Calvary Episcopal Church, Rockdale |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Before I begin, I want to take just a moment to wish all of the mothers who are with us, this
morning, a most happy Mothers’ Day. I have to admit – I like mothers; I had one, myself. And
I live with two of them! Mothers are some of my favorite people! So…, Happy Mothers Day!
I’m going to take a break from what I’ve been talking about for the past two weeks – this
week, and probably next week, too, because of the season!
Today is the 7th and last Sunday of Easter, and it’s an “in-between” Sunday – the Sunday
that falls between The Feast of the Ascension, and the Feast of Pentecost. And with
apologies for those who were here on Thursday Evening to celebrate the Ascension –
because they’ve already heard Part of what I have to say, this morning – I have some
things to say about that Feast and about how it’s observed.
Most of you will remember that there was a time – not too many years ago – when it was
customary to go to Church on the Feast of the Ascension. Our Roman Catholic brethren
called it a “Holyday of Obligation,” and it was considered a mortal sin to miss Mass on that
day! But things change – even the Church. In the Roman Church, the Feast is now officially
transferable to the following Sunday. In our own, Church, the Feast has just sort of
“disappeared” from practice. Most parishes have long since dropped the service, simply
because nobody came any more. It just ceased to be observed! And in practice, if it’s
observed at all, it’s usually shifted – in our Church as in the Roman Church – to the
following Sunday; to today!
And that’s a shame. It’s a shame because it’s an important day. It’s a shame because it has
Meaning! And it’s a shame because it’s part of the rhythm of the Church Year – and of
Christian life!
It’s a feast that’s all about numbers – beginning with one of the most important numbers in
the Judaeo-Christian tradition!
The Number 40!
Let me list for you some of the times the number “40” comes up in the Bible!
In Noah’s day, when the great flood came, it rained for forty days and forty nights!
When Moses was born in Egypt, and set adrift amongst the bulrushes, he lived there for
forty years before he got into trouble – a little matter of murder – and then had to run away.
Having run away, he spent forty years as a sheepherder, working for his father-in-law and
raising a child – until he ran into a burning bush that told him to go back to Egypt to rescue
the Hebrew people!
Leading the people out of Egypt, they angered the Lord God by their faithlessness, - and
for that they were doomed to wonder in the wilderness until all of the generation of
idolators had died, another forty years! So Moses lived 120 years: 40 and 40 and 40!
In the New Testament, Jesus went off, alone, into the wilderness, after his Baptism, and
there he fasted and prayed and endured the temptations of Satan for… 40 days!
After his death and resurrection, Jesus met and spoke with his disciples, prayed with them
and taught them! And then he left them – ascended into heaven: forty days after his
resurrection!
40! 40 days! 40 years! An important number throughout scripture! A number that has to do
with waiting. A time of transition. A time of Incubation, when, something new in the world is
developing, preparing to emerge! A new Earth, after the deluge; a new people, born of
wandering in the wilderness; a new mission and ministry, emerging from a time of prayer
and fasting and temptation. And a new relationship with the Father, as his children; a new
Church, emerging from the time of teaching and praying and preparing those who would
be carrying on!
The Feast of the Ascension is the fortieth day of the Easter Season! An important number.
And you know… when we put the celebration of the Ascension off until the following
Sunday…, well, 43 days just doesn’t do it!
It’s a shame, really, that we’ve forgotten these things, that we don’t value the ways that
have been left to us; that we don’t learn from them.
I’ve spoken to you more than once about the importance of keeping the Christian year – of
living it, and letting it work in us – and the forty days of Lent and forty days of Easter are a
vital part of that!
There’s more, though; much more! And what it’s really all about is Symbols! Symbols like
the number forty!
I haven’t spoken to you about symbols, before, because it’s really so very hard to talk
about them. One of the things that has happened in this modern world of ours is that we
have lost our sense of the symbolic, and our awareness of the importance of symbols. We
don’t even know what symbols are anymore!
