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Sermons at Saint Mary's
The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost: In the words of Paul from our epistle today: Pray for me also, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, pray that I may declare it boldly as I must speak. Does anyone here remember the movie “Billy Jack”?- I think I saw it around 1973 when I was around 12 or 13… if you don’t remember or never heard of this movie I’ll give you a quick summary: Billy Jack is a former green beret who is helping out at a school for Native Americans. His girlfriend Jean (his wife Delores in real life) always tries to calm Billy’s violent nature (all that stuff he learned in Vietnam…) The Native American kids from the school are teased, abused and otherwise discriminated against when they venture into town and though they get ice cream pushed in their faces and are kicked and beaten they don’t react…I liked that part. But the big moment is when Jean is raped and Billy finds out and he of course goes bonkers and starts “showing his violent side” shall we say. Jean begs him not to do anything but alas, Billy goes his own way and later is arrested and taken away as the song “One Tin Soldier” plays as the credits roll… This may sound really silly but that movie made me a pacifist. For some reason Jean’s character really appealed to me and I felt much more of a kinship with her non-violent reaction than Billy’s violent one. And still to this day I cannot understand violence or war- I may be naïve but I really think we would be a better world without it and it is in our control to stop it. The reading from Ephesians talks about putting on the armor of Christ- in my pre pacifist days I would make those plastic models of knights in their armor- my mom probably remembers getting me the newest edition at our local toy store Playtime…and I loved going to see that type of stuff at the museums in NY. But once I saw with the wrongness of war and violence that all changed. So what makes me a Christian? One of the many things I love about trying to be a faithful follower of Christ is the non-violence. Turn the other cheek, love your enemies and all that stuff. I have found in my life that by not fighting back you can take that power away from your enemies. They want to engage, they want to fight- if you don’t then there’s no battle. That’s the way of Jesus, so that’s why Jesus is one of my favorite people (and favorite Son of God…). I believe that our reading tonight doesn’t mean we put on the armor of Christ and start a Holy War, doing battle for Jesus. It doesn’t mean we need to be a “Christian Soldier marching as to war” though that is one of my favorite hymns…Again I was a mite worried when I saw our bulletin for tonight with the title of the previous hymn we just sung: “Soldiers of Christ Arise!” But even though our music director Dan had no idea what I was going to preach about it actually is a fitting hymn…look at verse 5: “…that having all things done, and all your conflicts past, ye may o’ercome through Christ alone, and stand complete at last.” Again: Ye may overcome through Christ alone, and stand complete at last. Wow, that rings true to me and I hope it does to you too. Christ is all we need to protect us and to complete us. Instead of “you complete me…” it’s “He completes me…” August 14th was the feast day of Jonathan Myrick Daniels, a seminarian and witness for Civil Rights according to the book “Lesser Feasts and Fasts”. Jonathan was a good example of the type of Christian I would like to be. He was born in Keene New Hampshire in 1939 and was shot and killed by an unemployed highway worker in Haynesville Alabama on August 20, 1965. He had responded to Martin Luther King’s appeal to come to Selma to secure for all citizens the right to vote. He then left the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge where he was attending seminary to work in Selma. He was jailed for joining a picket line and then was unexpectedly released from jail. He and his companions knew they were now in danger as they walked to a small store together. Then as 16 year old Ruby Sales reached the top step of the entrance, a man with a gun appeared, cursing her. Jonathan pulled her to one side to shield her from him and as a result he was killed by a blast from the 12 gauge shotgun. He was trying to protect the girl, and act as her shield. Just like Paul said, put on the armor of Christ as “our struggle is not against the enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” That my friends, spells out what Jonathan Myrick Daniels was doing to a tee…almost 2000 years before he did it. That’s the kind of Christian I want to be and the kind of person I think our Epistle is telling us to be and I am pretty sure that Jonathan Myrick Daniels was being a true follower of Jesus with his actions that day. Putting on the armor of Christ is letting Him abide in us and we in Him. And as I am a cradle Episcopalian the Eucharist is very important to me too. As today we hear our 5th consecutive weekly reading of the sixth chapter of John for our Gospel, we hear once again about eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood which does sound kind of violent if you think about it, but he is also telling his disciples that through this He will abide in all of us. One of the funniest quotes I’ve read about John’s Gospel is from a columnist in the magazine Christian Century who said: “I wonder if the evangelist of John read the gospel of Mark and decided that the mystery of Christ simply needed crazier language” and throughout this whole chapter he uses this “crazy language” to talk about the bread of life…it is the way John refers to the Eucharist- there is no Last Supper story in John. And since the gospel of John is all about “The Word” he uses pretty powerful language to tell us about Jesus, who He was and what He did. And when Jesus talks about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, He offends people and He knows it. He tell us the flesh is useless that the spirit is where life truly is- it is the spirit that GIVES life. And I believe that. We can’t count on our bodies, our flesh, or our possessions. All we can count on is the grace and spirit of God. I am much happier putting my faith in God than in other people as we are ALL flawed, no one is perfect. Jesus knows who doesn’t believe, who is going to betray him- this is kind of scary because you realize that He truly knows our hearts- no matter what front or mask we may present to the world- He knows who we are. And then Jesus throws one of his zingers: “No one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father”. And he lost some folks with that statement…but He knows his true followers will stay because as Simon Peter says: “You have the words of eternal life- we have come to believe and know that you are the holy one of God”. Good ol’ Peter- he may mess up big sometimes but lots of other times he comes through for us all. So once again we see that being a follower of Christ isn’t that easy but we are told many times in many different ways how we can abide in Christ and He in us. Many people try to tell me how my anti-war view is too naïve, I just don’t realize how the world works. Or that since I proclaim to be a Christian that I must believe that others are going to Hell if they aren’t Christians (based upon some very visible examples in our society today, which I think really is too bad)- but I don’t think that’s what being a Christian is all about. I know I need to constantly attune my life to the ways of Jesus- that keeps me way too busy to start telling other people what THEY should believe. I believe God made us all in His image and God doesn’t make mistakes so we better learn to live together or we’ll have a lot to answer for when we die…our goal should be to abide with Christ as He abides in us. So let me end with a joke- I read somewhere that’s a good thing to do in this preaching biz: A man told his doctor that he thought his wife was going deaf. The doctor told him to conduct a simple test. When the man reached the front door of his home, he called out, “Darling is dinner ready?” Hearing no response he walked inside and repeated himself. Still he heard no reply. On the third try, when he was just behind her, he finally heard her say “ FOR THE THIRD TIME YES!” This is a good example that maybe the “problems” we see in others’ way of following Christ may not be their problems…they may be OUR problems. Following Jesus is not easy- just ask Billy Jack…it’s hard to be a warrior for Christ and only have defensive, not offensive “weapons.” And though Billy Jack saw violence as his way of protecting himself or defending his loved ones, I know that the body and blood of life comes from Jesus and we are to share it, not spill it. So let’s all proudly put on the armor of Christ and spread His gospel far and wide and bring peace to everyone we meet in His name. In the words of my favorite dismissal: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God. Alleluia, Alleluia." Amen. top | home | site index |
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