Lent V

Sermon as Presented to Trinity Episcopal Church in Lawrence, Kansas
29th March, 2009

Fifth Sunday in Lent


I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
It is a great pleasure to be back at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lawrence, Kansas... This Church and this town I very much carry close to my heart, and I am very grateful to be welcomed back here once again. And while, I remember Lawrence as a city known for its warmth and sunshine, the storms of ice, rain, and snow that preceded this mornings service have provided an excellent setting to preach on this the Fifth Sunday in Lent.
Much like the secular calendar, the Church is divided into transitioning seasons. Spiritually, The periods of Advent and Lent are set aside for reflection - one in preparation for Christ coming into the world and the latter with a focus on Christ’s humanity and His death. There is a correlation in the way the Church Fathers set up the Liturgical Calendar with that of the changing of the seasons. Advent was set during a time after the harvest, in part so that man could reflect on the blessings of life given from the earth and that which God has given us in a Savior brought to earth. Lent is set during the long, cold, dark winter, a period where there is no fruit, no great feast, and mankind is meant to survive on the basics.
For many years the teaching of the Church has focused on Lent being a season of sacrifice - the offering up of something we consider a vice. In modern times, however, we have ways of preserving, better saving, and importing items from tropical places, which allows us to continue living with certain luxuries. Over the years the Church adapted and told its people that we are to fast from the abundance so as to look into our souls for true nourishment and fulfillment - a good and Holy concept, certainly. And so, through the years this was translated that we need to give something up, sacrifice what spoils us. Somehow through this the concept of Lenten discipline has lost its meaning.
The season of Lent is more about having spiritual discipline. Not just living without, but making the most of we we have already. What is already in our cupboards, what can we most do Spiritually with what God has given us, despite how little we have. Centuries ago, the time of year made sense in many ways, one being that the land was bare and the air was cold and wet and merry making would have to wait until warmer days.
There is a psychology behind living within 40 days of famine that makes since to the mind. We can go so many days without.... Whatever... And of course Sundays are Feast Days in which some partake in that thing they have gone without for the last six days... And so on. I had a friend who, along with his wife, intentionally gave up sweets every year for Lent. He was explaining this to me the week before the season began - just before he and his wife made their annual trip to Wal-Mart to stock up on bags and bags of chocolates and candies. When I questioned him about his hoarding, he answered saying that every Sunday he and his wife would pull a big tub down from a closet and pig out on sweets. The tub full of candy would then return to the closet until the following week. I asked again, “So, before you give something up that you see as a vice, you go out and prepare for the one day a week during the whole season that you will be able to eat more than your fill”?
“Yeah,” was his response. “Right.... [sarcasm] That makes sense...”

