an answered prayer, a sense of God’s presence, we have to do something special. Yet, Mark tells us that Jesus remained silent and a voice from heaven proclaimed, “This is my Son; the beloved. Listen to him.” God does not need more shrines and dwelling places. What God seeks is a people who will listen to God and try to see God present in every aspect of our lives.
Sermon Transcript: February 5, 2012 The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-12, 21c; I Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39
From Mark’s Gospel, “(Jesus said,) ‘let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’” I speak to you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This morning’s scripture readings seem to be very timely given that we are a parish in the midst of renewal with an ever increasing desire to fulfill and expand our mission and yet, we recognize the realities of our limited human and financial resources while all around us the needs of our community, our neighbors, and even our own selves are reaching a critical point that threatens to overwhelm even the most stout-hearted and faithful in our midst.
These are difficult days in our nation: From Occupy Wall Street protests continuing their barrage across the country, to the inane political rhetoric of presidential candidates, to staggering unemployment and job layoffs, to economic inequities, our people seem more divided now than ever before: Divided by race, by gender, by sexual orientation, by economic status, and even by religion. For me, what I find most disheartening is that Christians are arguing among themselves more than at any time I can remember and in the process, churches risk losing sight of the message they are called to proclaim. Noted author and poet, Charles Baudelaire, wrote that the devil’s greatest achievement is having convinced the world that he doesn’t exist. I think I would add another to those achievements: he has divided our once united nation and created such incredible need at every level of our society that churches are overwhelmed to the point of fighting among themselves. There are times when I wonder, like the people of Israel in today’s reading from Isaiah, if our ways are hidden from the Lord – can God not see what we are doing and what is happening with us? If so, why is God disregarding how much we are struggling to make ends meet?
Sermon Transcript: January 29, 2012 - The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany - The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; I Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28
From Mark’s gospel, “… a man with an unclean spirit … cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” I speak to you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Several years ago, I was invited to a rather posh dinner party in an exclusive Bostonneighborhood. But, for all the lavish surroundings and the alluring smells of what appeared to be top of the line hors d’oeuvres, something didn’t taste quite right. In fact, it was downright awful! I found myself wondering, “Where did this come from?” Of course, being polite, I said nothing to our host and then tried to eat around what was on my plate. Has this ever happened to you?
Such was the situation that St. Paul addresses in today’s reading from I Corinthians. Several church members feared that they might be eating meat that was already offered to idols. It was typical for pagan temples to sell off any leftover sacrificed meats after worship services. So, when you went to market, you had no idea if the meat on sale had actually been offered to a pagan god. Paul reminds the Church that we know and serve the only one, true God who, Paul says, is greater than any other god or lord in the heavens or on the earth. Therefore, Paul says (and I paraphrase here), “Who cares if some yahoo pagan priest waved a potroast over a pagan altar? Their god means nothing to us. Whether we choose to eat or not to eat has no impact on our spiritual life: these meats are harmless. So, go for it and enjoy yourself.” But, then, Paul adds a word of caution. And these cautious words have divided the Church for centuries. Paul says, “But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” Paul explains that if any of our actions, anything we do or say, will encourage someone else to commit what they believe is a sin, then don’t do it. The hard part for us is that in this day, living in a multi-cultural society with different standards of conduct, especially among the myriad rules and regulations of Christian denominations right here in our own city that tell us you can’t do this or that, what we choose to eat and drink or choose to do or live is often interpreted as being unchristian. Case in point: Some churches insist that Christians don’t drink or smoke; nor do they gamble, play cards, go to movies, or dance. Some say that real Christian women never wear slacks and Christian men do not have long hair, and the list goes on. Sadly, this suggests that Christians should be outright divorced from our culture rather than engage it, never have any fun, nor enjoy the arts, or just relax with a cold beer on a hot summer day.
