Sunday, June 28, 2015

Generous Undertakings



A Sermon preached on June 28th, Pentecost V, at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27, 2 Corinthians 8:7-15, Mark 5:21-43

I don’t normally take requests for sermons – though it could be a new fundraising idea if I charged per word or line! But this Wednesday, when we looked at today’s readings during our regular Bible study, I received a very strong recommendation from the other participants to preach on the extract from Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians, particularly on the verse: “it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something – now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means,” (8:10-11) and on how this speaks to our current situation – especially to our Capital Campaign.

St. Paul is always a good source to go to for sermons on action, on what it means to be a Christian in terms of our behavior and our actions. I know we tend to think of Paul being more concerned about faith - that it is by faith alone and through God's grace that we are justified or declared righteous in God’s eyes, most famously expressed in Paul’s Letter to the Romans. While this is true it, is also a Reformation simplification – nuances are the first things to go in times of conflict, everything has to be black or white. But in fact for Paul faith was always something we have to live into, something we have to grow into, something that has to change us and through us the world – or it is not faith at all. In his letter to the Corinthians while he praises them – somewhat faintly - for excelling in “faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness,” (8:7) what he now wants is that they “excel also in this generous undertaking,” that is in making a significant contribution towards his collection for the Church in Jerusalem. Or to put it in more simple terms: Put your money where your mouth is.

Why should they? Well for one thing it would be a sign of what he has been missing: action! It would be a visible and physical expression of the extent of their faith, or as Paul puts it, a test of the genuineness of their love (no pressure there). But Paul gives two other reasons, both of which are equally valid for us all. 

Firstly he brings everything back to Jesus Christ and what he calls Jesus’ generous act – or better acts. On the one hand Paul is referring to the act of the Incarnation: the means by which the Son of God who though he was rich – i.e. divine – gave up this status to become human – “poor” in Paul’s words - to be able share our lives and loves and frustrations in all their fullness. The other generous act was the giving up of this life and the giving of himself on the Cross and through it the gift of forgiveness. So, Paul says, when you think of all that God in Christ Jesus has given you – this life, new life, eternal life, forgiveness of you sons – surely you can give a little of your riches and your abundance. To follow Christ means both to believe in him and to imitate him – through which we will become more like him. 

The second reason is because we do not follow Christ in isolation. The choice is an individual one – but when we choose to follow Christ we choose to join a community, a family of fellow believers, what we call the Body of Christ. This morning Camryn-Enya is joining this Body through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism which is, to quote the Prayer Book, full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ's Body the Church. The collection for the Church in Jerusalem that Paul is trying to get the Corinthians to support is a concrete expression of the solidarity and interconnectedness that belonging to the One Body entails. And, he reminds them, it is mutual, not just “relief for others and pressure on you.” (8:13) Dear Corinthians, he says, you help today out of your abundance, and then when you are in need they will help you tomorrow “in order that there may be a fair balance.” (8:14)

Coming back to the verse I was asked to focus on, what does it mean to finish what you desired to do last year, “so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means?” (8:11) Last year you were eager and passionate to stay in this building, you were convinced that it was the best solution for this community, that it was the best resource for our growth as Christians and for our service in this wider community, and you were certain that it was not beyond our means, and that we - not alone of course – would be able to finance all the work that needed to be done to make this a Strong Tower and a restored and improved base for our mission and ministry for at least another 150 years. That was the case we made to our bishop, and that case was convincing. But now that desire or eagerness, to use Paul’s words, needs to be matched by completing it according to our means – by donating and pledging to the Capital Campaign – much more than has happened so far.

But of course this verse – this passage – is also at the core of what it means to be a baptized Christian. When Camryn-Enya joins the Church – with a capital C – in just a moment she is joining an interdependent community of baptized people in which, in former Archbishop Rowan Williams’ description, we all “receive life from others’ prayer and love, and give the prayer and love that others need. We are caught up in a great economy of giving and exchange.”[1]
And both the Baptismal vows that her parents and godparents will say on her behalf, as well as the Baptismal Covenant that we will all join in saying start with an expression of faith, and end with a promise to act. After the promise to turn to Jesus Christ, to accept him as our Savior, to put our whole trust in his grace and love come the promises to proclaim by word and example – that is action - the Good News of God in Christ, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being. We promise do this not alone, not from our own strength or ability, but with God’s help, through the gift of God’s Spirit and through the individual gifts of the Spirit that we have all received. 

If I may reference the other event we will celebrate today, Jill and Ashley’s 50th Wedding Anniversary: they too made promises or vows, they too called on God’s help and asked for God’s blessing on their community, and if they hadn’t been willing and able to turn desire into action – into acts of love, generosity, mutual respect, and probably a lot of forgiveness, we wouldn’t be celebrating 50 years of their marriage.

I pray therefore that with God’s help we will excel in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in eagerness, in our love for one another and for the other, and in all our generous undertakings in God’s name.
Amen


[1] Rowan Williams, Being Christian (SPCK, 2014), 10

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Welcoming the Stranger



A Sermon preached on June 21st, Pentecost IV, at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
1 Samuel 17:32-49, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13, Mark 4:35-41



David killing the giant Goliath, Paul boasting of his great sufferings, Jesus calming a great storm, world refugee day, the United Thank Offering Spring Ingathering ….. Oh and today is also Father’s Day in many of our home countries. So make yourselves comfortable, it could take me a while to work my way through all these themes and stories. 


But don’t worry, I won’t. We’ll leave David and Goliath to Sunday School and you can celebrate your fathers at home after the service. And what links the other passages and events, and what I want to talk about a little, is courage. 


