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| SERMON 5th Sunday of Pentecost July 5, 2009 The Rev. Charles W. Messer |
| Small Parish - Big Heart The little church you've been looking for! All are welcome! |
| Our Mission: To worship To serve the community To grow the church |
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 Psalm 48 or Ezekiel 2:1-5 Psalm 123 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 Mark 6:1-13 |
To contact us: Calvary Episcopal Church 667 Mount Road Aston, PA 19014 610-459-2013 OFFICE The Rev. Charles Messer, Rector Fr. Chuck: frmesser@calvaryepiscopalrockdale.org Website: mail@calvaryepiscopalrockdale.org Office: calvaryoffice1@verizon.net |
What a thrill this is, to stand in this pulpit as your rector. I join with the psalmist in in
the last two weeks, I’ve walked around this property in awe. Me? They’ve chosen
me? Wow. I am so grateful.
It must’ve been all of my wonderful accomplishments that cinched the deal. Before
sending my resume out I consulted books and asked for advice for just the right
phrase or word to use in order for me to sound qualified, to sound competent, to be
the better choice than the next person applying for the job. If I’m honest, the title of
rector sounds good. It carries with it authority and prestige. In fact, when you call
me ‘Father Chuck’ you are implying respect and reverence. Why not? Look at me, I
am Elvis and Billy Graham and David Letterman all rolled into one gorgeous hunk
of man. You see how difficult it is to restrain myself; boasting is difficult for me.
However, can you blame me for loving the fact that my name was in the paper on
Friday? Who wouldn’t love to have their name broadcasted to the world? By the
way, if any of you would like to have your copy of Friday’s paper autographed, see
me after church – I accept cash, check, Visa and Mastercard – better yet, a pledge
card would be great.
We live in a world where celebrity rules the day. Don’t get me wrong, I love to
moonwalk like the next guy, but aren’t you sick of hearing about the grandeur of
Michael Jackson? In our culture, the famous and the infamous get all the attention.
We all seek it. Youtube is but one example that all of us long to tout our own
greatness. Original sin isn’t about eating an apple, but the worship of ourselves.
Human narcissism is just as natural to us as breathing, we can’t help it.
The Christian faith is antithetical to our culture of celebrity. Jesus tells us that in the
kingdom of heaven the first shall be last and the last shall be first; the Son of Man
came not to be served but to serve. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ
Jesus,” it says in the book of Philippians, “who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and being found in
human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even
death on a cross.”
Unlike most of us who grasp for prestige and power and are inclined to boast in
our strengths, the apostle Paul in our epistle lesson boasts in weakness. Being
measured against others who have claims to be ‘super ‘apostles, Paul is found
lacking. These ‘super apostles’ seem to be better preachers who can grow bigger
churches, who have walls filled with diplomas from the most prestigious of
seminaries. Paul is miffed, to say the least! What we read this morning in II
Corinthians is Paul’s furious response to these ‘super apostles.’ Here is his boast,
a litany of his struggle to pay the cost of following Jesus.
Paul, in the third person, speaks of his spiritual prowess. He is just as qualified as
these ‘super apostles.’ In fact, he could boast about being transported into heaven
but Paul knows that accolades and celebrity isn’t what it’s all about. The Christian
faith is about power and strength through weakness and heartbreak. Strength and
power is perfected in weakness. Three times Paul prayed that God would heal him
of an unknown ailment; maybe cancer, or heart disease, or crushing depression.
However, God doesn’t give the answer he was hoping for. God’s response to Paul,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
Heartbreak, pain, and suffering all of us experience. Not one of us will escape.
However, not everyone experiences power and strength. Through the incarnation,
Jesus became one of us. As one of us, Jesus experienced pain, heartbreak,
disappointment, suffering, and death. It is through pain and suffering, emotions we
all experience, that salvation comes to the world. Through the pain and suffering of
Jesus, God saves the world. We didn’t deserve it. We didn’t earn it. At great cost,
God gives us life and it’s this gift that sustains us even in the midst of hell.
When Emma was three months old, the doctor discovered a cyst on her lung. She
spent three long weeks in the hospital. I can’t fully put into words what it was like
seeing my little girl hooked up to IV’s and oxygen tubes. It was as if my own heart
was lying there in pain. I was in my second year of seminary learning the
importance of parsing Greek verbs and how to be a pastor to others in distress, but
seeing Emma lying there helpless the faith I was so proud of went out the window. I
tried my best to pray. I would get as far as, ‘Dear God,’ only to fall apart in tears.
God forbid the worst should come… She is my world and cannot imagine it without
her.
‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ I never really
understood that until I spent those three weeks in the hospital. I can’t explain it to
you, but somehow God spoke giving me peace. Without any guarantees that Emm
would ever recover, I experienced the peace that passes understanding. Peace in
the midst of hell, peace that even the worst comes, the love of God is there. Not
only would God be with me, but God would go before me to prepare me for any
situation that should come no matter what happens.
“All of us go down to the dust,” says the burial rite in the Prayer Book, “yet even at
the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.” The amazing grace of God
meets us when we’re at our bottom, when things are at their worst the love of God
sees us through. When the money is all gone, when the friends we thought we
could count on are no longer there, God says, ‘my grace is sufficient.’ When the
marriage is falling apart, when the kids are out of control and have run so far off
from mom and dad, God says, ‘my grace is sufficient.’ When we’ve lost our job,
when our world is so full of war and violence, when we’re facing cancer, when the
loves of our lives die, God says, ‘my grace is sufficient, for power is made perfect in
weakness.’ Even at the grave, we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
“God said to me, ‘my grace is sufficient for you.’ “So,” Paul says, “I will boast all the
more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and
calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
On Good Friday we flung in the face of God our very worst. With every smack of the
hammer, with every smack of the nails going deeper into his hands we showed
God exactly what we thought of ourselves: we are God. As he hung there on the
cross, our contempt for God, for each other, for ourselves rose to heaven like a
stench from a landfill. Our selfishness, our need to be right, and our lust for more of
everything advertized in heaven just how important we think we are.
As the incarnate Lord lay dead in a tomb, we deserved to be annihilated, we
deserved calamity and disaster; God’s justice demanded it. Yet instead of
punishment, instead of being banished from the presence of God, instead of death
three - days later out of an empty tomb God gave us life. Our very worst was
returned with God’s very best. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
no longer are we at odds with God. The cross shows us just how far God’s love
goes, that there is no distance too great that God wouldn’t cross in order to prove
his love for us. That even death, God’s love carries us. That through God’s love,
our loved ones who have died we will one day see again.
This is grace: Unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor of God. What is our
response to such grace? How can we show our appreciation? We worship.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound! Grace, grace, God’s grace; grace that is
greater than all my sins. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrow
like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say: it is well, it is well
with my soul.
Because of God’s grace, we are not to be haughty, or boastful. We are to welcome
all people. We commanded to proclaim the love of God is given for ever single
person on the planet; that God loves you right where you are just as you are. This
is Christianity: we feed the hungry. We care for the poor, the orphaned, the refugee,
the prisoner. We love and pray for our enemies. We love God with all of our heart,
soul, and strength. We love our neighbor as our selves. We don’t do this because
we’re commanded too; we do this out of gratitude for the grace God has given to
us freely.
My grace is sufficient, God says to us, for power is made perfect in weakness.
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Amen.
the last two weeks, I’ve walked around this property in awe. Me? They’ve chosen
me? Wow. I am so grateful.
It must’ve been all of my wonderful accomplishments that cinched the deal. Before
sending my resume out I consulted books and asked for advice for just the right
phrase or word to use in order for me to sound qualified, to sound competent, to be
the better choice than the next person applying for the job. If I’m honest, the title of
rector sounds good. It carries with it authority and prestige. In fact, when you call
me ‘Father Chuck’ you are implying respect and reverence. Why not? Look at me, I
am Elvis and Billy Graham and David Letterman all rolled into one gorgeous hunk
of man. You see how difficult it is to restrain myself; boasting is difficult for me.
However, can you blame me for loving the fact that my name was in the paper on
Friday? Who wouldn’t love to have their name broadcasted to the world? By the
way, if any of you would like to have your copy of Friday’s paper autographed, see
me after church – I accept cash, check, Visa and Mastercard – better yet, a pledge
card would be great.
We live in a world where celebrity rules the day. Don’t get me wrong, I love to
moonwalk like the next guy, but aren’t you sick of hearing about the grandeur of
Michael Jackson? In our culture, the famous and the infamous get all the attention.
We all seek it. Youtube is but one example that all of us long to tout our own
greatness. Original sin isn’t about eating an apple, but the worship of ourselves.
Human narcissism is just as natural to us as breathing, we can’t help it.
The Christian faith is antithetical to our culture of celebrity. Jesus tells us that in the
kingdom of heaven the first shall be last and the last shall be first; the Son of Man
came not to be served but to serve. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ
Jesus,” it says in the book of Philippians, “who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and being found in
human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even
death on a cross.”
Unlike most of us who grasp for prestige and power and are inclined to boast in
our strengths, the apostle Paul in our epistle lesson boasts in weakness. Being
measured against others who have claims to be ‘super ‘apostles, Paul is found
lacking. These ‘super apostles’ seem to be better preachers who can grow bigger
churches, who have walls filled with diplomas from the most prestigious of
seminaries. Paul is miffed, to say the least! What we read this morning in II
Corinthians is Paul’s furious response to these ‘super apostles.’ Here is his boast,
a litany of his struggle to pay the cost of following Jesus.