We think symbols are things someone thinks up to stand for something else – like a flag
being a symbol of a country. But that’s not a symbol, at all – it’s a sign!
A Sign is something that we all agree to recognize as standing for something else: a flag
standing for a country; red means stop, green means go! And for a fairly new one: a circle
with a diagonal line through it means something is forbidden! All signs we agree to with no
meaning in themselves.
But symbols are different. Symbols are somehow attached to the things they symbolize and
are therefore universal! We don’t have to agree about symbols – they just are!
If you were to drop an American flag by plane on a remote island in Indonesia, where
America has never been heard of, that piece of cloth may be used for a lot of things – but
the locals are never going to build a flag pole and run it up!
But if you were to go to that same island, and plant some grape vines, and teach the
people to grow grapes, and then teach them to make wine from the grapes, and then
leave, you can be certain of two things: they’ll soon learn to party with wine; and they’ll
soon incorporate wine into their religious ceremonies as symbolizing blood and the
essence of life!
Plant wheat and teach bread making – and the bread will soon be used ceremonially, too –
to mean flesh and life!
They’re symbols – and symbols don’t have to be taught; they’re discovered! Because they’
re real. And because people find that they help them to live their lives! What, exactly, the
connections are, we cannot know, as the connections and the full meanings always go far
beyond our ability to understand! But we know they’re real for the simple reason that they
happen! And we know they’re real, too, because they have power! Power to change human
beings; power to help them grow and become!
Numbers can be symbols, too! Our tradition has always known that, and always valued
numbers – especially our Hebrew and Jewish forebears – just as all cultures and all
religious traditions have valued them.
Some of the important symbolic numbers have some obvious meanings: the number one
tends to associate itself with God! Even in polytheistic cultures, there is always an
awareness of “the One God” that stands behind all the others! And one mean’s the God’s
preeminence and unity! Two is a sacred number, as well, reflecting the dualities that
characterize the whole world: male and female; light and dark; good and evil, and on and
on. Three is important, too, as the sum of one and two, and because there is balance but
also an uneasy tension in three – both dangerous and creative: as the Trinity! The
uneasiness is resolved in the number four: regarded and worshipped by many as the
perfect number – balanced and complete – but less creative than three! But it can also
represent unbearable tension that tears apart in Four directions – and rends what is
caught in the tension in pieces! The cross!
1 and two are three…, plus four is seven! God created the world in seven days – and there
are seven deadly sins! Add, again, to the seven, another creative three, and we have ten:
another whole and balanced and safe number. And multiply that, now, by the perfect four,
and we come to forty: a pregnant number; a fertile number; a number that has all kinds of
creative possibilities! Lent. The wilderness experience. The time of the risen Lord on earth!
And now add another whole ten! And the resulting fifty is a new thing; a new creation!
Pentecost!
1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 40, 50. Like a couple of weeks ago, more gobbledy-gook! But all of this – and
much, much more in the realm of symbols – have had a place in the Faith from the
beginning! All of those numbers can be found in the Scriptures as important and repeated,
again and again.
But the fortunate thing about numbers and other symbols is that we don’t have to
understand symbols – or even to recognize that they are symbols, for them to work in us.
For symbols are agents of growth, and, ultimately, agents of holiness!
We don’t have to understand that the bread and wine of the Altar are the Body and Blood
of Christ; they simply are! All we do have to do with symbols is experience them – and let
them work is us.
And the best ways I know to do that, are two: to worship our God in faith and truth; and to
live the Church year! Immerse ourselves in the symbols of wholeness – and let them work!
Last Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension – the 40th day of the Resurrection! Next
Sunday is the Feast of Pentecost: the 50th Day! And the birth of the Church; the coming of
the Holy Spirit to bring new life into the world. Believe it. Live it! And let it all bring new life
to you!