Let’s start with the Gospel. Courage is what is lacking in the story of how Jesus calms a storm on the Sea of Galilee. I haven’t visited Galilee yet – though I am now looking forward to doing so as part of a group of parishioners and pilgrims on a visit to the Holy Land next year. But from what I’ve read, and what I know as a sailor from other lakes surrounded by mountains, it is susceptible to sudden, severe storms. When a storm like this approaches Lake Chiemsee in Bavaria where I have sailed, there are all sorts of warning lights and sirens to tell the boats to get back to harbor. 


But on the Sea of Galilee there was no such early warning system and so the boat containing Jesus and his disciples was being beaten by waves and in danger of being swamped and sinking. The disciples are afraid. They’ve spent a lot of time with Jesus, they’ve seen him preach and teach and heal, but clearly they are not yet fully aware of the extent of his divine power, or they would have known and been able to trust that the Son of God has authority even over the forces of nature and that like or as God he “rules the raging of the sea and stills the surging of its waves” to quote from Psalm 89:9. Mind you, even after Jesus has saved them they still don’t really understand, do they?  "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 3:41) they ask. Well how about the Son of God, guys? They still lack in faith in God’s power in Jesus, and therefore they lack in courage, because Christian courage comes not from our own strength or abilities but from our knowledge of and trust in God’s love and in God’s power in Jesus.


Paul on the other hand has this knowledge and trust – and is very willing to let the Corinthians, and us, know this. He describes at great length the hardships he has endured for Christ and for the gospel. First we hear of three general afflictions, then of three examples of ill-treatment – he had been beaten, imprisoned, and at the center of riots – and finally of how Paul working non-stop in the Lord’s service has often gone without food and sleep. I’m impressed – I can think of an occasional sleepless night and a somewhat riotous General Meeting over a year ago, but otherwise my ministry does not compare with St. Paul’s. How does he cope? Well, he tells the Corinthians, God is my sword and my shield. The gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit such as patience and kindness, and integrity, the genuine love of the Son, the truth of the Gospel, and the power of the God are what sustain and strengthen him. His Christian courage comes from his knowledge of and trust in God’s love and in God’s power in Jesus. 


People flee their home countries for many different reasons, out of fear – of war, persecution, suffering and death – and out of hope – for a new and better life and the ability to support those they leave behind. But courage plays a role in all cases, because flight is always very dangerous and risky. When I was reflecting on the Scripture passages for today in connection with the theme of refugees I couldn’t help thinking of those who have and still drown in the Mediterranean when their boats, far too small, overloaded, and totally unfit for a sea crossing, are beaten by waves, swamped and sink. There was no one with them to rebuke the wind and calm the sea, though I hope and pray that those who did not survive still found calm and peace in God.


It’s not only the refugees who need courage, but also those who are called to help them. It takes courage to act against prevailing opinion, to send out ships to rescue refugees, when some politicians see a life saved as nothing more than a temptation to others to risk the journey. And it takes courage to welcome the stranger, to continue to make room for refugees even when some countries, including my own home country the UK, refuse to take their fair share of those in need out of fear. Fear of the negative reactions of some of the population and even more fear of the success of their political rivals. As our bishop, Pierre, has written we – the Church – need to “counter the fearful response to migrants and refugees that has blossomed, as the flow of migrants has continued and even intensified. The lie born of fear is that this ‘flood of people’ will somehow drown us, both economically and culturally, as if human beings are as devastating as flood waters.”[1]
 

And we as church here need to counteract this fear in very practical ways, by offering kindness, patience, a presence of calm and comfort to those whose journey of flight has ended, but whose journey in a strange and at best confusing new world has just begun. This is what refugees want and need. In today’s service – for the prayers and blessing - I’m using some materials prepared by our brothers and sisters of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Rome and by the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center that they support. According to one refugee at that center:

“I met some wonderful people. Their kindness lessened my suffering. They tried to feel what I am feeling…not having any family. …I no longer feel alone. People listen to me. They helped me solve my problems with documents. . Everyone welcomes newcomers as human beings, not according to religion, race, or ethnicity.”[2]

We don’t have our own refugee center, but we do work ecumenically with other churches in welcoming the stranger, engaging them in conversation, and in just listening to their stories at the Come Together Café. You can find out more about this and other ways in which we can welcome the stranger after the service.


Giving, whether to the UTO, or to the church, or to our Capital Campaign, often takes courage too. Perhaps we worry that we will not have enough left for ourselves, or that the project goals cannot be fulfilled, or that not enough will be donated. If the cause is good – and the causes I have mentioned are all good, today especially the UTO and the mission projects around the world that it has supported with grants, like the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center – then we have nothing to fear. I want to encourage you – that is literally put courage into you - to give generously and gratefully and through your knowledge of and your trust in God’s love and in God’s power in Jesus. 




During my visit to the US last week, in a neighborhood of Alexandria called Del Ray, I saw a big poster that people could write on. At the top it said “I wish I had the courage to…” and underneath you could add your particular wish. One was just “to get ice cream.” But there were also sentiments like “to be a shining light every day” or “to take more risks.” The wonderful thing about our faith is its power to transform people and situations. Just look at Paul’s list of transformations in his letter to the Corinthians: death becomes life, sorrow becomes joy, and poverty becomes riches. We seem to have nothing, and yet to possess everything. In Paul’s words we need to “open wide our hearts” (2 Cor. 6:13) and, “working together with Christ,” (6:1) we will have the courage we need – for example to be generous in giving, and to be compassionate in meeting and welcoming the stranger.

Amen






[1] http://jnrc.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/welcome.stranger.2.pdf


[2] http://jnrc.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/RakinWelcome-theStranger.pdf