| Calvary Episcopal Church, Rockdale |
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| THE 17TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 11 September, 2005 The Rev. Robert C. Granfeldt |
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All right, fair warning: you get two more short sermons (or, at least, shorter than usual),
before we return to normal: today and next Sunday! So make the best of the two! (Oh,
but you know – Karl tells me I shouldn’t kid him about not liking longer sermons. Just
the opposite, he says. Seems that when I keep my sermons short, I cut into his nap time!)
But as I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, we’re still in our summer “off-season,” and
we don’t really begin our “new year” until next Sunday’s Calvary Day celebration! So,
today, we’re still sort of in “summer mode,” and next Sunday we’ll keep the services
flowing to get into our Name Day festival. So today and next Sunday – then we get back
to normal.
I’ve also been thinking about something I said last week – that there was either too
much or too little to say, in the wake of the tragedy of Katrina – and the same could be
said, today – and, perhaps, even more strongly!
There is not all that much change to be noted in the Gulf Coast situation. Things have
calmed down a bit, and the acute stage has eased somewhat, but the story continues,
along with the tragedy, and the full tale will not be told for a long, long time!
Meanwhile, our prayers are as needed today as they were a week ago, and will be as
needed next week – and next month – next year, and probably the next! The wounds are
deep – human, economic, societal; local, national and even international. So, again, not
all that much has changed in the Katrina situation.
But this week we have also to remember that it was 4 years ago this day that highjacked
planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and a
field in Western Pennsylvania. A tragedy and a crime that, in loss of life, in scale of
devastation, in direct economic effect does not, itself, compare with Katrina. And yet,
once again, there is either too much that needs to be said, or the heart can say nothing
at all.
But having been thinking about these things ever since last Sunday, as this Sunday
approached, I read today’s lessons in preparation – and I was stunned! What lessons to
be read on this “9/11”! What lessons to be read on this horrible anniversary.
From Ecclesisticus:
Anger and wrath, these also are abomination, and the sinful man will possess them. He that
takes vengeance will suffer vengeance from the Lord, and he will firmly establish his sins.
And from St. Paul’s magnificent Letter to the Romans:
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we
shall all stand before the judgment seat of God;… (and) so each of us shall give account of
himself to God.
And from this conversation between Peter and Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew:
Lord, how often shall my brother forgive me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?
I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
I read these lessons, and I thought about them. And I thought about what happened four
years ago. And I thought about all that has happened in the four years, since.
And I found myself thinking, “My God! What kind of world would this be if the Lord’s
People actually listened to the Lord’s prophets?
And I found myself thinking, “My God! What kind of world would this be if the offspring of
the Apostles actually paid attention to what the Apostles of Christ taught?”
And I found myself thinking, “My God! What kind of world would this be if those who
name themselves after Christ actually believed the Word he spoke to them, and lived
the life he called them to?”
Well, it’s been 2,700 years or so since the prophets, and 2,000 since the Christ and the
Apostles, and truly only a handful have tried it so far – a small number known to us,
people like Francis of Assisi; Martin Luther King; Desmond Tutu; and even Mohandas
Gandhi – no follower of Christ but a believer in his teaching! There have been others,
certainly, through the centuries, unknown to us, but still, only a handful.
And I do believe that as the years, the decades, the centuries, the millennia pass, there
will be more, and that slowly their numbers will mount, and that slowly their accumulated
effect will grow, until there comes a day when our descendants, untold generations
hence, will live in a world where the words of the prophets, the Apostles, the Christ, are
not only believed, but lived.
And when that day comes, there will be no more airplanes flying into towers, and no
more wars of hatred and vengeance. And when hurricanes come, those who have lost
everything will hear the whole world calling to them and inviting them: “come unto us,
all you who travail and are heavy laden, and we will refresh you.”
That day is not now, and will not be any time soon. For now, we continue to muddle
along, making tragedies, man-made and natural, worse by our deafness to God’s word.
And that day will never come unless we – you and I – can vow to remember, each and
every day, to take one, small step, toward hearing, believing and living the call of our
Lord Christ, simply to turn from judgment and hatred and vengeance, and to love one
another as he and his Father have loved us.
In His Name. Amen.
before we return to normal: today and next Sunday! So make the best of the two! (Oh,
but you know – Karl tells me I shouldn’t kid him about not liking longer sermons. Just
the opposite, he says. Seems that when I keep my sermons short, I cut into his nap time!)
But as I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, we’re still in our summer “off-season,” and
we don’t really begin our “new year” until next Sunday’s Calvary Day celebration! So,
today, we’re still sort of in “summer mode,” and next Sunday we’ll keep the services
flowing to get into our Name Day festival. So today and next Sunday – then we get back
to normal.
I’ve also been thinking about something I said last week – that there was either too
much or too little to say, in the wake of the tragedy of Katrina – and the same could be
said, today – and, perhaps, even more strongly!
There is not all that much change to be noted in the Gulf Coast situation. Things have
calmed down a bit, and the acute stage has eased somewhat, but the story continues,
along with the tragedy, and the full tale will not be told for a long, long time!
Meanwhile, our prayers are as needed today as they were a week ago, and will be as
needed next week – and next month – next year, and probably the next! The wounds are
deep – human, economic, societal; local, national and even international. So, again, not
all that much has changed in the Katrina situation.
But this week we have also to remember that it was 4 years ago this day that highjacked
planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and a
field in Western Pennsylvania. A tragedy and a crime that, in loss of life, in scale of
devastation, in direct economic effect does not, itself, compare with Katrina. And yet,
once again, there is either too much that needs to be said, or the heart can say nothing
at all.
But having been thinking about these things ever since last Sunday, as this Sunday
approached, I read today’s lessons in preparation – and I was stunned! What lessons to
be read on this “9/11”! What lessons to be read on this horrible anniversary.
From Ecclesisticus:
Anger and wrath, these also are abomination, and the sinful man will possess them. He that
takes vengeance will suffer vengeance from the Lord, and he will firmly establish his sins.
And from St. Paul’s magnificent Letter to the Romans:
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we
shall all stand before the judgment seat of God;… (and) so each of us shall give account of
himself to God.
And from this conversation between Peter and Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew:
Lord, how often shall my brother forgive me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?
I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
I read these lessons, and I thought about them. And I thought about what happened four
years ago. And I thought about all that has happened in the four years, since.
And I found myself thinking, “My God! What kind of world would this be if the Lord’s
People actually listened to the Lord’s prophets?
And I found myself thinking, “My God! What kind of world would this be if the offspring of
the Apostles actually paid attention to what the Apostles of Christ taught?”
And I found myself thinking, “My God! What kind of world would this be if those who
name themselves after Christ actually believed the Word he spoke to them, and lived
the life he called them to?”
Well, it’s been 2,700 years or so since the prophets, and 2,000 since the Christ and the
Apostles, and truly only a handful have tried it so far – a small number known to us,
people like Francis of Assisi; Martin Luther King; Desmond Tutu; and even Mohandas
Gandhi – no follower of Christ but a believer in his teaching! There have been others,
certainly, through the centuries, unknown to us, but still, only a handful.
And I do believe that as the years, the decades, the centuries, the millennia pass, there
will be more, and that slowly their numbers will mount, and that slowly their accumulated
effect will grow, until there comes a day when our descendants, untold generations
hence, will live in a world where the words of the prophets, the Apostles, the Christ, are
not only believed, but lived.
And when that day comes, there will be no more airplanes flying into towers, and no
more wars of hatred and vengeance. And when hurricanes come, those who have lost
everything will hear the whole world calling to them and inviting them: “come unto us,
all you who travail and are heavy laden, and we will refresh you.”
That day is not now, and will not be any time soon. For now, we continue to muddle
along, making tragedies, man-made and natural, worse by our deafness to God’s word.
And that day will never come unless we – you and I – can vow to remember, each and
every day, to take one, small step, toward hearing, believing and living the call of our
Lord Christ, simply to turn from judgment and hatred and vengeance, and to love one
another as he and his Father have loved us.
In His Name. Amen.
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