Paul, in the third person, speaks of his spiritual prowess. He is just as qualified as
these ‘super apostles.’ In fact, he could boast about being transported into heaven
but Paul knows that accolades and celebrity isn’t what it’s all about. The Christian
faith is about power and strength through weakness and heartbreak. Strength and
power is perfected in weakness. Three times Paul prayed that God would heal him
of an unknown ailment; maybe cancer, or heart disease, or crushing depression.
However, God doesn’t give the answer he was hoping for. God’s response to Paul,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
Heartbreak, pain, and suffering all of us experience. Not one of us will escape.
However, not everyone experiences power and strength. Through the incarnation,
Jesus became one of us. As one of us, Jesus experienced pain, heartbreak,
disappointment, suffering, and death. It is through pain and suffering, emotions we
all experience, that salvation comes to the world. Through the pain and suffering of
Jesus, God saves the world. We didn’t deserve it. We didn’t earn it. At great cost,
God gives us life and it’s this gift that sustains us even in the midst of hell.
When Emma was three months old, the doctor discovered a cyst on her lung. She
spent three long weeks in the hospital. I can’t fully put into words what it was like
seeing my little girl hooked up to IV’s and oxygen tubes. It was as if my own heart
was lying there in pain. I was in my second year of seminary learning the
importance of parsing Greek verbs and how to be a pastor to others in distress, but
seeing Emma lying there helpless the faith I was so proud of went out the window. I
tried my best to pray. I would get as far as, ‘Dear God,’ only to fall apart in tears.
God forbid the worst should come… She is my world and cannot imagine it without
her.
‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ I never really
understood that until I spent those three weeks in the hospital. I can’t explain it to
you, but somehow God spoke giving me peace. Without any guarantees that Emm
would ever recover, I experienced the peace that passes understanding. Peace in
the midst of hell, peace that even the worst comes, the love of God is there. Not
only would God be with me, but God would go before me to prepare me for any
situation that should come no matter what happens.
“All of us go down to the dust,” says the burial rite in the Prayer Book, “yet even at
the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.” The amazing grace of God
meets us when we’re at our bottom, when things are at their worst the love of God
sees us through. When the money is all gone, when the friends we thought we
could count on are no longer there, God says, ‘my grace is sufficient.’ When the
marriage is falling apart, when the kids are out of control and have run so far off
from mom and dad, God says, ‘my grace is sufficient.’ When we’ve lost our job,
when our world is so full of war and violence, when we’re facing cancer, when the
loves of our lives die, God says, ‘my grace is sufficient, for power is made perfect in
weakness.’ Even at the grave, we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
“God said to me, ‘my grace is sufficient for you.’ “So,” Paul says, “I will boast all the
more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and
calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
On Good Friday we flung in the face of God our very worst. With every smack of the
hammer, with every smack of the nails going deeper into his hands we showed
God exactly what we thought of ourselves: we are God. As he hung there on the
cross, our contempt for God, for each other, for ourselves rose to heaven like a
stench from a landfill. Our selfishness, our need to be right, and our lust for more of
everything advertized in heaven just how important we think we are.
As the incarnate Lord lay dead in a tomb, we deserved to be annihilated, we
deserved calamity and disaster; God’s justice demanded it. Yet instead of
punishment, instead of being banished from the presence of God, instead of death
three - days later out of an empty tomb God gave us life. Our very worst was
returned with God’s very best. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
no longer are we at odds with God. The cross shows us just how far God’s love
goes, that there is no distance too great that God wouldn’t cross in order to prove
his love for us. That even death, God’s love carries us. That through God’s love,
our loved ones who have died we will one day see again.
This is grace: Unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor of God. What is our
response to such grace? How can we show our appreciation? We worship.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound! Grace, grace, God’s grace; grace that is
greater than all my sins. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrow
like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say: it is well, it is well
with my soul.
Because of God’s grace, we are not to be haughty, or boastful. We are to welcome
all people. We commanded to proclaim the love of God is given for ever single
person on the planet; that God loves you right where you are just as you are. This
is Christianity: we feed the hungry. We care for the poor, the orphaned, the refugee,
the prisoner. We love and pray for our enemies. We love God with all of our heart,
soul, and strength. We love our neighbor as our selves. We don’t do this because
we’re commanded too; we do this out of gratitude for the grace God has given to
us freely.
My grace is sufficient, God says to us, for power is made perfect in weakness.
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Amen.