In Jesus Christ’s Name. Amen.
morning, a most happy Mothers’ Day. I have to admit – I like mothers; I had one, myself. And
I live with two of them! Mothers are some of my favorite people! So…, Happy Mothers Day!
I’m going to take a break from what I’ve been talking about for the past two weeks – this
week, and probably next week, too, because of the season!
Today is the 7th and last Sunday of Easter, and it’s an “in-between” Sunday – the Sunday
that falls between The Feast of the Ascension, and the Feast of Pentecost. And with
apologies for those who were here on Thursday Evening to celebrate the Ascension –
because they’ve already heard Part of what I have to say, this morning – I have some
things to say about that Feast and about how it’s observed.
Most of you will remember that there was a time – not too many years ago – when it was
customary to go to Church on the Feast of the Ascension. Our Roman Catholic brethren
called it a “Holyday of Obligation,” and it was considered a mortal sin to miss Mass on that
day! But things change – even the Church. In the Roman Church, the Feast is now officially
transferable to the following Sunday. In our own, Church, the Feast has just sort of
“disappeared” from practice. Most parishes have long since dropped the service, simply
because nobody came any more. It just ceased to be observed! And in practice, if it’s
observed at all, it’s usually shifted – in our Church as in the Roman Church – to the
following Sunday; to today!
And that’s a shame. It’s a shame because it’s an important day. It’s a shame because it has
Meaning! And it’s a shame because it’s part of the rhythm of the Church Year – and of
Christian life!
It’s a feast that’s all about numbers – beginning with one of the most important numbers in
the Judaeo-Christian tradition!
The Number 40!
Let me list for you some of the times the number “40” comes up in the Bible!
In Noah’s day, when the great flood came, it rained for forty days and forty nights!
When Moses was born in Egypt, and set adrift amongst the bulrushes, he lived there for
forty years before he got into trouble – a little matter of murder – and then had to run away.
Having run away, he spent forty years as a sheepherder, working for his father-in-law and
raising a child – until he ran into a burning bush that told him to go back to Egypt to rescue
the Hebrew people!
Leading the people out of Egypt, they angered the Lord God by their faithlessness, - and
for that they were doomed to wonder in the wilderness until all of the generation of
idolators had died, another forty years! So Moses lived 120 years: 40 and 40 and 40!
In the New Testament, Jesus went off, alone, into the wilderness, after his Baptism, and
there he fasted and prayed and endured the temptations of Satan for… 40 days!
After his death and resurrection, Jesus met and spoke with his disciples, prayed with them
and taught them! And then he left them – ascended into heaven: forty days after his
resurrection!
40! 40 days! 40 years! An important number throughout scripture! A number that has to do
with waiting. A time of transition. A time of Incubation, when, something new in the world is
developing, preparing to emerge! A new Earth, after the deluge; a new people, born of
wandering in the wilderness; a new mission and ministry, emerging from a time of prayer
and fasting and temptation. And a new relationship with the Father, as his children; a new
Church, emerging from the time of teaching and praying and preparing those who would
be carrying on!
The Feast of the Ascension is the fortieth day of the Easter Season! An important number.
And you know… when we put the celebration of the Ascension off until the following
Sunday…, well, 43 days just doesn’t do it!
It’s a shame, really, that we’ve forgotten these things, that we don’t value the ways that
have been left to us; that we don’t learn from them.
I’ve spoken to you more than once about the importance of keeping the Christian year – of
living it, and letting it work in us – and the forty days of Lent and forty days of Easter are a
vital part of that!
There’s more, though; much more! And what it’s really all about is Symbols! Symbols like
the number forty!
I haven’t spoken to you about symbols, before, because it’s really so very hard to talk
about them. One of the things that has happened in this modern world of ours is that we
have lost our sense of the symbolic, and our awareness of the importance of symbols. We
don’t even know what symbols are anymore!
We think symbols are things someone thinks up to stand for something else – like a flag
being a symbol of a country. But that’s not a symbol, at all – it’s a sign!