Paul would say these rules are poppycock! And yet, he reminds us that any excess can be unhealthy for God’s people. And if what you are doing will cause someone else to stumble, then, think twice before you do it because we might harm someone else in addition to harming our own selves. Then, Paul goes a little further. This is what irritates me about Paul and what I like about him: he pushes the envelope just a little more; he ruffles our comfort zone. Paul says that if we do something that we know for ourselves is a sin, remember this: you never sin in private. Oh, we might think that how we live outside these walls is our own business and has no effect on the Church. But Paul says that even things done in secret damage the body of Christ. “Private sins” often influence how we look at an issue and can cause us to unduly and unfairly influence church mission. For example, if in our hearts we harbor racism, then we might work against issues of racial equality and try to deter the Church from taking a stand in the community. If, in our hearts, we really think the poor deserve their misfortune, we might work against offering them food or clothing, or ignore the beggar on the street and in so doing, ignore the Christ.
Sermon Transcript: January 22, 2012 The Third Sunday after the Epiphany The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:6-14; I Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20
From the Book of Jonah, “And the people of Nineveh believed God.” I speak to you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
One of the many things that I like about the Old Testament is that, while it is very clear that God chose Israel to be a model and light to world about living in right relationship with God and neighbor, there is an overriding message that God will save whom God chooses to save: That salvation is not dependent upon birthrights or our national origin; it is, instead, a gift of God’s grace.
Jewish teaching tells us that it is the righteous who inherit eternal life. And that righteousness is not simply about adhering to rules and regulations, but rather, it is a righteousness that comes from the heart: from the hearts of those who seek and listen to God and, in seeking and listening to God, they choose to live righteous lives. Righteous lives are measured by how we keep God’s laws of which the Ten Commandments are supreme. As the Psalmist would say, the righteous place their hope in God because they recognize that God is their rock and their salvation. They are content to wait in silence for God. As Proverbs (20:7) says, “A righteous man walks with integrity,” or as Matthew (13:24) says, “The righteous inherit the Kingdom of God.”
Christians say that it is our faith that leads to eternal life: That it is because of our faith that we walk with integrity; that our faith in God is the reason we have hope and are content to wait in silence for God. What we need to realize is that when Jews speak of righteousness they often mean the same as when we speak of faith because the fact is that we cannot be righteous without having faith and we cannot be faithful without being righteous. Our faith or righteousness is demonstrated in how we live every moment of every day; how we embrace God’s values; God’s commands.
Sermon Transcript: January 15, 2012 - The Second Sunday after the Epiphany - The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: I Samuel 3:1-10; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; I Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51
From this morning’s gospel, “Philip said to (Nathaniel), ‘Come and see.’” I speak to you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You got to hand it to Philip in today’s reading from John’s gospel. Rather than debate the merits of Nazarethor his discernment
that Jesus is the Christ, Philip chooses to invite Nathaniel to “come and see:” to observe and decide for himself. “Come and see:” sure sounds like a great ad campaign for a church, doesn’t it?
So much of life comes down to perception. Often times, our preconceived ideas of what we think should or should not be tempers how we perceive the world. Church history is filled with missed opportunities for mission and growth because God’s people objected to this, that, or the other movement of the Holy Spirit deciding that whatever was happening could not possibly be of God and refusing to even come and see for themselves. And yet, this morning’s scripture lessons tell us that our life in Christ, our life as God’s people, is never static: God is always at work in the world continuously renewing, creating, and doing new things. In so many ways, God is forever inviting all of humankind to, “Come and see.”
I think that one of the difficulties we encounter as Christians is our misperception that being born again or having a conversion experience is an ending. We might think that like Samuel, all we have to say is, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” and everything will be just fine; that we will never have to make difficult choices. Or, like the Church at Corinth, all we need to do is “get saved” because we prefer to believe that’s all God requires. But the Christian faith has more to say about beginnings than endings. What began at Calvary with the forgiveness of our sins was only the beginning of God’s new work in us and it will not end until Christ returns. As our reading from John’s gospel tells us, we have much more to see and learn about Christ and our life in Christ.
Sermon Transcript: The Eighth Sunday after the Epiphany February 27, 2011 The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: Isaiah 49:8-16a; Psalm 131; I Corinthians 4:1-5; Matthew 6:24-34
From Isaiah, “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.” I speak to you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
As we near the end of the Epiphany Season, our scripture readings continue to speak of the promises of God and the choice we make to live into those promises as God’s people.