Now if we can turn our attention to the Gospel message for today... There are a number of things going on in this Biblical passage... Too much in fact to completely break down in one sitting, which you can thank me for later.
If we look at a larger frame of the Biblical text of John chapter 20, we see that the place we find Jesus in this passage is just after his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem - which actually takes place next week at Palm Sunday. Here we fast-forward in time to focus on the climate and attitude of Jesus nearing his crucifixion. We transition over the celebration in order to maintain the solemnity of the Lenten focus. I could go on and on about the first part of the passage in which Jesus explains that a grain of wheat must die in order to become not a seed, but a living, fruit bearing plant. Although, something tells me that me that the good people of Kansas already hear enough about wheat.
The 2nd half of the Gospel lesson is extremely provocative, where Jesus is telling the crowd that his soul is troubled. Its an interesting image, in and of itself, to see Christ - to picture the look on his face with a troubled soul and imagine what he must be thinking. But with confidence and authority he explains to His people that the issue - the Voice from Heaven - concerns them: their lives, their hearts and minds, how they relate and connect to one another, and how they are connected to the Almighty.
A voice comes from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
As is the custom with with the reactions of the men and women surrounding Jesus - And here I like to imagine a crowd of people all standing around chewing gum to their hearts content - they don’t understand, or more so, they are not really paying attention. Those who are really not contributing to what’s going on claim that the voice is Thunder. Others, who have obviously spit out their gum by this point, declare the voice an Angel. So, Jesus says in a voice with the command of a nun slamming her ruler down on a desk, “Yes, it was a voice. Yes, the voice is from Heaven and is very real. But what you are really missing is that the voice concerns you, not me.”
God is saying: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
If you pay close attention to Biblical history, God does not repeat his actions. Creation, The Flood, The Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, The Prophecies, and Christ who is the fulfillment of all God’s previous actions. In the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ, we have been glorified once more... Again, and we have been glorified for all eternity.
God does not repeat his actions... Only man keeps running around in circles trying to accomplish the same things over and over again. Our transitions often lead us back into a state of depravity, often focusing on ourselves and not on the larger picture that God has painted for us.
I was reading an article in Esquire magazine on the flight from Baltimore. The article is titled, “Who’s Afraid of the Dark”? The short, but very precise commentary by Stephen Marche discusses the current state of culture in America. The article reads:
“We’re not entering a Great Depression, so much as a Great Incomprehension: [We just have no idea what’s happening and no clue how bad things are going to get. Therefore, we fear. Our Spiritual Condition of the moment, in our intellectual confusion, our down-spiraling economy, our various wars against we don’t know who, is a fearful lack of understanding: Something is out there. We know it must be logical, but that’s all we know.”] *
For some reason we focus on what it is that we don’t know and we get freaked out. Will I have a job this time next month? Can I make any money if I sell my house? How can I afford to send my kids to college? Will I be able to retire and enjoy life?
Several years ago we were a people who believed we were part of a nation with a solid economy. We could afford things and so we spent money. We might have saved and invested, but that didn’t necessarily turn out as it was supposed to. We lived in an abundance. Some of us even stocking up on the things we would live without for short periods of time, only to gorge ourselves in moments of relaxation.
It appears that in a couple of weeks... when the weather has warmed up, after we have celebrated the Resurrection of Christ... we will still find ourselves in a period of Lent. Many people do not comprehend that our spiritual lives are connected and effected by the goings on in the world around us. All too often it is the world that sets the spiritual tone and not the Spirit that sets the tone for the world. Our Church is crumbling on a national level through abuses and ignorant politics. Our government will take some time to rebuild. Our resources in every aspect of life are becoming more and more limited. Many of us are afraid! The fact is that we do not understand everything and there is confusion all around us. Logic cannot always save the wisest person.
And in these cold, dark, wet times - in this ongoing season of Lent - what will our focus be on? What we do not have? What we do not know? Or How we are going to survive with the basics?... With what we do know? With what God has given us?
And Christ, when he be lifted up, that we might draw near to Him.


* Quote in Brackets was omitted from oratory presentation.

"The Ticking is the Bomb"

I recently read this article in Esquire (AKA the "Paper" for men). I was deeply moved by the imagery used by the author, Nick Flynn, and his ability to strand conscience humanity into concepts of the eternal, which humanity does not usually lend to conscience reality. The article is about the writers own personal growth in life juxtaposed with his involvement in the lives of the men who were prisoners at Abu Ghraib who were humiliated by American Soldiers that had captured the prison in the early days of the "War on Terror."

We live in a world where terrible things happen to people everyday. Where desperation overcomes our rational decision making. A world than enables us to be captive, loosing sight of the freedom made available to us. In my Lenten reflections, this article was a surprising and fantastic way to get in a right frame of mind.

This quote in particular made me think:

There is a moment in Achmad's story when words are not enough, as there will be in every story, a moment when the only way to tell us what happened is to show us what they did to his body, and at this moment he pushes back from the table and stands -- They hang me this way, he says, and raises his arms out to his sides as if crucified in the air. There is something about him standing, about his body suddenly rising up, that completely unhinges me, something about it that makes his words real in a way they hadn't been before. The word made flesh. At this moment I get it: These words are about his body, it was his body this story happened to, the body that is right here beside me, in this room I could barely even imagine just yesterday, his body that is now filling the air above our heads, our eyes upturned to see him. Achmad stands there like that, arms outstretched -- the scribe has nothing to write, the painter has nothing to paint, the interpreter has nothing to interpret, the lawyer's eyes are fixed on his eyes, all his words have led to this moment, when his body is finally allowed to speak. The lawyer shakes her head slightly. And what happened next? she says softly, and he lowers his arms and sits.

Enjoy... "The Ticking is the Bomb"

American Drive Thru

A Friend and I were going through the Drive Thru for lunch in Baltimore the other day. We could not believe our eyes when this woman pulled in front of us driving her "Mobility Scooter." I caught this on my phone as she ordered, paid, and received her food.

What a world we live in!

So Long Old Friend

Well, this actually happened two months ago, but let's pretend its more recent. After four years, I have said goodbye to one of my best friends, most favored traveling companion, and one of the things I have personally loved a great deal in my life - My truck. To me he was Thomas, after all the great Thomas' of history and Christian faith (primarily St. Thomas 'A Becket of Canterbury, my patron). To many others, he was known as "The Lady's Truck." All the same, he was great and will never be forgotten.

