Will Rogers defined an expert as someone fifty miles from home with a
briefcase. I have to say, this is true in education. Heads of School are
always hired from the outside. There are exceptions to this of course.
John Mars at Culver {Academies} was one of the few I can think of though.
This rule seems to be true for bishops as well. Every now and then a
bishop will be elected from within a diocese. Bishop Sheridan is an
example. Mostly, they go looking for someone from another diocese.
Jesus seemed familiar with this phenomenon. He said that “Prophets
are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own
kin, and in their own house.” Jesus said that he was “amazed at their
unbelief.”
I have wondered sometimes if this is not what is going on with young
people who want to describe themselves as Buddhists or something. It
is foreign and a little exotic. We had an applicant for an admission job
when I was at Webb, and he told me in the interview that he was a
Buddhist. You can’t ask such things, but if someone volunteers a
religious affiliation, you are allowed to say “Oh really” I think. That is
probably what I did.
I heard from HR that the guy had been hired, and so I decided to read
up on Buddhism so that I could help the guy transition to this
environment.
I forget the name of the book, but it had to do with the five paths and it
looked to me as if the guy was going to be vegetarian. I was a little
curious to see how the practice of his faith would work for him in
Tennessee. As close as I could tell, being Buddhist had no impact at all
on the guys life except that it provided an excuse when someone
invited him to church. The first time I sat down with him in the
cafeteria, he seemed to be on an all-pork diet. So much for all my
reading I guess…
When we hear the Gospel this morning, we remember that Jesus has
been busy, and there is no mistaking the impact that He is having in the
area. He has been healing and raising from the dead. He has been
casting out demons. He rebuked the wind on the sea of Galilee, “and
there was a dead calm.”
Jesus was on a roll. The ministry was going well, and then got put on
hold. We are told that he did no deed of power in Nazareth except for a
few healings. They took offense at Jesus because they knew Him too
well. He was only a person in Nazareth. They were not able to see past
the fact that he had been the carpenter who made tables.
One of God’s gifts to us is that He transforms the ordinary. The
disciples were just regular guys. They were not people with unusual
training or abilities before Jesus came into their lives. Jesus gives them
authority today to cast out unclean spirits, and they are transformed into
apostles.
So Jesus sends them out in pairs to do his work. I have often thought
about this verse and think there is more to it than we realize. We have
to understand that while we have gifts of the Holy Spirit, we don’t have
a complete set. We need to be in community. We need each other to
hold us accountable and provide a reality check. I know as a priest, it
has been a blessing to have Mtr. Susan around. I can run a sermon idea
past her, and she is willing to say “What else have you got?”
Tertullian was a one of the Ante-Nicaean fathers. There were a group of
early writers and church leaders in the era before the Nicene Creed. He
wrote in the late 2nd century, and said at one point that “A Christian
alone is no Christian.” We have to be in community.
There are various rules for Holy Orders, and Benedict has one which is
well known and is the basis for the life at a monastery like Three
Rivers. St. Augustine had a rule as well, and some monasteries are
founded on his principles. He said that “The first purpose for which we
have come together is to live in unity and to be of one mind and one
heart on the way into God.”
The General Convention of the Episcopal Church has just finished in
Salt Lake City. The deputies flew into the South Bend airport yesterday.
I suspect that more than one person was been led by the Holy Spirit to
reflect on unity and what it means to be of one mind and one heart
when it comes to the Church. Conventions seem to bring about conflict
and division sometimes, and we are called to live in unity. The question
here has to do with understanding God’s will and then doing it. That is
easier said than done.
So Jesus sends them out in pairs. The very design of apostolic ministry
provides the opportunity for conflict, and disagreement. The idea is that
we get beyond ourselves and realize that it is bigger than we are. We
are out there working for the Kingdom. We need each other for support
and for a reality check. We need a prayer partner and someone to help
keep us accountable.
Here is my question. Can Jesus do any deed of power in your life? Do
we take Jesus for granted and not give him a chance? God has a plan
for each of our lives. Every one of us is important, and we are
important to each other. All that God needs from us is a little
cooperation – a little faith.
I’m going to suggest that God does things through us every day that go
unnoticed by most people. Just what are these deeds of power? We
carry our faith into our various worlds, we nudge this person a bit in
one direction and that person a bit in another direction–and we work
out God’s purposes for our lives. In the end, we’ll all be surprised to
learn how much our lives mattered–how much our faith empowered
us–and how much God did through us.
We live our lives in community and we accomplish the things God sent
us out to do. We strive to live in unity and work to resolve conflict. We
understand that Christianity and our faith is bigger than we are, and we
understand there is give and take. It is not all about us, although I think
that our culture teaches us that it is.
I want to hold up a hero of the faith, and that is Monica, the mother of
Augustine. This is St. Augustine of Hippo, and so you know he turned
out well. It turns out that Augustine was a wild man when he was
young. I have recently been reminded of this reading a book on
character Judi Dodge loaned me. Augustine was not interested in being
a Christian, and distressed his faithful mother a great deal. She did not
give up on Augustine and prayed for him for twenty years. He finally
came around. Her faithful witness was an influence on him.
Susannah Wesley was the mother of John and Charles Wesley. Her sons
did amazing things for Christ. They did that, at least in part, because of
what they had learned at their mother’s feet. Susannah Wesley had said:
“There are two things to do about the Gospel: believe it and behave it.”
Here are the takeaways today.
God transforms the ordinary. Normal people are given gifts and work to
do for the Kingdom.
We do this work in community. We have to be in relationship with
other people. We have to work for unity, and sometimes that means we
don’t get what we want. We have to seek God’s will and get over
ourselves.
Finally we have a more profound impact on others than we believe.
Living as faithful Christians is a witness, and the examples of Monica
and Susannah Wesley are models for us.
I have said these words in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sermon preached by Fr. Tom at St. Thomas, Plymouth
July 5, 2015; Sixth Sunday of Pentecost
Ezekiel 2:1-5
Psalm 123
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13