This morning’s reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah proclaims that God chooses to be present to his people in every step of their journey. Isaiah 49 was written during the second great exile of the Hebrew people whose cities and towns had been all but obliterated in not one, but two separate, massive invasions and the nation of Israel was decimated as her people were carried off into exile. God promises to vindicate and restore his people and calls them to rejoice in this promise. Isaiah reminds the Hebrew people and us, that God is present in good times and in bad times because God so chooses to be present. Hearing these words though, you can almost hear the disdain in the voices of the people. We can hear them asking, “How can you say God is present? How can you say God keeps his promises? Look at what has happened to us.” They lament, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” Sometimes when things aren’t going well for us or not going as we had planned, we might think that somehow God has removed himself from us and that we are very much alone in this world.
Sermon Transcript: The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany February 13, 2011 The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin Readings: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 119:1-8; I Corinthians 3:1-9; Matthew 5:21-37
From the Book of Deuteronomy, “Choose life so that you … may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you …” I speak in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Have you ever had one of those “Uh-oh” moments? That’s where you ignored that old adage, “Be careful what you ask for because you might get it” and found yourself in a pickle?
Recently, I was commiserating with a fellow priest about our mutual dislike for the Revised Common Lectionary that determines which lessons of scripture are read aloud at Church. We noted that this new arrangement of scripture lessons rarely schedules the harsh sayings of Jesus for Sunday services. Difficult sayings of our Lord appear more often during weekdays when many are not present at Morning Prayer and, suffice to say, we never really gather to talk about those difficult texts. With smug disdain, I lamented that I longed for the days when Sunday readings forced us to grapple with difficult modern day issues. Then, this week, I had one of those “uh-oh” moments: not one, but all three of today’s scripture readings give us pause - serious pause.
Sermon Transcript: The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany February 6, 2011 The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin Readings: Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 112:1-10; I Corinthians 2:1-16; Matthew 5:13-20
From Isaiah, “You shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’” I speak to you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our Gospel lesson this morning describes God’s people in three terms: We are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and a city set on a hill. Each description describes who we really are and offers us a challenge as to how we should live in this world.
We think of salt in terms of seasoning or, as in the case of this past week, a good remedy for melting snow off of our sidewalks and streets. But salt, in Jesus’ day had multiple uses. Certainly it was a seasoning just as it is now. But salt was often used to describe the meal itself. The people of Israel would describe their meals as sharing salt and salt expressed a binding relationship between the host and the guests at the table. Perhaps that’s where the expression “pass the salt, please” came from. Leviticus and Ezekiel describe salt as a sacrifice while Ezra and the Book of Numbers describe the passing of salt between people as a sign of loyalty and a covenant of fidelity. The Books of the Kings speak of salt being used in purification rites and Paul’s letter to the Colossians describes salt as a preservative. So, salt didn’t simply exist for itself, but rather, it had a purpose and role in the lives of God’s people. And Jesus says, like salt, we, too, have a role and purpose in society as hosts, as a preservative, a seasoning, and as a sign of a loyal covenant with God.
Sermon Transcript: The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany January 30, 2011 The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin Readings: Micah 6:1-8; Psalm 15; I Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12
From the prophet Micah, “What does the Lord require of God’s people but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.” I speak to you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today’s scripture readings seem especially poignant in light of the events of the past week in our nation and abroad. Some world leaders suggest that civil unrest in other parts of the globe are not our concern while many of our own political leaders suggest that it is somehow our own fault if we are unemployed and have difficulty making ends meet. More and more often, our culture espouses a belief that it is the powerful and beautiful that are blessed of God. Even religious leaders with their prosperity Gospel – a false Gospel – suggest that if you are not rich, then you are not right with God or not praying hard enough for the good life.
Our scripture lessons this morning tell us differently. When the prophet Micah arrived on the scene in Israel about 700 years before the birth of Christ, the nation had enjoyed many years of prosperity and, in the process, had grown complacent to the needs of their neighbors. Poverty, hunger, homelessness, unfair lending and business practices were increasing daily much like we hear about modern day Egypt and see here at home. The people of Micah’s day started to believe that if you were poor, or in need, it was a sign of your disfavor with God and your responsibility alone. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with requiring people to work in order to earn a living, but the incredible message of the prophet Micah is that we are responsible for the care and welfare of each other, our neighbors, and the world.
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