I came to the conclusion upon returning to the East Coast that a pickup was not practical, both for its size and financial burden on gas. My mother offered to give me her car, paid for in full. A Toyota Camery, 2001, with less millage, and containing more of the color beige than the most boring persons wardrobe.

Thomas was with me for 80,000 miles from Maine to Florida, Massachusetts to Wisconsin, and went with me as far west as Kansas. With all the things I have left behind in the last few months, he will be among the most missed. He was loved by many, passengered many, and driven by many. No matter what Chad Nusbaum says, Thomas was a great truck!

Thanks for all the adventures! Good bye old friend.

We Believe

Ok, so its pretty much established that I have sucked at this Blogging thing. But I want to share the greatest thing that has happened in my life recently that reinforces the "No Man is an Island theme of this blog.

RED SOX NATION!



Last Sunday the Red Sox swept the Colorado, something or another (Frankly, I've never heard of them) to win the World Series. I love these guys! All through the playoffs I received text messages and phone calls from acros the country of dedicated fans of the best baseball team in the nation (sorry Cubs fans, I sympathize with you). The Red Sox Nation is strong and binding and pulls a people of frustration and despair together. Go Sox! And this one was for you Grandpa Pierce!

There are many many other things that I need to catch up on, the most important of which is that I am working. In the coming days and night I will, I promise, be better at writing what's on my heart and mind. Until then... We Believe!

Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question

Well, you win some... and you loose some...

More to come soon

Few and Far Between...

I have returned to Catonsville, MD and have spent the past week searching for a job. Reality is often an undesirable place to be... Still I have a very difficult time viewing life through the rose-colored glasses of pretension. My weeks in South Carolina were good, restful, and more peaceful than I have known in several months. While there I also celebrated my 27th birthday which was surprising pleasant despite the quiet and distance from friends.
On the road back to Maryland I stopped in Durham, NC and spent some time with my friend Ross and his wife Liz. Ross is a great friend from the African chapter of my life. While I was setting up a study abroad program in Uganda, Ross was really making a difference in the world working for the African Council of Churches in Nairobi, Kenya and sitting in on peace keeping deals for Sudan. During that year we spent Christmas together on Zanzibar Island, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and trekked through the rain forest for Mountain Gorillas. Because of our unique experiences both together and individually in Africa, the bonds of our friendship are strong, rare, and deeply rooted in faith. Before this visit I had not seen Ross in nearly three years. Naturally we spent many hours reminiscing on our ridiculous adventures across the globe and how those experiences have shaped and integrated our world views. The visit was a great reminder of those lonely days in a foreign land and the achievement of accomplishing the task of taking one day at a time.
This week as I have found myself in a foreign land where friends are a bit closer than ocean widths apart, but still few and far between, I have been reflecting on my time with Ross ascending a 20,000 foot glacial capped mountain in Equatorial Africa. The majority of the climb was not very difficult until the last few thousand feet when the air was thin and we were tired. We made it to the base camp just below the summit around 18,000 feet where most people stop... But not us. Around 1:00 AM we were awakened by our guide for the final ascent to the summit. The purpose for leaving at this hour is to reach the peak at sunrise and take in the spectacular views. In complete darkness, aside from the dim illumination from out headlamps and flashlights, we climbed up the steep, jagged, and rocky face of the Western Breech of the mountain. All through the night we put one foot in front of the other; one icy rock after another. For a while we were stuck on a pure sheet of ice at what must have been less than a 45 degree angle. Ross and I sat there for an hour while our guide scrambled to find a way out. I remember that my knees were killing me long before the sun came up and every step took us away from solidarity and towards uncertainty. There is no set path on the Western Breech. The only way to make the journey is to literally keep moving through the darkness and ice, securing each foothold as you climb up and up until you reach the top. And then, about seven hours after we had begun, there we were at the Uhuru Peak - on top of the largest free standing mountain in the world - surrounded by glaciers, hardly breathing, and utterly exhausted. It was magnificent!
The point of all this is that I am drawing many parallels in my present life to the climb. To take one step at a time, using caution while planting each foot on the ground to keep from slipping, its tedious, frustrating, and exhausting. Sometimes the air is thin, the darkness confusing, and the lack of a clear path is beyond daunting. However, I believe there is a way, a path that not only has been prepared, but is going towards something good, solid, and corresponds to path of Christ crucified. As the writer of Ecclesiastes states, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...” And from this place I will continue walking and breathing and keep my eyes heavenward.