A Sign is something that we all agree to recognize as standing for something else: a flag
standing for a country; red means stop, green means go! And for a fairly new one: a circle
with a diagonal line through it means something is forbidden! All signs we agree to with no
meaning in themselves.
But symbols are different. Symbols are somehow attached to the things they symbolize and
are therefore universal! We don’t have to agree about symbols – they just are!
If you were to drop an American flag by plane on a remote island in Indonesia, where
America has never been heard of, that piece of cloth may be used for a lot of things – but
the locals are never going to build a flag pole and run it up!
But if you were to go to that same island, and plant some grape vines, and teach the
people to grow grapes, and then teach them to make wine from the grapes, and then
leave, you can be certain of two things: they’ll soon learn to party with wine; and they’ll
soon incorporate wine into their religious ceremonies as symbolizing blood and the
essence of life!
Plant wheat and teach bread making – and the bread will soon be used ceremonially, too –
to mean flesh and life!
They’re symbols – and symbols don’t have to be taught; they’re discovered! Because they’
re real. And because people find that they help them to live their lives! What, exactly, the
connections are, we cannot know, as the connections and the full meanings always go far
beyond our ability to understand! But we know they’re real for the simple reason that they
happen! And we know they’re real, too, because they have power! Power to change human
beings; power to help them grow and become!
Numbers can be symbols, too! Our tradition has always known that, and always valued
numbers – especially our Hebrew and Jewish forebears – just as all cultures and all
religious traditions have valued them.
Some of the important symbolic numbers have some obvious meanings: the number one
tends to associate itself with God! Even in polytheistic cultures, there is always an
awareness of “the One God” that stands behind all the others! And one mean’s the God’s
preeminence and unity! Two is a sacred number, as well, reflecting the dualities that
characterize the whole world: male and female; light and dark; good and evil, and on and
on. Three is important, too, as the sum of one and two, and because there is balance but
also an uneasy tension in three – both dangerous and creative: as the Trinity! The
uneasiness is resolved in the number four: regarded and worshipped by many as the
perfect number – balanced and complete – but less creative than three! But it can also
represent unbearable tension that tears apart in Four directions – and rends what is
caught in the tension in pieces! The cross!
1 and two are three…, plus four is seven! God created the world in seven days – and there
are seven deadly sins! Add, again, to the seven, another creative three, and we have ten:
another whole and balanced and safe number. And multiply that, now, by the perfect four,
and we come to forty: a pregnant number; a fertile number; a number that has all kinds of
creative possibilities! Lent. The wilderness experience. The time of the risen Lord on earth!
And now add another whole ten! And the resulting fifty is a new thing; a new creation!
Pentecost!
1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 40, 50. Like a couple of weeks ago, more gobbledy-gook! But all of this – and
much, much more in the realm of symbols – have had a place in the Faith from the
beginning! All of those numbers can be found in the Scriptures as important and repeated,
again and again.
But the fortunate thing about numbers and other symbols is that we don’t have to
understand symbols – or even to recognize that they are symbols, for them to work in us.
For symbols are agents of growth, and, ultimately, agents of holiness!
We don’t have to understand that the bread and wine of the Altar are the Body and Blood
of Christ; they simply are! All we do have to do with symbols is experience them – and let
them work is us.
And the best ways I know to do that, are two: to worship our God in faith and truth; and to
live the Church year! Immerse ourselves in the symbols of wholeness – and let them work!
Last Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension – the 40th day of the Resurrection! Next
Sunday is the Feast of Pentecost: the 50th Day! And the birth of the Church; the coming of
the Holy Spirit to bring new life into the world. Believe it. Live it! And let it all bring new life
to you!
In Jesus Christ’s Name. Amen.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| THE 7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER 8 May, 2005 The Rev. Robert C. Granfeldt |
| Previous Sermon |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| Previous Sermons |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |