Inspired Words

Rev. Marnie Keator’s October sermon

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 16:48:29 -0500

Proper 21-B- 10/1/06
Numbers 11:4-6.10-16,24-29; Ps.19; James 4:7-12 (13-5:6);
Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48

The story has been told about Dr. A.J. Gordon who was a pastor in New England many, many years ago. One day as he was walking to his church he met a scruffy little boy out in front of his church. The boy was carrying an old rusty birdcage that contained several little birds that were fluttering around the bottom of the cage in a panic. At times one or the other would dive at the rusty bars of the cage and then flutter some more.

Dr. Gordon asked the boy, “Son, where did you get those birds?” The boy told him that he had TRAPPED them out in the field. When Dr. Gordon asked what the boy was going to do with them, he replied that he would “play” with them and then feed them to an old cat that they had around the house.

Then Dr. Gordon asked the boy how much he would take for the birds. The boy answered, “Mister, you don’t want these birds. They are just little old field birds and they can’t sing very well.” Dr. Gordon said he would pay him $5 for the birds and the cage. “All right”, said the boy, “It’s a deal, but you are making a bad bargain.”

The exchange was made, and the boy went whistling down the street, thrilled with the $5 in his pocket. Dr. Gordon took the cage out behind the church, opened the cage and the birds flew out of the cage and soared off into the blue, singing as they went.

The next Sunday Dr. Gordon took the rusty, old birdcage that was now empty to the pulpit to use in illustrating his sermon. He told the story of the birds and said, “That boy said the birds could not sing very well, but once they were released from the cage, they flew away singing beautifully because they knew they had been redeemed and were free to be who God created them to be.”

In a way, the Israelites that we heard about in this morning’s lesson were like those birds, and so are we. The Israelites had been trapped in slavery until Moses had led them out of Egypt and set them free. But after wandering around in the desert for a very long time, they were complaining and unhappy…almost longing to be back in bondage because the food was better! And then Moses finds himself trapped in fatigue, both mental and physical, because he is trying to lead this large group of men, women, children, and livestock alone.

TRAPPED…Both the Israelites and Moses find themselves trapped, unable to function fully and with joy because they are bogged down…trapped…by what they perceive as their needs, or their responsibilities, instead of trusting in God to meet their needs. Their entrapment keeps them from being free…free to be all that God created them to be.

In today’s psalm, the Psalmist pleads with God to cleanse him from his hidden faults and to keep him from PRESUMPTUOUS SINS or willful ones. Sins of presumption occur when we strive to do our own will, instead of God’s will. The psalmist prays that his sins, known and unknown, do not get dominion over him so that he may be whole and sound…FREE to be all that God created him to be. The point is that it is our sins…all those things that we think, or do, or say that separate us from God…known and unknown… that keep us TRAPPED like a bird in cage, so that we cannot be all that God created us to be. And most of time we do not even know it! The psalmist complains that he does not have a clue as to how often he offends...do we? How often do we ask God to cleanse us from our secret faults? Ps 51 is one of my favorites…Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.

When James tells his followers to resist the devil this is what he is talking about. Don’t get TRAPPED by sins of presumption, known and unknown. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. It is only through a deep, and intimate relationship with God through Christ Jesus that our hearts and minds can be made clean. James is calling the believers to repentance. He is calling them to wake up and realize that they are trapped and their judgments of others, spoken and unspoken, are the bars of the cage that entrap them. They are not free to be all that God created them to be.

Jesus says the same thing when he tells his followers that if their hands or feet or eyes cause them to sin… to separate from God…then they must cut them off or they run the risk of ETERNALLY being separated from God…HELL. Clearly, Jesus is speaking figuratively, using hyperbole to make his point. He does not expect his followers to being missing limbs or eyes, although in the Middle East, even today, lopping off limbs or gouging out eyes or ears is still done with regularity. What Jesus is saying is that it may be necessary for us to get rid of some habit, some pleasure, some friendship or relationship or give up some thing that we cherish in order to be FULLY obedient to God. And if we draw close to God, he WILL draw close to us and help us to see that we are trapped like a bird in a cage by those things that keep us separated from God. And we cannot be whole or any use to God if we are not free from those things that hold us captive. And this is true not only for us as individually, but also for us corporately as the body of believers…the CHURCH…St. Andrew’s Church in Turners Falls, MA. God wants us, individually and corporately, to be free so that we can be all that God created us to be.

So if we sin all the time and do not even KNOW it, what can we do to correct the situation? I would say that prayer is the most important thing we can do. Like the Psalmist we can come to God with open and broken hearts and beg God to let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be ALWAYS acceptable in His sight. We need to repent of all the things that we think, say and do that separate us from God…moment to moment.

We can make a concerted effort to read, study and inwardly digest the scriptures. Why? Because as the Psalmist says, The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent. Wisdom only to the innocent? In other words, we MUST first come to the Scriptures with an open mind, not fretting over who wrote what, when, and why. Inspired by the Holy Spirit (God-breathed), the Scriptures have come down to us exactly as God intended for us to have them. If we do not read, study and inwardly digest the Scriptures, there is no way that can recognize our “presumptuous sins”.

Finally, I strongly urge you to get some small Bible Study groups started that meet weekly or even two times a month. We are all so busy, so tired, and so obligated in so many directions. But the psalmist reminds us that the law of the Law revives the soul, rejoices the heart, and gives light to the eyes! We cannot study the Scriptures entirely in isolation because God uses each one of us to enlighten the hearts and minds of others…and we may not even beware of it…but we must be available.

The Good News is that Jesus came to set the captives free. By his death, resurrection and the coming of his Holy Spirit, the door to the cage that entraps us has been opened, and it is up to us to fly out into freedom and light to be all that God created us to be. We have the choice! We can choose our own will or God’s will; we can choose to obey or disobey; we can choose to let the Holy Spirit rule our lives or not. We can choose to accept God’s amazing grace and love or not. However, regardless of what we choose, there is NOTHING that we can think, act or say that could make God love us less and nothing we can do to make God love us more. God’s love for us is complete and whole. However, in order for us to receive the full benefits of that LOVE, we must choose to fly out of the trap that binds us and into the arms of God.

The cage door has been opened. We are free! Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you that you know us and love us so much and that you so long for us to know you and to love you in the same way. Help us. Lord, to be
aware of the sins that separate us from you and from each other. Give us the courage and the desire to be set free so that we can all that you created us to be, in the fullness of your Holy Spirit, that we might go out to serve as your hands and feet in the world. In Jesus name, AMEN

New England delegation

Thu, 3 Aug 2006 16:47:25 -0400

with from left: Bishop Bob Duncan, moderator of ACN; Fred Clark, from Bristol, CT; Gerry Dorman, standing, from Cape Cod; Christopher Leighton +, from St. Paul’s, Darien, CT; Jurgen Llias+, (back to camera) from Christ Church, Hamilton-Wenham, MA; Bill Murdoch+, All Saints, West Newbury, MA and dean of NE Convocation; and John Guernsey (at podium), Dean of Mid-Atlantic Convocation.

A Matter of Mission - by David Roseberry

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 11:25:52 -0400

Dear Christ Church Leaders,

I first want to thank you for your prayers and encouragement over the last few weeks. I am very thankful for the support of the vestry and congregation, and the support and confidence of my family. And, of course, I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I have had a few weeks to pray through and reflect on the decisions that our vestry has reached. We have had incredible support. I sense that we all feel released to do our mission. Praise God. You are the leadership base of our church and I want you to understand my heart and my head -- what I feel and what I think -- as we move forward.

First of all, as you may have read, I wrote a pastoral comment that might touch a great number of our members and their families. That brief essay appeared in the July 2 Homepage. If you missed it, you can read it here. Please feel free to send it to your friends and family. It is an important statement.

Secondly, I have come to a personal awareness of the Episcopal Church through all of this. For nearly two decades I had thought that the Episcopal Church was in denial. I imagined that if they could only see a church in action with a gospel witness and a biblical mission (and there are many such churches all around the country) they would reverse their course and begin to embrace this kind of ministry.

But over the last few weeks, I came to know that ECUSA has an agenda, a drive, a passion and a momentum all of its own. And this is primarily why I see that we couldn't go with them. They are headed in a direction that is wholly different than what Christ Church has been about for the last two decades. In fact, in hindsight, I see that the issues of disagreement are not primarily about human sexuality. Rather, they are about the mission and the message of the church. Let me explain...

Christ Church has always been a church "on mission". From the early meetings in living rooms around the city of Plano to the planning and sending of mission churches around us, we have been about mission. One of our first meetings was held in a living room in Plano in May of 1985. We prayed that God would multiply our congregation. I asked people to pray about a big number. We prayed to God to send at least 225 people to our opening service. We were blessed with 242! We were off. We saw God answer a prayer abundantly. He continues today! Today, we welcome thousands to the Christ Church campus each weekend for worship. We have nearly 1,000 adults in small groups and Bible studies!

Did you know that Christ Church has helped to plant two missions in the Diocese of Dallas? Faith Church in Allen and St. Philip's Church in Frisco are both plants and daughter churches originally seeded with Christ Church families. Did you know that Christ Church supports 10 full-time missionaries in the field? Did you know that we have over 600 children in Sunday School? That we send 100 kids to middle school camp? That by the end of 2006 we will have sent 13 teams on short term mission trips this year?

Our DNA is about mission. We have had a clear and focused mission from the beginning of our ministry. It is taken from the book of Matthew: Make disciples and teach them to obey the commands of Christ. (Matthew 28:18-19)

I have assessed the mission of the Episcopal Church and it is clear that they are going in another direction. Sometime in 2006, the 300 millionth citizen of the U.S. will be born. Our country has seen enormous population increases over the last few decades. Yet, during that time, the Episcopal Church has lost members and is losing its foothold in the American culture. ECUSA now has fewer than 800,000 attendees each week in their 7,200 churches. There are (on average) 37 pupils in an Episcopal Sunday School.

And I might add that in the middle of this unprecedented decline - and quite likely the cause of the decline - is that the church has been engaged in endless debates and conflicts about sex: sexual identities, sexual expressions, sexual lifestyles and sexual freedoms. And with this comes a whole package of teaching, theology and core convictions that have moved ECUSA outside the Christian mainstream. (Take a minute and click on some of these links. You will be amazed.)

It has been monotonous. And now as I look back on it, it has also been self-centered and very expensive. The 2006 General Convention cost around 10 million dollars! I have come to believe that the country does not need one more agency or institution demanding or defending sexual freedom. It needs a missionary church with a clear message about Jesus Christ and the Cross.

But it is not just the mission emphasis that is different. It is also the message. The message of the church is the energy that propels its people into the world to make disciples and teach them to obey the commands of Christ. Christ is the message. It is all about Christ: His work on the Cross, His life and teaching, the impact of His life upon the lives of all who follow Him, and His death and resurrection, ascension and coming Kingdom. The message of the Gospel is a message simply about what God has done in Christ. The church has no other point to make until that message is clearly understood and clearly proclaimed.

There were lots of opinions about Jesus in His own time. His work and wonders were well known. He could draw a crowd for a sermon and for lunch! People had interest and fascination with this teacher/healer from Nazareth. But Jesus never cared about being famous and well known, like a celebrity. He wanted to be known for who He truly was: the Son of God. Only after the disciples understood the true identity of Jesus Christ would they comprehend the purpose of His life. And, when Peter gets it right at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus then reveals the final outcome of His life: death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. (Matthew 16)

The point is very simple. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus gave His life for the sins of the whole world. No one comes to the Father except through the Son. (John 15) Or, put another way, "This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, He who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (I John 5:11)

In an interview with Time magazine, the Presiding Bishop-elect was asked a question about the necessity of belief in Jesus for eternal life. Read and mark her answer to this question: "We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box." This is a different message than Jesus' message concerning Himself. (John 15) The Presiding Bishop-elect disagrees with Jesus. Her answer is incorrect at almost every level, but it is very revealing. She sees that Christianity is about a practice and not a person. Her metaphor of a "vehicle to the divine" actually reduces the Trinity down to a limited partnership between "the divine" who receives and Jesus who brings. It is a denial of the co-equal and co-eternal nature of the Trinity. (This "vehicle" language is totally foreign to Judeo-Christian teaching.) It is a different message.

These then are two key differences between where Christ Church is going and where the direction and agenda of the Episcopal Church is going. They are different ... stunningly different. And these differences are just the beginning of the divergence. When I think about the dichotomy of these two issues alone I realize that we have no other choice but the one we have chosen.

I sense a return of joy and excitement for the mission and message we bear. I see a path clearly ahead of us that I am committed to and energized by. The vestry and I are engaged in a process of due diligence with the Diocese of Dallas. We are supporting our bishop in his process of discernment, running up to the next Diocesan Convention in October. The vestry and I will continue to explore other options within the Anglican family of faith as well. But our journey now is a walk of faith, and to the best of my ability I will remain prayerful, obedient and transparent about what lies ahead.

Faithfully Yours in Christ,

P.S. You will notice that the "Episcopal" has been removed from our Legacy Drive signage this week. There may be a totally new sign erected in the weeks/months to come. The staff is working diligently to affect a complete name change to "Christ Church" but the process will take some time.

--The Rev. Canon David H. Roseberry is Rector of Christ Church, Plano, Texas.

http://christchurchplano.org/media/leaderboard/

This article comes from VirtueOnline
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal

The URL for this story is:
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/article.php?storyid=4513

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 17:25:53 -0400

Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. – Psalm 26:1
The verbs and key words in this verse are all so pregnant with meaning. Vindicate me, the psalmist begins, using a verb meaning to govern and to judge, and also to describe a judge’s ability to discriminate between persons, as well as to depict God in the final judgment as the one who vindicates that which is right and just. “For with my integrity I have walked,” literally in the Hebrew, the word integrity being given a place of emphasis, and meaning wholeness or completeness of character.
And then comes the wonderful verb to trust, to rely on, to place one’s confidence in, to make the source of one’s security. Always when one seeks to trust in the Lord there is opposition and struggle against our being able to do this, and this psalm reflects that by saying the trusting is to be done “without wavering.” In the original language this last word means to slip, slide, totter or shake.
One of the instances of this verb in the Old Testament comes from 2 Samuel 22:32-37:
“For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? This God is my strong refuge, and has made my way safe. He made my feet like hinds’ feet, and set me secure on the heights.
He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy help made me great. Thou didst give a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip. ”
It is worth pausing and asking what it really means to trust in the Lord without slipping, and to pray to be the kind of person who lives like that.
–The Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon is the Canon Theologian for the Diocese of South Carolina, Assistant to the Rector at Christ-St. Pauls’ Parish, Yonges Island, South Carolina, and editor of the Anglican Digest. He is also editor of the Jubilate Deo, the diocesan newspaper for the diocese of South Carolina, director of communications for the diocese of South Carolina, and the convenor of this blog.

Rev. David Roseberry, Christ Church, Plano, Texas

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 08:21:23 -0400

Forgiveness, Not Permission
This letter appeared in the July 1-2, 2006 edition of the Homepage, Christ Church's weekly bulletin insert.
My Dear Friends,
It has been a week to remember. The responses from all of you and from people all over the world (Italy, Brazil, Tunisia, Waxahachie?) have been so heartening. I have had to catch my breath. Thank you!
As I mentioned last week (please read here if you were absent) Christ Church cannot go in the direction of the Episcopal Church, therefore we have formally announced our intention to disassociate. But I feel led to say something at a pastoral level that will touch many families in our church…
This church will never ask you to make a choice between loving a friend or family member with a same-sex attraction and being a member of Christ Church. I will never ask you to pass judgment on the life of another person. I hope I never do so either.
All people are invited to this church. All people are welcomed to worship with us. But let me add this: All people should be challenged at this church to bring all areas of their life under the rule of God’s perfect plan. But this church can never bless what is not God’s best for people. God has shown us, through Scripture, His plan for human existence: heterosexual marriage or celibacy. That is His best for us.
It’s sad but true that people break celibate promises. Sometimes we fall. Sometimes marriages fail. Divorce is sadly common among many of us. Sometimes we are promiscuous. We are all sinful in one way or another. But we cannot look to the church for a blessing on these decisions or lifestyles. God sent his Son to offer forgiveness… not permission. That is the Good News.
As we move forward, I hope we can keep in mind the total picture. We have Good News to share … so let’s be sure we share it!
In Christ,
The Rev. Canon David H. Roseberry