Sermon for Epiphany 4

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, January 29, 2012.

Making Room

Mark 1:21-28

(Other Readings Appointed: Deuteronomy 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13)

In 1971, a novel by the author William Peter Blatty was published titled The Exorcist.  Although a work of fiction, and also which was in 1973 turned into a feature film, the events portrayed were stated to be “based on real events.”  And those who know the “legend and lore” of our own Mount Rainier community, also know that these real events are reported to have begun not too far from us, and as some have said, involved the first Pastor of our congregation.  Both accounts, real and fictional, dealt with the demonic possession of a young person who was finally released from that possession through the prayers and rituals of exorcism conducted by Roman Catholic Priests.

Nowadays, mention the word “exorcism”, and many will let their minds drift to the images that they may have seen in The Exorcist or in many of the other recent films which have made exorcism a main part of their plot.  Because of these films, exorcism has been seen more as “the stuff of horror movies” than something real.  Even if one still believes in the existence of evil, and maybe even of “evil beings”, the idea of demonic possession is still something that seems to be more easily doubtable, mainly because there are just many more “logical explanations” to these “strange occurrences”, especially thanks to the explanations given to us by science.

So, when we hear in today’s Gospel of an exorcism performed by our Blessed Lord, the same sort of questioning comes up.  Sure, we believe in evil, but could people really be possessed by Satan?  Could these people just be sort of “mental”?  Maybe they didn’t need Jesus; they needed a psychiatrist.

Sermon for Epiphany 3

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, January 22, 2012.

A Fish Story

Jonah 3:1-5, 10 and Mark 1:14-20

(Other Reading Appointed: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31)

I believe many of us know of or have heard “Fisherman’s Tales”.  And there quite possibly have been a few people who have even told some themselves.  But we all know what these stories are all about.  We hear of “the one that got away”.  Or, there’s the ever popular one where a 10 ounce perch miraculously becomes a 10 pound bass without any pictures or witnesses to corroborate the story.  Such tales seem to be popular, and are possibly only rivaled by tales of sighting Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.

The Old Testament account of Jonah is sometimes seen in a similar light as many “Fisherman’s Tales”.  The story sounds, if you pardon the pun, “too fishy”.  “Fish catches man” sounds every bit as crazy of a story as “man bites dog”, doesn’t it?  So, to many in their minds, this just can’t or couldn’t of happened.  So, it’s all just easy to dismiss as being “just another ‘tall tale’”.  Yet, before one simply dismisses this account, simply chalking it all up to someone’s creative imagination, one needs to do something else: try to listen to what this Word wants us to learn about God and what He is doing for and with the people He created and loves.

Two words can best summarize what God wants us to come to know about Him and His relationship with us through the story of Jonah: repentance and grace.  Repentance is seen clearly in God’s treatment of Jonah: sending the great fish to “convince” Jonah of his error in running away, leading Jonah to repent and to go about doing the work that God had called him to do.  And grace is seen clearly in God’s mercy to the people of Nineveh who believe the message of Jonah and turn from their sins by turning to the Lord in repentance.

Sermon for Epiphany 2

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, January 15, 2012.

Just Listen

1 Samuel 3:1-10 & John 1:43-51

(Other Reading Appointed: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20)

There are some people who seem to believe that listening is a lost art.  Now, one might argue that such a statement isn’t true.  We all do a lot of listening.  Hopefully it can be said that many of you are listening right now.  Yet, the statement made which states that listening is a lost art is really trying to make a point.  You see, what many of us call listening should really be called “just hearing”.  And so, one might ask, what’s the difference?  Aren’t we just somehow “splitting hairs” about this?

But stop and think about it a bit.  Yes, listening is hearing.  Yet, not all hearing is listening.  Hearing that is not listening is something like the adult voices in the Peanuts cartoons.  We know that something is being said, because we hear the “waa waa waa waa”, but we have no real idea of what was being said.

And how often do we find ourselves in our day to day living hearing a lot of things, but not really listening to anything?  Yes, we hear a lot of voices and a lot of noise coming at us from every direction, clamoring for our attention.  But what do we listen to?  Sometimes it’s really hard to do that, so many of us simply tune out everything, wishing that we could just find a place to be quiet and not have to deal with it all.  And if we do this, then what we have done is to have stopped listening.

When we don’t listen, we shut ourselves out from the world around us and from everyone around us.  We might still hear things, but we fail to understand them because we take ourselves out of the dialogue that life and living provides us.  Sometimes in order for us to truly understand ourselves, we must first understand others, and this only happens when we take the time to listen to those around us.

Sermon For An Epiphany Celebration

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on January 8, 2012.  This service was titled, “An Epiphany Celebration”, observing both The Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6th, but ordinarily observed at Trinity on the Second Sunday after Christmas, when allowed by the calendar), and The Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord (observed as the First Sunday after the Epiphany).

The Great Reveal

Matthew 2:1-12 and Mark 1:4-11

I was surprised to learn that later this week, the program Extreme Makeover-Home Edition will air its 200^th episode as its final weekly installment.  Now, I must confess that I did not watch this program often.  But when I did, I was always impressed by the wonderful work that was done for the deserving families they built these new homes for.

Those who watched this program know the climax of each episode was the moment that the family returned to see their new home.  With the gathered crowd chanting, “Move that bus!”, the crew’s travel bus was moved to allow the family its first view of their newly built house.  And with shouts, screams, and squeals of joy, this “great reveal” gave each family a glimpse into the new life that awaited them through this gift of new place to live.

Today, as we bring our Christmas celebrations to a close, we celebrate the Epiphany—the manifestation, the making known, the great revealing—of our Lord Jesus Christ.  And in today’s liturgy, because of this year’s calendar, we actually recall the events of two great Epiphanies of our Lord: His Epiphany seen in the visit and adoration of the Magi and His Epiphany seen in His Baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.  Both of these important events in the life of our Blessed Redeemer are “Great Reveals” done by God to show all people the new life that God has in store for all who call on His Name and on the Name of His Son as God opens His everlasting kingdom to all believers.

Sermon for the Circumcision and Holy Name of Jesus

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Feast of the Circumcision and Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, also New Year’s Day, January 1, 2012.

Claim the Name

Readings Appointed

(Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 2:21)

With New Year’s Day falling on a Sunday this year, our Trinity family is given the opportunity to celebrate not only the beginning of the new civil calendar year but also the Eighth Day of Christmas which is kept as the Feast of the Circumcision and the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  I remember years ago being asked by a member why it’s so important that we remember Jesus’ bris?  Well, as several hymns and prayers for this day remind us, this event in our Lord’s just begun life in the flesh was all about the beginning of His fulfilling of the Law of God on our behalf, submitting Himself to its requirements, even to the point of shedding His infant blood to do so.  And through this act of submission to the Law, Jesus begins the work of living up to the Name that He was also given on this day to bear for us—Jesus: the Lord saves.

What happened to Jesus on that day was a sign of the great work that He was beginning to accomplish, even as a newborn infant, for us and for our salvation.  And this is what makes this day important for us.  Jesus’ circumcision was the moment where He was welcomed into the family of the People of Israel and given a name to claim His place among the ranks of this people.  And what this means for us is that God is here to do a great work for us and for all who believe in Him—that we too have been given a name and a place among the people He claims to be His own forever.

Like Jesus, none of us really had much choice in the name we were given when we were born and brought into the families that our God blessed us with.  Some of us were given names with great meanings or with long family stories and traditions attached to them.  Others of us may have been given names that simply fit into the times and trends we were born into.  And still others may have just gotten a name that simply filled in the blank on our birth certificate.  But, no matter how we got our name, we have just had to live up to it so that we might be able to claim it and make it our own.

Sermon for New Year’s Eve

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier at a Service marking the Eve of the Holy Name of Jesus and the Eve of the New Civil Year, December 31, 2011.

Blessed Waiting

Isaiah 30:8-18

(Other Readings Appointed: Romans 8:31b-39; Luke 12:35-40)

The text of the hymn we just sang this evening has become a personal favorite of mine in recent years, especially in light of what it was written as. (nb. “By Gracious Powers, see previous post for text.)  These words were written as a poetic prayer for the New Year by Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  He composed them in the final days of 1944 as he sat in the infamous Gestapo run Tegel Prison in Berlin, following his arrest on spy charges.  After it was discovered that he had been a part of a failed plot to assassinate Hitler, Bonhoeffer was moved to the Flossenburg Concentration Camp, where on April 9, 1945, he was executed by hanging along with other condemned resistance workers, just two weeks before the Allies liberated the camp.

Knowing the background of this poem, one begins to understand the poignant nature of the words.  They are words of a man who had no idea what the future held for him.  The days ahead were ones of uncertainty, over which he had no control.  And yet, in these prayerful words, he still holds on to the One thing he is certain and sure of—the never-failing love of God for him.  He commits himself—all his days and all that he is and has—totally to the hands of the God whom he knows will care for him, trusting completely in the Lord’s compassion and care.

As we gather together in the Lord’s House on this New Year’s Eve, Pastor Bonhoeffer’s words probably strike a similar familiar chord with many of us as well.  Many of us are looking back on this year now almost past and see many scenes of our lives replayed for us.  We look back and see the good times, the bad times, the ordinary moments, and all of the other moments that make up the days of our lives.  And as we look at all of these times, we look to see where God was and how He was a part of it all.

Prayer for the New Year – 1945

By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
And confidently waiting come what may,
We know that God is with us night and morning,
And never fails to greet us each new day.

Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
Still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation,
For which, O Lord, You taught us to prepare.

And when this cup You give is filled to brimming
With bitter suffering, hard to understand,
We take it thankfully and without trembling
Out of so good and so beloved a hand.

Yet when again in this same world You give us
The joy we had, the brightness of Your sun,
We shall remember all the days we lived through
And our whole life shall then be Yours alone.

By gracious powers so faithfully protected,
So quietly, so wonderfully near,
We live each day in hope, with You beside us,
And go with You through every coming year.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
Translation: Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000)

Sermon for Christmas Day

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord during the Festival Eucharist of Christmas Day, December 25, 2011.

God Speaks

Hebrews 1:1-4

(Readings Appointed: Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-12; John 1:1-18)

Ever since I can remember thinking about such things, I have always found the Gospel for Christmas Day to be one of the most fascinating readings in the entire Church Year.  And I think what made me think this is that it really isn’t what you expect to hear at Christmas.  Usually, one thinks just about hearing once more those familiar words of the “Christmas Story”, just as we heard them at last night’s Candlelight Eucharist.  No, instead we come today and we hear this “high and lofty” language and thought about what John calls “the Word”.

Talking about words should be something easy to do.  We use them.  We can string them together and come up with some thoughts, both profound and mundane.  We know that they have meaning and power.  Yet, all too often we probably don’t really think too much about words.  And then, John the Evangelist comes to us this Christmas Day and asks us to think about this One who is come and born in our world today as the Word.  As we are confronted by this Word, what are we to think of Him?  And most of all, what does He mean to us?

Today’s Epistle can help us sort out our thinking as we reflect on the coming of our Lord Jesus into the flesh, becoming this great Word that God has sent to us.  We do not know who wrote this Letter to the Hebrews, yet he had much to say about this Jesus that came to be the Savior of the world.  Listen again to the opening words of his letter:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world.  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.  After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the Name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Sermon for Christmas Eve

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord during the Christmas Eve Candlelight Eucharist, December 24, 2011.

The Life-Bringing Light

Isaiah 9:2-7

(Other Readings Appointed: Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20)

For ages, two of the most powerful symbols known to humankind have been found in the interplay between darkness and light.  And although cultures have sometimes interpreted these symbols differently, in general the idea brought forward in these symbols has tended toward the impression that darkness represented the forces of disorder, chaos, evil, sin, and death, while light represented the exact opposite—order, peace, good, holiness, and life.  For us as people of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, we see all of this in the opening words of Holy Writ as God hovers over the vast empty dark void into which He will call all things into existence by speaking His first great command of creation, saying: “Let there be light!”

And so, these great symbols of darkness and light come into play in these, the darkest days of the year for us, as we gather together to celebrate the great event which changed time forever: the coming of God into human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Child of Mary.  This Child whose birth we celebrate tonight is the One for whom many ages before Him waited in hope and for whom for many generations since have trusted in for their life and salvation.  This Jesus is the promised Light of the World and it is His light which shines in the darkness of this world and brings to all life, hope, and peace.

Sermon for Advent 4

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 18, 2011.

Let It Be

Luke 1:26-38

(Other Readings Appointed: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Romans 16:25-27)

In the town of Nazareth stands the Church of the Annunciation which was built over what tradition states is the family home of Mary of Nazareth.  And in a grotto below the main altar of this church stands another altar under which is a marble disk bearing a Jerusalem Cross and above this disk is carved the inscription: Verbum Caro Hic Factum Est—“Here the Word Was Made Flesh”.  At what was probably seen at one time as the most unlikely and insignificant places, God chose to enter our world of time and space and to bring about the salvation of the world from the power of sin and death by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to become our Savior.

Saint Luke in today’s Gospel recounts for us the events which began the Incarnation of our Blessed Redeemer, whose birth we look forward to celebrating in just a few days.  In many respects, the account of the Annunciation is just as wonderful and awe-inspiring as the account of Jesus’ Birth.  And what is most amazing in it all is not what one might think.  Sure, there’s the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel and the wonderful message that this young virgin woman would be the one to bear the Son of God.  Yet, what is most amazing when one stops to really think about it is the great response made by Mary: “Let it be to me according to your word”.

With those words, the Blessed Virgin Mary said “yes” to what God was asking her to do—to be the Mother of God coming in human flesh.  And that’s precisely what is so amazing.  Mary said yes to something she probably didn’t completely understand, which probably mystified her, and which, if she told anyone about, would seem the most unbelievable tale.  Yet, she still said yes, “Let it be”.